Sherando Camp Notebook: Warriors expect production to continue with new faces on offense
Sherando quarterback Chacai Campbell works with his offense during a recent practice.
Sherando head coach Bill Hall assembles his players during a recent practice.
STEPHENS CITY – The graduation losses of nine everyday offensive starters, including a three-year starting quarterback and a three-year starting tailback, may leave many wondering what Sherando’s offense will look like in 2019.
Two senior Warriors – fullback Payne Bauer and receiver Jabril Hayes – who played prominent roles on that unit last season said Monday that they expect a unit that averaged 41.3 points and 390 yards per game in 2018 to continue to produce this fall.
Bauer said he doesn’t expect much to change from a production standpoint even with all of the new players filling more prominent roles for the first time. Hayes added that the Warriors will be “very productive” in 2019, saying “there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll do what we’re supposed to do, and we’ll capitalize on what coach (Bill) Hall implements for us for the week and going forward.”
“I think the progress with the offense has definitely been pretty good,” Hayes said four days before Friday’s season opener at James Wood. “We have a lot of new starters on offense, so them adjusting to it was, I don’t want to say difficult, but it was definitely a challenge that they took on, and they took it on better than I thought they would. I’m really excited to see what we can really do.”
Sherando had to replace four offensive linemen and its tight end upfront, and while Hayes’ return takes some of the sting out of losing 2018 leading receiver Nick Mazza, two of the offense’s most prominent positions see a changing of the guard.
Junior quarterback Chacai Campbell, who saw action in a backup role last season, takes over for Hunter Entsminger, who passed for nearly 6,000 yards and 66 touchdowns in three seasons, while senior Darius Lane, another 2018 backup, figures to take a bulk of the carries after serving as the understudy to all-state tailback T.J. Washington.
Campbell, who stepped in with Entsminger battling injury last season and started the Region 4C championship game against Woodgrove (a 27-3 loss), completed 25 of 36 passes for 309 yards and four touchdowns in 2018 and rushed for another 311 yards and four TDs.
Lane averaged 5.4 yards per carry last fall, toting the ball 41 times for 223 yards and two touchdowns.
“He’s put in the time. It’s his turn,” Hall said of Lane, whom he listed as one of the players the coaching staff expected to take that next step in the offseason in preparation for a featured role. “He’s worked hard, so I expect good things to happen.”
If Sherando does produce offensively in a similar fashion to 2018, it might do so through slightly different methods. Campbell, who ended 2018 as the team’s second-leading rusher, will factor more into the Warriors’ running game than Entsminger did, Hall said.
“It’ll create different opportunities, so we’ll just emphasize different things. We‘re not running a different offense but what we highlight will be different,” Hall said. “And probably the defensive looks will be a little more predictable. I mean like you would think you're gonna see more eight-man boxes in order to stop the quarterback run game that goes with it, which will create opportunities in the passing game. It’s how do you create matchups and things that you want.”
It’s likely helped Sherando’s new offensive starters to have a core like Hayes (19 receptions, 280 yards, three touchdowns in 2018), Bauer (though not technically a returning everyday offensive starter, he saw time in the backfield last season and was the co-Region 4C Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team all-state pick in 2018) and junior offensive lineman Keith Gouveia, a second-team all-state selection.
“We’ve just been trying to be leaders as much as we can on the field and off the field, just showing the guys that are new to this whole thing, just the basics of what they’re supposed to be doing at practice and what type of mentality they’re supposed to approach the game with,” Hayes said.
"These young guys, I think they've really got heart and they’re really passionate about the game," he added. "They’re willing to lay it all on the line and I really love that.”
SPECIAL TEAMS WEAPON: Not many high school football teams can boast that they have one of the state’s top kickers on their roster. Sherando has such a commodity in junior Jack Hendren.
Hendren, who hit 3 of 4 field goals and 57 of 60 extra-point kicks in 2018, received a rank of 4.5 stars (out of five) by the national Kohl’s Kicking and Punting organization after he took part in the national Kohl’s kicking camp. It was the highest grade of any Virginia kicker in the 2021 class.
