Team: Tekamah-Herman
Mascot: Tigers
Colors: Purple and Vegas Gold
Class: C-2
Head Coach: Graig McElmuray (2nd season)
2015 record: 0-9
Returning Starters: 10 offense 13 defense
Overview:
After going through one of the most difficult seasons a team will ever have to incur, the Tekamah-Herman Tigers figure to be much better in 2016.
Tekamah-Herman returns 10 starters on offense and 13 players who started on defense last year.
Here is a projection as to how the Tigers will start on both sides of the ball:
QB/ Cody Hopkins (5'11, 200 SR)
RB Ben Metzler (5'11, 186, SR)
RB Luke Green (5'10 180, SR)
TE Trenton Elliott (6'0, 152 SR)
WR Dustin Pickell (5'9, 135 SR)
WR Drew Schmidt (5'8, 170 SR)
OL Cory Leonard (5'8, 195 SR)
OL Colton Morrow Merrill (6'3, 250 SR)
OL Kyle Quick (5'11, 155 JR)
OL Gage Drummond (5'11,182 SO)
OL Alex Camp 5'11, 233 SO)
LB Cody Hopkins
LB Ben Metzler
DB Luke Green
LB Trenton Elliott
DB Dustin Pickell
DB Drew Schmidt
DL Cory Leonard
DL Colton Morrow Merrill
DL Kyle Quick
LB Gage Drummond
DB Max Hansen (6'0, 168 JR)
Despite all the talent Tekamah-Herman returns, there are a couple of players that Head Coach Graig McElmuray labels as big losses. "Matt Gross and Gus Langley, Solid leadership and great attitudes."
It appears numbers and depth won't be an issue for the Tigers this season. McElmuray says there's a group of newcomers in particular that could do some special things. "Our Freshman, all of them. Great athletes and great practice attitudes! They will find places to play."
That's saying something considering Tekamah-Herman has a good number of upperclassmen, and the majority of the starters are seniors.
The Tigers battled through multiple injuries last season that greatly affected the outcome of games and the season as a whole. McElmuray says it was a learning experience for everyone. "First I learned a lot as a coach last season. Our practices have been better our summer was better and our players are better for it. We have 13 young men that started for us on defense at some time during the year returning for us. Each of them has a full year of varsity experience under their belts. There is not a guy on that list of projected starters that has not seen significant varsity time. Our hope is that it breeds some confidence for our team it has shown in practice.
As coaches we have worked really hard to simplify the game. That is what the injuries and missing players taught me last year. The night before our first game our starting Middle Line Backer was hospitalized, after going into anaphylactic shock at a team dinner. We are making sure that everyone gets reps, no matter what we think about their talent level. Our #1’s are playing scout at times against our freshman."
If Tekamah-Herman can avoid the injury bug they should be competitive in most if not all of their games.
The Tigers have to take things one game at a time, execute on offense, limit turnovers, create turnovers, and tackle well.
Tekamah-Herman has to stay focused throughout the season and not get ahead of themselves. If the Tigers do that they should put themselves in a position to be successful every time they take the field.
There's a lot of veteran and young talent on this team, and if everyone can mesh and work well together then it could be a very respectable season for Tekamah-Herman.
Season Outlook:
Tekamah-Herman figures to be much improved this season if everyone stays healthy. McElmuray says avoiding the injury bug will make a difference. "We are going to be better. How much better depends on so many factors and staying healthy is just one of them, but it will help."
Most of last year's games were one sided and the Tigers were on the short end of the stick every week. McElmuray hopes the team competes better this year. "Last year we set the bar pretty low, I want to see us be competitive in every game. We have been getting that instilled in our young men this past year, example in track we only had one athlete that ran a sub 12 100 meter dash consistently, we ran as a group a 46.7 that is being competitive. All of those young men are out for football. I think we can play with everyone on our schedule."
I tend to agree with McElmuray's last sentence.
The Tigers don't have an extremely difficult start to their schedule, and a 2-1 or 3-0 record seems very possible through three games.
The slate gets tougher though with a home game against Doniphan-Trumbull, a road game at Logan View, a home game against BRLD, a road game at Fremont Bergan, a home game against Oakland-Craig, and a road game at Wisner-Pilger to end the regular season.
I think Tekamah-Herman is capable of going 7-2 if they maximize their potential.
5-4 or 4-5 could be more realistic, but this season has all the makings of being a good one for the Tigers.
McElmuray says his team is ready. "It is going to be a fun year, the players we have this year have grown and become so much better then we were last year. Our football players are buying into our program and each other."
A team generally does better in a coach's second season than in their first, and I look for that to be the case with Tekamah-Herman this season.
Graig McElmuray's District Predictions:
1.Oakland-Craig they are the team to beat.
2. Arch Bishop Bergan they are returning a good core group of guys and they are fast.
BRLD/Tekamah-Herman we think that is going to be a great game between “county” rivals.
Logan View/ Wisner Pilger
I think the last four will finish depending on how healthy we stay through out the year.
2016 Tekamah-Herman Tigers Football Schedule:
08/26/16 @ Omaha Brownell-Talbot
09/02/16 @ Ponca
09/09/16 North Bend Central
09/16/16 Doniphan-Trumbull
09/23/16 @ Logan View
09/30/16 BRLD
10/07/16 @ Archbishop Bergan
10/14/16 Oakland-Craig
10/21/16 @ Wisner-Pilger
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