Roger Lee

The Ashley Ridge offense (right) lines up against Pinewood.

The Ashley Ridge football team will likely take its share of lumps in its debut season. In fact, coach Julian “Doc” Davis is counting on it.

The team is comprised exclusively of freshmen and sophomore athletes, but will play a full varsity schedule against teams that includes juniors and seniors.

The Swamp Foxes didn’t have the luxury of holding winter workouts or spring practice and had to open their season Aug. 22, a full week before many schools.

There’s no denying the chips are stacked against the team this year so Davis is asking his players to embrace the hand they were dealt and use it to grow.

 “We don’t want to be pessimistic about things, but we want to be realistic with the kids so we’ve told them there are going to be some very tough times, certainly in the first year and maybe in the first couple of years, until we get our program in place,” Davis said. “Our big thing is we want to get better with every practice, with every game and with every year. Hopefully, even if we get beat bad, we’ll feel like we’re a better team because of it. There is simply no substitute for experience.”

Many of the team’s young players are still developing their fundamentals and trying to learn Davis’s offensive and defensive schemes. However, some leaders did emerge out of summer practice.

Sophomore Cameron Cox will be the team’s quarterback. His only experience came in the Green Wave Football League, but Davis has confidence in the QB.

“He understands football and he has picked up on the offense fairly fast,” Davis said.

The tailback position is key in Davis’s I-formation based offense. The team will rotate four backs in and out of the position, with sophomore Diondre Bannister and freshman Otis Neals being the forerunners to get the majority of the carries.

Sophomore Terry Green and freshman Seamus McKinney opened the season as the team’s starters at wide receiver. Freshman Ian Spradley will also vie for playing time as a receiver.

Defensive standouts on the team include sophomore Tre Deloach. Davis says the defensive end is good enough to play for any varsity squad in the area. Sophomore Ammad Dawson will help Deloach anchor the line.

Neals will lead the Swamp Fox linebacker corps and sophomore Chris Redd and Spradley will anchor the secondary.

“Our defense is a little further along than our offense right now,” Davis said. “If we have a strength, it’s our defensive line. We aren’t bad for our age group there.”

With the exception of Cox, nearly all the starters will play both offense and defense. Davis says it may be years before the team has the luxury of platooning.

Contact Roger Lee @ 873-9424 ext. 213 or rlee@journalscene.com.

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