Hornets look for plug-ins, depth

May 20—There's few questions on the offensive side for Hilldale through four spring practices, a side of the ball they had a pretty good idea about coming into the spring with nine of 11 starters back on that side of the ball, including every lineman.

"Last year at this time while we were bringing quite a few starters back, we had to replace our quarterback, a lot of offensive pieces and a just a couple on defense. Now we've got more back on offense and got to replace some key pieces on defense," said Hilldale coach David Blevins, beginning his fourth season.

Quarterback Caynen David is the incumbent quarterback and while losing in the first round in 2021, capped his junior year with a 323-yard passing effort against Wagoner, a career-best.

"Caynen has put in a lot of arm work, and his senior leadership — how he handles the team, how he's going to react — he's showing the improvement you'd expect from a senior and returning starter," Blevins said.

Running back Eric Virgil is back for his senior season after his second consecutive season of at least 1,300 yards, and has an college offer already from Central Oklahoma and is talking with Iowa State. The offensive line, led by senior-to-be Evan Keefe, is intact. The 275-pound Keefe, at this point, has nine college offers including five Division I — Navy, Air Force, South Dakota State, Idaho and North Dakota, and four others — Pitt State, Central Arkansas, Central Oklahoma and Millikin (Ill.)

"We've got 19 seniors. There's going to be a lot of recruiting action going on for these guys," Blevins said. "If Evan was 6-foot-4 he'd probably be getting offers from everyone in the nation, but he's 6-2 1/2 and you know how that works — inches make a big difference in recruiting. Still, more are going to come. He's going to have a great year."

Among the key losses is Brayson Lawson, a three-way performer at receiver, defensive back and return specialist. Someone who has stepped up this week to be the guy in that respect, according to Blevins, has been senior Lamarion Burton.

"He's had a real good spring camp so far, one of the best," Blevins said.

Burton will also be part of the defensive backfield.

Blevins mentioned Isaiah Patterson, another senior "who had a lot of JV reps for us last year with some varsity special teams. He's had a good spring."

Even with the offensive line intact, sophomore Cash Schuller is getting some reps at guard. Some of the offensive standouts will see work on defense — including Virgil at linebacker and Keefe on the defensive line.

"A year ago with Evan we didn't use him a lot on defense unless we had to. Next year he'll have a bigger role up front," Blevins said.

Wyatt Branscum, a senior and another returning offensive linemen, will go both ways.

"He led our JV in tackles and just didn't get much action on varsity because he was behind Cason," Blevins said, referring to Cason Albin, the All-Phoenix selection as Large School Defensive Player of the Year with 108 tackles and a school record 20 sacks. "He's also added 15 pounds of muscle and running faster than he ever was. We expect a lot out of him."

Kayden Shoals, a senior, is getting work at both guard and nose guard.

Mason Pickering has gotten some good spring reps at inside linebacker and also at quarterback along with Jax Kerr. Hayden Pickering, no relation, is battling for a starting cornerback spot. Both, along with Kerr, are sophomores.

"One thing we're working on is building up depth behind these guys that will go both ways," Blevins said. "That's one of the biggest priorities for us right now."

Hilldale was one-and-out in the postseason last year, losing to Wagoner in what was one of the best first-round matchups in the state. Small consolation, though.

"Losing in the first round is not our standard," Blevins said. "We've got bigger aspirations than that."

Hilldale will have a spring game on Tuesday, starting at 6:30 p.m. After that they'll have a walk-through on Wednesday then head to a two-day team camp at Verdigris with Wagoner, Pryor, Verdigris, Beggs, Bristow and Catoosa before taking a week break and then beginning Summer Pride.