Strength in
Numbers

Keep your roster handy this fall. Coach Ryan Cornelsen plans to play more Tigers, in more combinations, than he ever has in Republic.

The Tigers graduated most of the offense that ran for more than 4,000 yards a year ago, including 1,300-yard rusher Preston McCracken and all-state lineman Landon Harper. Cornelsen’s answer is packages — groups of players rotating in for what each one does best, starting at quarterback. That’s always been a feature of Cornelsen’s teams, but it will be more prominent than ever this season.

“You’ll see a lot more packages this year than what you’ve seen, with multiple players, including the quarterbacks,” Cornelsen said. “Those guys will interchange with our packages just like our running backs do, our tight ends do, our receivers.”

Three quarterbacks will take most of the snaps: Trenten Coleman, Cooper Cornelsen, and Brennan Overstreet. That usually means a competition for the job, but Cornelsen said that’s not how he looks at it.

“We try to take every player’s strength and we try to utilize that strength. So when we package things, we’re packaging to what guys are good at,” he said. “And it’s not just the quarterback, it’s what running backs fit that.”

Part of it is that the three of them grew up in different systems. Cornelsen said the senior class ran heavy gun at the lower levels, the junior class ran triple option, and the sophomore class ran wing-T. All three won doing it.

“They all did it different ways. They all were good at it,” he said. “So you try to blend that. You try to create packages that still utilize our strengths. We stay balanced.”

Junior Cooper Cornelsen comes out of that triple-option group. His package asks him to read the defense instead of running a play that’s already been decided.

“With him you’ll see much more of a flex-type quarterback than what we’ve run the last couple years,” Cornelsen said. “Those guys the last couple years, it was much more designed for them. This one’s going to be a lot more reading.”

Senior Brennan Overstreet is one of the two offensive players back. He’ll run the I-formation and the spread, and because he throws well, play-action becomes a bigger part of what that package can do.

“Brennan has a really good arm, got a good knack for throwing the fade ball, throwing the deep ball,” Cornelsen said.

Senior Trenten Coleman will play defense at inside linebacker and get packaged in at quarterback, from the gun and from under center. All three are expected to know the whole offense, even though each package is built around what one of them does best. Keiran Govan isn’t one of the three, but Cornelsen said he’ll take some snaps there, too.

“All three of them are very dedicated, good leaders, hard workers — exactly what we want in a quarterback,” Cornelsen said. “So whichever one of them’s in there running the huddle, our offensive line feels good about it, because those guys do things right.”

The offensive line is almost entirely new, and it’s getting reshuffled along with everything else. Senior Brody Romines will be at center no matter who is at quarterback. Cory Kroth, DJ Phelps, and Treyton Triplett will join him on the line. Raleigh Verstraete, an honorable-mention all-area lineman as a junior, has moved to tight end, and Easton Claypool and Aiden Bodoin will work into the rotation. Even the linemen get packaged when the Tigers go to heavier looks.

Most of them are seeing varsity fronts for the first time, and Cornelsen said that’s something games teach faster than practice does.

“It’s going to take a few games,” he said. “Understanding pad level and firing off the ball, the things that we’re going to do — it’s going to take them some time.”

He’s watched it happen before. Last year’s line started with inexperienced players, too.

“If you watch the first game against Nixa, we weren’t very good. We missed a lot of assignments,” he said. “And then by the end of the year they were just as good. It just took some time.”

Nolan Lashley and Greg Hicks will play fullback. Lincoln Caldwell, Baelor Cutbirth and Jacob Duran are among the tailbacks who’ll move through the packages. Govan, Tucker Ladd and Tristan Burks will line up at Z, in the slot, and Kordel Riley and Evan Rockhill will see time at receiver along with Overstreet.

Nearly all of those players are on the defense, too. That’s a change from recent Republic teams, on which two-way players were more rare. Cornelsen said the goal is what he calls a time and a half — a full load on one side of the ball, part of a load on the other.

“I believe at this level it’s really hard to play guys full time both ways,” he said. “But if you package stuff in, then you’ve got a chance to play them on defense and move them in and out offensively.”

The defense has holes to fill, but not as many as the offense. Senior Ethan Montiel is back on the edge after 70 tackles, 18 of them for a loss, and seven sacks. He was a first-team all-COC West pick. But the first thing Cornelsen talks about is how well he understands what’s happening in front of him.

“He’s physical, he’s tough, but he understands the game. He’s smart. He understands what we’re trying to do defensively,” Cornelsen said. “Now — every now and then he goes rogue on me.”

Senior Ekene Chukwu returns in the middle after a first-team all-area season. Lashley is back after 74 tackles as a sophomore.

Then there’s Govan, who committed to Missouri in April. He was a first-team all-state pick as a junior. He intercepted four passes and took one back 106 yards for a school record, made 57 tackles, and caught four touchdown passes when the Tigers used him on offense.

“Him being back there gives confidence to everyone, because he knows it really well,” Cornelsen said. “He understands football, but he understands what we’re trying to do really well. And they’ve done it now for a couple of years.”

Alex Johnson is back at corner after an injury cost him part of his junior season. Junior Carter Coggin takes the other side, and Cornelsen said he had a strong offseason. AJ Uhl and Fisher Moore will see time at safety, and Cayden Pacheco is back in the secondary. Cutbirth and Coleman start at the two inside linebacker spots, where Cornelsen expects the same learning curve the young linemen face.

“Those two spots have to be really savvy football players. It’s not something you can just go do,” he said. “It’s going to take a while. But I think by the end of it they’re going to be extremely good.”

Keith Ellis is back on the defensive line after playing in both Webb City games last season. Luke Woolfenden and Jack Rosenbaum will rotate at tackle, and Uriah Drew and Lashley will play opposite Montiel on the edge.

“Our kids truly understand we’re playing for the end,” he said. “We want to win every game. We want a great record. We want to win the conference. But before any of that, we want to be good when districts hit. And to do that, we can’t get ahead of ourselves.”

He said the number of new faces doesn’t worry him the way it would have when he was a less experienced coach.

“I think 10 years ago this would have scared me,” Cornelsen said. “You’re looking at a whole offense that none of them have played varsity level. So you’re going to have a lot of guys that are hungry to be successful, that want to go play hard. And there’s going to be some big mistakes. That’s part of it. To me it makes for an exciting season, because every win will be big. It’s a new group that hasn’t won varsity-level games.”