GRIDIRON GLANCE ‘ 24: Early Longhorns

August 24, 2024 at 7:46 am Derrick Stuckly

EARLY – After serving as an Early Longhorns football assistant for seven years, Randall Case has ascended to the role of head coach and athletic director, eyeing the program’s fifth consecutive postseason berth in 2024.

The Longhorns are coming off a 6-6 campaign a year ago, and return five offensive and four defensive starters.

“This is my eighth year here so the kids aren’t new to me, several of the guys on the staff aren’t new to me, so that’s been really nice and I’ve been able to hit the ground running,” Case said. “There’s been some day to day changes with the athletic director side of things, but overall it’s been a great transition.”

Regarding what he’s seen from the Longhorns thus far in the preseason, Case said, “Our young kids are progressing. That was obviously going to be our biggest hurdle, our inexperience and our young kids. We’ve been very pleased with the way they’re progressing. We like the way they’re working right now. At this point it’s all positive for us. We’ve been pleased with the way our kids have come in. There’s always lulls, but our kids really haven’t had a lot of those. They’ve been coming to working every day so we’re really pleased about how they’ve approached things.”

In terms of schemes, the Longhorns offense will look much the same as it has in previous years, but the defensive side of the ball will feature a significant shift.

“Offensively we’re pretty similar,” Case said. “We’re going to stay in the spread and show a few more sets than maybe you’ve seen, but for the most part we’re going to be a true spread team. Defensively, we look a whole lot different. We’re going to bring some more pressure and move to an odd front. We’re really excited about the way they’ve progressed in our defense and that big change.”

Offensively for the Longhorns, the line will feature Ethan Moseley, Will Speck, Keegan Sherrill, Kaedyn Byrd, Riley Barton, Rhett Smith, and Rhett Williams.

“Ethan will be the gatekeeper of that group and keep them going day to day,” Case said. “Will Speck saw some playing time as a junior and we’re excited about how he has progressed in an every down role. Keegan has been working to solidify a spot and Kaedyn is making the move to tackle for us.”

At the skill positions, Weston Barton (16 of 39 for 243 yards TD, 3 INT) takes over at quarterback, while Andrew Reedy (52-860, 7 TDs) at receiver and Ben Morris (161 rushing yards, TD) at running back also return. New faces include receivers Jaxson Stockman and Brayden Moya on the outside, while Ben Bleth is another returning option at receiver as well, and Brandon Walker is expecting to get some looks at tailback.

“Weston has some Friday night experience, and Andrew is almost a 900-yard receiver coming back for us,” Case said. “Ben has taken significant snaps and we’re moving Brandon up from the JV, while Jaxson will fill a role for us, and we’re going to slot Ben and Brayden in as well.”

On the flip side of the ball, Speck, Bleth and Brayden Schafer are expected to see time at nose tackle, while he rest of the defensive line rotation will feature, Williams, Smith and Riley Barton.

Linebackers include Byrd (50 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 INT, 1 FR) in the middle, Morris on the weak side and Mario Vazquez on the strong side. Schafer and Cameron Love will also see time, while Reedy and Walker are playing in hybrid positions.

Walker or Weston Barton will man the safety spot, while the corners will feature a rotation of Stockman, Moya and Da’Corrain McBride.

On special teams, Angel Marquez will handle the kicking duties.

Early kicks off the season against rival Bangs, then battles Hamilton, Junction, Peaster, and Comanche prior to the start of District 5-3A Division II action.

“It’s going to be super competitive and we’re going to face some guys who are very talented,” Case said of the pre-district slate. “The thing for us is we have to come out healthy and grow from our mistakes. We’re going to have ups and downs. When you have a young team those Friday nights are a whole different ball game. We just need those kids to continually grow week to week, that way we can hit the ground running and greased up for district. We really need to make sure we are progressing and not dwelling on the downs and getting too high on the highs. If we can do that, week to week and get to district, I think we’ll be OK.”

The Longhorns are heading east for the playoffs this year in the new District 5-3A Division II, as they will face a different cast of characters in their bid to reach the postseason in 2024 – Tolar, Clifton, Brady, Eastland, and Dublin.

“We’re excited,” Case said of the new league. “We get to see some new faces these kids have never seen. We haven’t seen Dublin in football, they’ve never seen Clifton, and it’s been five or six years since we’ve seen Eastland. We’re familiar with Tolar having played them almost every year, and we’re familiar with Brady. There’s some familiar and some unfamiliar so I think it’s going to be refreshing. We get to play in some different stadiums and I think it’s going to be super competitive. Right now everyone is looking for Tolar to be that top dog after what they just did, but I think it’s going to be a super competitive district.”

Dave Campbell’s Texas Football projects Early to place third in the league behind Tolar and Eastland.

As for what the Longhorns can do to ensure a fifth straight playoff berth and compete for their first district title since 2007, Case said, “We have to be consistent. We can’t go up and down week to week. We can have a bad day here or there, but we have to be consistent in the things that we’re doing. We have to be able to progress. It’s a growing period right now as far as young kids go, and how many guys are going to be playing their first games on Friday night. If we don’t progress, we’re not going to get where we need to go. We need them learning, growing and building on each week in order for us to make a strong appearance in district.”

***

EARLY LONGHORNS 2024 SCHEDULE

Aug. 30	at Bangs	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 6	Hamilton	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 13	Junction	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 20	Peaster	7 p.m.
Sept. 27	at Comanche	7 p.m.
Oct. 4	OPEN
Oct. 11	at Tolar*	7 p.m.
Oct. 18	Clifton*	7 p.m.
Oct. 25	at Brady*	7 p.m.
Nov. 1	Eastland*	7 p.m.
Nov. 8	at Dublin*	7 p.m.