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6D El Dorado News-Times Wednesday, August 28, 2019 Expectations large for Wildcats on offensive line
By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
El Dorado’s offensive line enters the season with large expectations, re- turning four of its five starters from a year ago. Coach Kris Borosvskis, who moved to the OL coach after being in charge of tight ends, said his group hasn’t thrown a block against anyone in a different colored jersey, yet.
But he’s expecting a lot, too.
“They are a highly intelligent group. They’re very interchangeable. I’m very excited about what we have in store this season,” Borosvskis said. “That group as a whole is a joy to be around every day. They’re very intelligent. They’re not a high-rep group, which means we can install something one time on the fly and there’s a lot of car- ryover. They pick it up quick. They’re a very attentive group. They’re very coachable. It’s going to be an exciting time to watch them.”
The Wildcats feature a pair of senior tackles in Dalton Perdue (6-6, 288) on the left and Thomas Crawford (6-3, 269) on the right. Crawford moved to tackle from center to replace Jeremy Boone. The guards are senior Camer- on Deal (5-10, 251) and junior Brady Norris (5-11, 284) with senior Thomas Hatley (6-0, 234) at center.
“There’s definitely a lot of continui- ty there with that group,” Borosvskis said.
Moving Crawford to tackle was a big step for the entire line.
“His transition from center to tack- le has been good. It’s been smooth,” said Borosvskis. “I think he realized last year, playing center was his best way to get on the field and get our best guys on the field at once. We did dab- ble with him some at tackle last year. But our need was at center.”
Perdue, who has committed to SMU, is a returning starter and will be count- ed on to anchor the unit.
“I expect from every one of them the same thing. My job is to get them all to perform at the highest level they can. I want them all to be the best versions of themselves they can be,” said Bo- rosvskis, who replaced long-time OL coach Nick Vaughn.
“It’s a little bit different coaching style than they’ve had in the past. I’m a little grittier, more nasty, in your face a little bit. That’s something they all can work on a little bit. Being such great kids, every once in awhile you’ve got
Sarah Primm/News-Times
Offensive line: El Dorado's offensive line will be coached by Kris Borosvskis this season. The Wildcats are expected to field one of the state's best offensive fronts in Class 6A.
to get a little nasty, especially playing offensive line. Being in the trench- es every day, it’s an all-out war every snap. Being physical will be a key area of focus this season.”
Depth shouldn’t be a problem for the Wildcats, who have more seniors in the rotation in Julius Broussard (5-9, 317), Raheim Cain (5-10, 265) and Pay- ton Griffin (5-9, 200) along with soph- omore Devin Walter (5-10, 272).
“Having those two senior guys being able to come in there and Payton Grif- fin, who may see some time at center, they’re pretty intelligent, all pretty in- terchangeable,” Borosvskis said. “If we need to move some people around, we’ll play the puzzle piece game, move one here, slide another one there. They’ll do a good job coming in. Ra- heim got a lot of reps last year as a rotator for us. He’s competing at that number one spot with Brady at guard. He’s a guy we can plug in at any spot.”
In El Dorado’s offense, fullbacks and tight ends often act as offensive line- men. Sophomore Patrick Sixbey could see action at H-back with Cameron Margis and Titus Seabolt battling it out at tight end.
The Wildcats’ offense wants to be up-tempo. Big guys, generally, aren’t fond of up-tempo.
“It’s just having to be conditioned. It’s more of the conditioning aspect of moving from drill to drill, from rep- to-rep,” said Borosvskis. “Do big guys like it? No, I don’t think any big guy will like having to do a lot more run- ning. But, it’s definitely more benefi- cial when we get lined up and go and the defense is still trying to figure out what we’re doing.”
Asforanewcoachandanew scheme, the coach said the learning
process wasn’t that difficult.
“Things that are different are just ter-
minology. At the end of the day, power is power. Counter is counter. There hasn’t been a lot of change as far as as- signment goes,” he explained. “There’s been more of a change as far as how we call it, how fast we call it. That’s something that’s new with Coach Jones. We’re going to be a high-tem- po team. It’s just adjusting to a new vocabulary but when it gets down to the meat and potatoes, they’re smart enough to have that carryover and un- derstand what their assignment is.”
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