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| Jayhawks Take To Field For Camp |
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| Sports - Jayhawk-Linn | |||
| Written by David Wolman | |||
| Wednesday, 14 July 2010 08:00 | |||
Jake Rowe, gripping the football with his right hand, maneuvered his way to the right of the pocket, while keeping his eyes locked on wide receiver Cody Sunderland. Rowe set his feet before launching about a 20-yard pass to Sunderland, who had one-on-one coverage and juked to the left of the defensive back before running in the end zone for a touchdown.  Minutes earlier, Jayhawk-Linn coach Kirk Holt had split his team into three position drills. Wide receivers worked with assistant coach Trenton Stepps, linebackers with assistant coach Josh Regan and defensive linemen with Holt. During the D-line drill, one player held up a dummy bag, while another teammate attempted to maneuver his way around him. Little things, such as how to use your hands properly, were emphasized. “You have to thrust your arms toward them very quickly to gain power and leverage,” Holt told one camper. Yes, football was in the air. While the regular season doesn’t kick off for another seven weeks, the sweet sounds of the pigskin made their return last week as the Jayhawks conducted a one-week team camp. Despite having just 21 players out for camp, Holt was pleased with the effort he saw. “Attitude has been great; we’ve had good work ethic in the weight room,” he said. “These guys who are returning this year who experienced that playoff game gained a lot from it. Even though we took one on the nose from Silver Lake, it was a good experience from these kids.” Holt’s reference to Silver Lake was his team’s 64-0 loss to the Eagles in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs a year ago. While the scoreboard clearly showed the final result as a one-sided affair, Jayhawk-Linn viewed its playoff appearance as a steppingstone for the program. That appearance came after the Jayhawks finished just 2-7 in the regular season, with two of those wins coming in district play. The Jayhawks are eager to build on the end of last season and hope they can advance further in the playoffs this fall, but they’ll look to do so in Class 2-1A after moving down one classification. It won’t be easy, though, as Jayhawk-Linn will do battle in District 1 with Lyndon, Humboldt, Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan, Olpe and Oswego, all of whom made the playoffs in 2009. “(Competing in the playoffs) is definitely on their minds, but we’re going to take it one game at a time,” Holt said. “We’ll start the season with our tough Pioneer League schedule. Then in our 2A district, it’s probably the toughest 2A district in the state of Kansas. The kids are going to be hungry, that’s for sure.” While losing four quality seniors to graduation this past spring doesn’t seem like a big number to most high school football teams, it’s a big percentage for a Jayhawk-Linn team that’s been averaging about 20 players in recent years. Fortunately for Jayhawk-Linn, strong leadership from its 12 returners have helped to ease in its eight newcomers. “Our leadership that we’ve got in our seniors have been much improved,” Holt said. “The leadership, overall, throughout the juniors and sophomores has improved with our playoff experience last year.”
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