By Kyle LoJacono
Staff Writer
The Sunlake football team finished with the best record in program history at 4-6 last year, but the Seahawks are looking for more than just a winning record in 2010.
“We’ve been working with some of the players now for four year and this is the first group of seniors we’ve seen all the way through,” said Sunlake coach Bill Browning. “They’ve been working hard in 7-on-7 league this summer and getting bigger and stronger in practice. I think they’ve all gotten a lot better and they want to prove they can hang with anyone in Pasco County.”
What the Seahawks coaches and players are most excited about is how balanced they believe the offense will be this year. In 2009 Sunlake ran the ball 76 percent of the time on offense. They average 102.5 yards per game on the ground with Rashaud Daniels, a junior, leading the way with 625 while adding nine of the team’s 18 rushing touchdowns.
“This year the offensive line is a lot better,” Daniels said. “600 yards is nothing like what me or any of the running backs should be able to do because the line is so much bigger and stronger.”
Browning said his team will have a 50/50 split between run and pass plays this year, which will likely make things easier on Daniels to pick up big chunks of yards.
“Last year all we did was run because we didn’t have a lot of weapons at receiver,” Daniels said. “Now our receiving core is tremendous. We have a lot of different options at receiver. It’s going to mix it up between running and passing and teams won’t know what we’re going to do until we’re going right past them.”
Daniels will be one of the receiving threats along with wide receiver Jamal Jones, a junior. Jones had 212 of Sunlake’s 434 passing yards and their only receiving touchdown last season.
Part of the push to make the team more balanced comes from the fact that senior quarterback Jacob Jackson has spent an entire year learning Browning’s system.
“He’s really learned everything we’ve asked him to and he’s ready to take more to the air,” Browning said with a laugh about Jackson. “He’s got a very strong arm and is very accurate.”
The bigger part of the change in the offense, literally, is the improvement of the offensive line. Browning said the unit has really gotten better at pass protection.
One of the leaders of the offensive line is Nate McCoole, who can bench press 425 pounds.
“We’ve gotten a lot stronger and definitely a lot closer,” McCoole, a junior, said. “These are my four best friends here on the O-line … For me and the line it’s the same whether we run or pass block. We just do our job.”
Their improvement has stood out to Jackson.
“It’s nice to play quarterback behind them,” Jackson said. “I believe they’re one of the best lines in the district.”
Jackson also saw how much playing in the Pasco 7-on-7 league helped the offense come together.
“We’re a lot closer as a team now,” Jackson said. “7-on-7 really helped us come together with our throwing plays and that helped me really learn everything in the playbook. Now I’ve got all the plays down 100 percent.”
Jackson had 511 passing yards while adding another 258 rushing yards and six scores.
The defense gave up 21 points per game last year, but that average dropped to 18.6 in the last five contests. The Seahawks defense also had two shutouts, one against Anclote High and the other versus Zephyrhills High. Senior inside linebacker Chason Connell believes the improvement in the second half of 2009 will carry over to this season.
“We’re playing a lot more physical than at the start of last season,” Connell said. “We’re just a lot better. We’ve been kicked around the first bunch of years, so we’re just trying to get our confidence up on the defense.
Sunlake went winless during the school’s first season in 2007 and 1-9 in 2008. Connell said much of the improvement can be attributed to the coaching staff getting to work with the team for several years.
“They are very good coaches,” Connell said. “They’re the best coaches I’ve ever been around since I’ve played football. I feel when we are behind they know how to bring us back and what plays on defense will put us in the best position to stop the other team.”
