Coaches can't do without the scout

Mark Weisman.

Greg Kennedy.

Andrew Tubek.

Football fans in Lake County are certainly familiar with the names. The three standouts have been among the best backs in the area this season, leading their teams at Stevenson, Warren and Lakes, respectively, to the playoffs.

Also leading Stevenson, Warren and Lakes to the playoffs this season are, Connor Cummings, Brandon Brabender and Bill Fell.

Wait. Who?

Well, sure, the names Cummings, Brabender and Fell aren't as recognizable as Weisman, Kennedy and Tubek. But ask any coach, any player at Stevenson, Warren or Lakes and they'll tell you that those three are just as important, just as vital to the team's success.

"Guys like that might not get their names in the paper," Stevenson coach Bill Mitz said. "But they're just as much a part of this team as anyone else. They are a big part of what we do and we need them."

Cummings, Brabender and Fell are not only back-ups, they're also scout team players, which means that they are among the guys who play out an opponent's offense or defense at practice in an effort to prepare the starters for the looks they'll see over the course of a game.

It's an important job normally, because a good scout team makes for a much better starting unit. But add in the variables of mystery and unfamiliarity that a playoff opponent can bring and a top-notch scout team takes on even more value.

Just ask the six teams in the Daily Herald's Lake County coverage area that have spent the last week preparing for the postseason, which begin this weekend with the first round of the IHSA state playoffs. Teams such as Stevenson, Warren, Lakes, Lake Zurich, Carmel and Vernon Hills need their scout team players and reserves to pick up the tendencies of their playoff opponent quickly and thoroughly. The season could very well depend on it.

"It's very important now," said Brabender, a senior and back-up running back at Warren. "It's definitely a critical time to be on top of your game if you're on the scout team."

So what exactly does that game entail?

Well, a bit of everything, really - hard work, studying, mimicry and even acting.

Scout team players still do all the drills and conditioning that the starters do. After all, they could be called into action at any time. Plus, they all play in junior varsity games during the week trying, like everyone else, to prove themselves worthy of more playing time.

But in addition to knowing the ins and outs of their own program, they also spend time becoming experts on the opposition, to the point where they essentially are the opposition.

"The scout team at Lakes tries really hard to match our opponents' strengths," said Lakes junior guard Bill Fell. "Like, if their linebackers are really fast, our scout team tries to be even faster in practice so that our starters can do really well on Friday night."

Simulating the physical attributes of an opponent is only half the battle, though. The scout team also has to study opponents on film and in diagrams so that they can run their plays to perfection.

"We're called the red defense and we take a lot of pride in what we do in getting our offense ready for the game," said back-up defensive tackle Connor Cummings, a senior at Stevenson who wears a red jersey to practice as part of the scout team. "It's important that we pick up things quickly.

"We spend time with the coaches before we go into practice and scrimmages so that we can learn everything."

In fact, scout team players learn their roles so well sometimes that they almost take on different personas.

"We'll take different colored jerseys and put tape on them to make the numbers of the key guys from the other team and then sometimes you're that guy during practice," Brabender said. "Like when we were getting ready for Stevenson last week, I was the role of No. 35 (Stevenson running back Matt Harris)."

Of course, Brabender much prefers to play himself on the football field. And he takes pride in the 200-yard rushing effort he put forth in a junior varsity game against Antioch this season.

Meanwhile, Fell enjoys the action he sees with the first-teamers on special teams, and Cummings remembers the tackles he made late in Stevenson's victory over Lake Zurich.

But make no mistake, none of the scout team players prefers junior varsity minutes to varsity minutes. None of them prefers garbage time to prime time.

But, to their credit, they seem to have accepted their roles with the bigger picture in mind.

"At the beginning of the year, I was kind of disappointed with my playing time because, of course, you always want to play," Fell said. "But when you get into the season, you get to the point where you realize that you just want to make your team better any way you can.

"You know, it's not all about you, it's about the team."

And being on the football team has been one of the best experiences of Cummings' life, regardless of his playing time.

"Sure, everyone wants to play and get in, but everyone has a role and you do what you can to help out," Cummings said. "I'm just having a lot of fun being on the team. There's so much tradition at Stevenson with the football team and once you're a part of it you want to stay a part of it any way you can.

"It's fun playing a sport with all your friends, too. This is definitely going to be one of my best memories (of high school)."

pbabcock@dailyherald.com