Hall said having a weapon the caliber of Hendren in the kicking game is “huge.”
“I don’t even think people probably even grasp how big that is, just in terms of like if an offense starts at the 20-yard line, their chance of scoring is like really, really, really small,” Hall said. “Ten percent score points (on drives that begin at their own 20). Score points, not like touchdowns. We’re talking about points.
“Obviously, that’s a huge weapon. That’s one of the units, when you look at units, you look at kickoff team and you look at punt block. Those two units alone are huge in terms of field position, flipping fields, those things.”
Hall said Hendren has made field goals from as long as 50 yards in practice.
“As soon as the ball gets on the 30, you’re like you feel good that you're at least gonna score points,” Hall said, “so if you need to take more shots, it opens that up to you.”
DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT: Sherando’s defense returns a bit more experience – five starters are back from last season’s unit that allowed just 14.8 points per game – and Bauer said he left last Thursday’s scrimmage against Spotswood comfortable with the strides the Warriors are making on that side of the ball.
“On defense, we just wanted to focus on running to the ball, and I thought from our first week to the second week, our scrimmages, I thought we did really well on that,” said Bauer, who led the area with 106 tackles last season. “And then just executing better and bringing more energy, I thought we improved on that too.
“We figured out we’ve got more depth now,” he added. “And I think we just improved a lot, so we see how we can improve from week to week.”
Hall agreed that Sherando showed the desired progress from its first scrimmage to the second, noting that the offense executed more efficiently and the defense, which is being run by first-time defensive coordinator and longtime Sherando assistant Jake Smith, showed better communication. Both sides of the ball, he said, executed well in their base formations.
As far as the expectations for his defense, a staple of Hall’s Sherando teams, the longtime head coach said those never change.
“I think you win long-term with defense and special teams, so I think that’s critical. And our kids understand that,” Hall said. “I think coach Smith’s done a good job organizing and I think we’re all on the same page in terms of what we’re trying to do. That’s been key."
- By Brad Fauber The Northern Virginia Daily
- Aug 26, 2019
Sherando quarterback Chacai Campbell works with his offense during a recent practice.
- Rich Cooley/Daily
Sherando head coach Bill Hall assembles his players during a recent practice.
- Rich Cooley/Daily
STEPHENS CITY – The graduation losses of nine everyday offensive starters, including a three-year starting quarterback and a three-year starting tailback, may leave many wondering what Sherando’s offense will look like in 2019.
Two senior Warriors – fullback Payne Bauer and receiver Jabril Hayes – who played prominent roles on that unit last season said Monday that they expect a unit that averaged 41.3 points and 390 yards per game in 2018 to continue to produce this fall.
Bauer said he doesn’t expect much to change from a production standpoint even with all of the new players filling more prominent roles for the first time. Hayes added that the Warriors will be “very productive” in 2019, saying “there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll do what we’re supposed to do, and we’ll capitalize on what coach (Bill) Hall implements for us for the week and going forward.”
“I think the progress with the offense has definitely been pretty good,” Hayes said four days before Friday’s season opener at James Wood. “We have a lot of new starters on offense, so them adjusting to it was, I don’t want to say difficult, but it was definitely a challenge that they took on, and they took it on better than I thought they would. I’m really excited to see what we can really do.”
Sherando had to replace four offensive linemen and its tight end upfront, and while Hayes’ return takes some of the sting out of losing 2018 leading receiver Nick Mazza, two of the offense’s most prominent positions see a changing of the guard.
Junior quarterback Chacai Campbell, who saw action in a backup role last season, takes over for Hunter Entsminger, who passed for nearly 6,000 yards and 66 touchdowns in three seasons, while senior Darius Lane, another 2018 backup, figures to take a bulk of the carries after serving as the understudy to all-state tailback T.J. Washington.
Campbell, who stepped in with Entsminger battling injury last season and started the Region 4C championship game against Woodgrove (a 27-3 loss), completed 25 of 36 passes for 309 yards and four touchdowns in 2018 and rushed for another 311 yards and four TDs.
