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Switch is meant to get most out of talent on team
Namey
The Meyers football team will be looking for leadership from players, from left, Nick Potter, Ryan Lukowich,Julian Truskowski and Andrew Forgatch.
FRED ADAMS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
This all had been building in Mike Namey’s mind for some time now.
There was never a specific moment in Meyers’ 2-9 campaign last year that made the head coach decide to overhaul the program. But midway through the season, it was clear changes were in order.
So from Week 7 on, the coaching staff had numerous meetings in between practices and on Sundays to design for 2009.
And the result of that brainstorming is an offense different from anything Meyers has run in Namey’s first 15 seasons with the program.
Mostly gone is the familiar Wing-T offense, replaced by a healthy heaping of shotgun formations. The Mohawks didn’t exactly burn all of the pages from the old playbook, but it’s still a significant change.
“We’ve got to maximize our personnel to the best of our abilities. And to do that, we feel this offense right now is best suited for us,” Namey said. “We were always a traditional Wing-T team. It was always good to us. But we didn’t really have the personnel to run it as effectively as we used to. And I think a lot of teams were beginning to have certain tendencies on us.
“So we took some of the principles that we had there and put it into the shotgun. So we’re still capable of running some of those things. But this gives us the ability to move things out a little bit wider.”
ON OFFENSE
Tasked with leading the dramatic switch on offense is junior Andrew Forgatch, who moves from halfback to quarterback.
“His progression has been phenomenal,” Namey said. “Andrew has worked awfully hard on his own time in the summer.”
The Mohawks plan to put Forgatch’s running ability to good use, hoping to keep defenses off guard with the threat of a run or a pass.
Namey lauded both this year’s quarterback and last year’s quarterback, Nick Potter, for embracing their new positions.
“Two things happened that made this transition exceptional,” Namey said. “One was Nick Potter moving to defense full-time. And second was Andrew moving from a spot he was comfortable with to quarterback, and then him obviously putting time in.
“So for that change to occur, we’ve had two young men really step up to the plate – self-sacrificing some normal positions that they were accustomed to the past couple years and taking new roles.”
ON DEFENSE
Action and reaction: Meyers’ shakeup on offense has also directly affected the defense.
With so much focus on installing the new shotgun scheme, the Mohawks are moving to a less-demanding 4-4 base defense.
“Defensively – because we were so complicated offensively – we had to simplify what we were doing,” Namey said. “And I think simplifying it was critical, because offensively we’ve just done a lot of things that are different than what we’re used to.”
OUTLOOK
Meyers won’t exactly get to ease into its new look. Though this is the program’s second season in Class A, the schedule still remains very challenging.
The good news for the Mohawks is that nearly every starter from last season is back for 2009, as opposed to having just three returning starters the year before.
“Our seniors – and the whole team in general – their work ethic has been great,” Namey said. “After suffering as much as they went through last year, the team has really made a commitment to changing the way they do things. From weightlifting to how they conduct themselves in the locker room, we’ve done a lot of growing up. A lot.”