GRIDIRON GLANCE ‘23: Early Longhorns

August 19, 2023 at 7:14 am Updated: August 21st, 2023 at 7:05 am Derrick Stuckly

EARLY – Coming off back-to-back bi-district championship campaigns, the Early Longhorns are seeking a fourth consecutive postseason appearance in their fourth season under head coach Daniel Price.

The Longhorns bring back six offensive and five defensive starters, and 12 of 14 lettermen, from last year’s 7-5 squad, as Price – who is 21-14 in three seasons at Early – will be counting on new faces to extend the postseason string.

“We graduated a ton of seniors last year that had been very productive for us for the last three years,” said Price. “I’m proud of that group for setting a tradition and firm foundation to build on. We’ve done our best to teach from 12^th through 9^th through 7^th that the expectation is we’re going to compete for a district championship and we’re going to find a way to win gold footballs in the playoffs. Expectations for this year haven’t changed. We have guys that know it’s their turn to step into roles to lead us just like the previous three years and hopefully at the end of the year we can have a conversation about playing for gold footballs.”

Price is counting on the defense and offensive line to carry the load early as the Longhorns allowed just 21 points and 241 yards – 132 on the ground and 109 through the air – per game a year ago, while generating 38 points and 404 yards – 166 rushing and 238 passing.

“Our defensive front seven is pretty solid,” Price said. “We bring back five starters out of that front seven. There’s a lot of strength there and a lot of experience on that side of the ball. We’re also excited about the O-line, three of those starters are back along with our running back so having that core nucleus around the younger guys and hopefully that will help them be successful. That also gives us an opportunity to lean a little heavier on our defense and running game earlier in the year.”

Concerns for the Longhorns entering the season include replacing the number of talented weapons in the passing game lost to graduation.

“With as much production as we graduated offensively there’s always some worry there,” Price said. “We lost an all-state receiver, quarterback and two other receivers so there’s a lot of replacing of production we have to find. Defensively, we lost an all-state defensive end and our secondary is going to be young and new, so there’s a little bit of worry there. But I’m excited because I know how hard our coaches and those kids have been working.”

The defense will be anchored by Dalton Adams (71 tackles, 22 for loss, 10 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 interception) and Dillon Miller (15 tackles) up front, while others vying for playing time along the line include Brooks Clippinger, Izik Delgado (37 tackles, 10 for loss, 2 fumble recoveries), Dylan Brame (16 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack), Keegan Sherrill, Giovanni Guevara, Rico Vasquez, and Ethan Moseley.

Kaleb Ozuna (134 tackles, 13 for loss, 2 sacks) returns at middle linebacker, while Griffin Cheslock (30 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 fumble recovery) moves from safety to one outside linebacker position, and Rohyn Price (50 tackles, 5 for loss, 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception) will man the other.

In the secondary, Weston Barton and Reece Middleton (10 tackles) are expected to see the most time at safety while the cornerback rotation could include Ki Houston, Jacob McDaniel, Andrew Reedy, and Justin Pierce (18 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack).

The offensive line features Adams and Brame at the tackles, Clippinger at center and Delgado, Brame, Vasquez, Sherrill, Moseley, and Guevara competing for snaps at the guard spots.

Cheslock (1,211 rushing yards, 11 TDs; 15-111 receiving) returns to anchor the backfield, with Ozuna (512 rushing yards, 7 TDs) and Ben Morris also expected to receive snaps.

Houston (15-252, 5 TDs) and Middleton (10-126) will line up at the outside receivers, while inside receivers include Angel Del Villar, Benjamin Bleth, Jaxon Andrade, Reedy and Miller.

At the quarterback position, Price (4 of 12 for 40 yards, 2 INTs), Pierce (16 of 27 for 298 yards, 3 TDs, 4 INTs), and Barton have all split time at quarterback in the two scrimmages.

“We’re looking for separation before naming clear starters, but we’re real thin so multiple guys could be playing the same positions,” Price said. “It’s always good to have competition, it makes you better.”

Prior to the start of District 2-3A Division II competition, the Longhorns will hone their skills against Bangs, Tolar, Comanche, Hamilton and Burnet.

“Between all five we don’t have a weak link in any of those,” Price said. “Bangs is a rivalry game in Week 1 so always throw everything out with that. Tolar is going to be really good again. They played four rounds last year and they’ve always been a great test for us. In my years of coaching here Tolar hasn’t been a good place for us to go find a win. Comanche’s going to be good again and we’ve had a fun showdown with them over the last couple years and made it a competition between the two of us. They bring back their quarterback and running back, who is beast. Then we go to Hamilton, which replaces Troy, so that will be an interesting new adventure for us. It keeps us closer to home, but it’s a tough place to play. Burnet’s going to be good and they have a lot of kids like they did last year. I want to see us go compete against a 4A Division I team. We took them to the wire last year and we want to see how we match up.”

The Longhorns are looking to improve on last year’s runner-up finish to Wall in District 2-3A Division II, with Brady, Ballinger, Grape Creek and San Angelo TLCA also looking to make noise in the postseason hunt.

“On paper, Wall is out in front of all of us and we’re all chasing them,” Price said. “They bring back everybody from last year and they’re huge and Coach (Houston) Guy does a good job coaching those guys up. Being in the conversation with Wall again is always fun. Hopefully we put ourselves in position by the fourth district game against Wall to be talking about a district championship. We had that chance last year and lost by the three and I know our kids are fired up for another opportunity to play Wall. This year they come here and hopefully that helps us out a little bit.”

Regarding what it will take for the Longhorns to overtake Wall this season, Price said. “Continue to grow as team. Having a lot of faith and trust in each other is going to be a big part of the success we have. Crazy as it sounds this team is lining up to be as good as the last couple that we’ve had. We graduated a lot but we have a lot of pieces that can make this a special group and make a run in the playoffs. We have some talent and leadership and hopefully we’re talking in late November and early December about still playing football. That’s where I see this team having a chance to go, but we have a long way to get there. But if we continue to grow together we’ll be just fine and maybe shock a few people.”

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EARLY LONGHORNS 2023 VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 25 – Bangs, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 1 – at Tolar, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 8 – Comanche, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 15 – at Hamilton, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 22 – at Burnet, 7 p.m.

Sept. 29 – OPEN

Oct. 6 – Ballinger*#, 7 p.m.

Oct. 13 – Brady*, 7 p.m.

Oct. 20 – at Grape Creek*, 7 p.m.

Oct. 27 – Wall*, 7 p.m.