Lane averaged 5.4 yards per carry last fall, toting the ball 41 times for 223 yards and two touchdowns.
“He’s put in the time. It’s his turn,” Hall said of Lane, whom he listed as one of the players the coaching staff expected to take that next step in the offseason in preparation for a featured role. “He’s worked hard, so I expect good things to happen.”
If Sherando does produce offensively in a similar fashion to 2018, it might do so through slightly different methods. Campbell, who ended 2018 as the team’s second-leading rusher, will factor more into the Warriors’ running game than Entsminger did, Hall said.
“It’ll create different opportunities, so we’ll just emphasize different things. We‘re not running a different offense but what we highlight will be different,” Hall said. “And probably the defensive looks will be a little more predictable. I mean like you would think you're gonna see more eight-man boxes in order to stop the quarterback run game that goes with it, which will create opportunities in the passing game. It’s how do you create matchups and things that you want.”
It’s likely helped Sherando’s new offensive starters to have a core like Hayes (19 receptions, 280 yards, three touchdowns in 2018), Bauer (though not technically a returning everyday offensive starter, he saw time in the backfield last season and was the co-Region 4C Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team all-state pick in 2018) and junior offensive lineman Keith Gouveia, a second-team all-state selection.
“We’ve just been trying to be leaders as much as we can on the field and off the field, just showing the guys that are new to this whole thing, just the basics of what they’re supposed to be doing at practice and what type of mentality they’re supposed to approach the game with,” Hayes said.
"These young guys, I think they've really got heart and they’re really passionate about the game," he added. "They’re willing to lay it all on the line and I really love that.”
SPECIAL TEAMS WEAPON: Not many high school football teams can boast that they have one of the state’s top kickers on their roster. Sherando has such a commodity in junior Jack Hendren.
Hendren, who hit 3 of 4 field goals and 57 of 60 extra-point kicks in 2018, received a rank of 4.5 stars (out of five) by the national Kohl’s Kicking and Punting organization after he took part in the national Kohl’s kicking camp. It was the highest grade of any Virginia kicker in the 2021 class.
Hall said having a weapon the caliber of Hendren in the kicking game is “huge.”
“I don’t even think people probably even grasp how big that is, just in terms of like if an offense starts at the 20-yard line, their chance of scoring is like really, really, really small,” Hall said. “Ten percent score points (on drives that begin at their own 20). Score points, not like touchdowns. We’re talking about points.
“Obviously, that’s a huge weapon. That’s one of the units, when you look at units, you look at kickoff team and you look at punt block. Those two units alone are huge in terms of field position, flipping fields, those things.”
Hall said Hendren has made field goals from as long as 50 yards in practice.
“As soon as the ball gets on the 30, you’re like you feel good that you're at least gonna score points,” Hall said, “so if you need to take more shots, it opens that up to you.”
DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT: Sherando’s defense returns a bit more experience – five starters are back from last season’s unit that allowed just 14.8 points per game – and Bauer said he left last Thursday’s scrimmage against Spotswood comfortable with the strides the Warriors are making on that side of the ball.
“On defense, we just wanted to focus on running to the ball, and I thought from our first week to the second week, our scrimmages, I thought we did really well on that,” said Bauer, who led the area with 106 tackles last season. “And then just executing better and bringing more energy, I thought we improved on that too.
“We figured out we’ve got more depth now,” he added. “And I think we just improved a lot, so we see how we can improve from week to week.”
Hall agreed that Sherando showed the desired progress from its first scrimmage to the second, noting that the offense executed more efficiently and the defense, which is being run by first-time defensive coordinator and longtime Sherando assistant Jake Smith, showed better communication. Both sides of the ball, he said, executed well in their base formations.
As far as the expectations for his defense, a staple of Hall’s Sherando teams, the longtime head coach said those never change.
“I think you win long-term with defense and special teams, so I think that’s critical. And our kids understand that,” Hall said. “I think coach Smith’s done a good job organizing and I think we’re all on the same page in terms of what we’re trying to do. That’s been key."
