Scouting the Hampshire Whip-Purs
Hampshire is taking a pass on pass heavy.
The Whip-Purs will still lineup in shotgun formation, spread the field and throw the football under first-year coach Jake Brosman, but don't expect 32 passes per game like last year.
And don't expect Hampshire's leading rusher to gain fewer than 150 yards like last season either.
Brosman said he believes in spreading the field to run power football out of two-back sets. He describes the new offense as "spread power run," which borrows from "different offenses, pieces that I've liked and kind of melded all together. We will have a few receivers, but, really, we're going to have a couple of backs in the backfield and try to run power football."
Those backs include seniors Jake See and Trevor Laffin, among others. See carried 47 times last year for just over 100 yards. His contributions should grow substantially considering the 5-foot-11 ball carrier bulked up to 200 pounds and dropped his 40 time to 4.65 seconds. Laffin (6-1, 200), a multisport athlete, missed last season due to injury.
Brosman had not named a starting quarterback as of midweek as competition at the position continued between 6-1 senior Will Buterbaugh and 6-2 juniors Ben Curran and Jackson Millison. The new coach said he likes to call the run-pass option. How much will depend on which quarterback is in the game.
Returning all-Fox Valley Conference pick Zach Golden had 3 touchdown receptions last year among his team-best 49 catches. Another receiver Brosman expects to be "a big contributor" is 6-1 senior Andre Allison.
The offensive line is anchored by three players who saw significant playing time last year: seniors Evan Wendt (6-foot-2, 240 pounds), Nick Saia (5-9, 230) and junior Jake Rambo (5-11, 258). Three other returning linemen rotated in at times.
Hampshire's base defense will normally include four down linemen and five defensive backs, Brosman said. Key players include See and Gio Chapel in the secondary. Both can play linebacker or defensive back. They are joined by defensive backs Laffin and Gio Valdivia. Like Laffin, Valdivia returns after missing his junior season due to injury.
Wendt and Saia will both play on the defensive line, possibly alongside a sophomore reinforcement or two. Golden will jump into the defensive backfield based on the situation.
Hampshire begins the year with 93 football players at all levels: 18 seniors, 14 juniors, 31 sophomores and 30 freshmen. Every player on the 34-man varsity roster hopes to improve on last year's injury-and-illness-riddled season in which the Whips were outscored 375-134 en route to a 1-8 record.
"Looking at the scores from last year and how lopsided they were, I think that's going to go down tremendously," Brosman said. "Our attitude is we definitely can compete with anyone in the conference."