A corps of juniors and sophomores will line up out wide for the Cassville football this season, hoping to benefit from some gametime experience and working with a veteran quarterback.
Clay Weldy, Cassville football coach, said nine Wildcats are working at wide receiver, two of which — juniors Colton Roark and Riley James — have experience from 2023. Working with the pair are Sky Yang, Carlos Barrientos, Andon Goutney, Chase Ruark, Baxton Cornell, Chance Freed and Kaedyn Garnett.
Roark is the only Wildcat with a Friday night catch. He led all receivers in 2023 with 9 grabs for 185 yards and 2 touchdowns, one of which came in the Barry County Brawl win over Monett.
“Right now, we are trying to sort out who will play where,” Weldy said. “A lot of these guys are the same age. Roark has the most playing time, so he’s our Z receiver. Riley and Andon are working in there, too, and there are a lot of other guys we’re looking at.”
In hunting for starting spots, Weldy said his players have to do the obvious, catch the ball, but they also have to keep the minor details in mind.
“All these guys can catch, so what separates them will be the things like who can block, who lines up correctly and who runs the correct routes,” Weldy said. “Sometimes, with young guys, they don’t know where to go. We rep our passing offense every practice, and receivers have individual time to work with the QBs.
“With any offense, you need repetition. The problem is when kids are young, they may freeze up or overthink, then go, ‘Oh no, what do I do here?’” Drilling the plays and routes into the minds of the men will combat mental mistakes, and Cassville is hoping its receivers also benefit from another aspect of the team — third year starter at quarterback, Bodee Rose.
“It helps to have a veteran QB,” Weldy said. “And, Bodee’s been throwing well over the summer. It will also help that last year we had Riley and Colton both playing varsity and getting reps.”
Roark transitioned to wide receiver midseason from running back, and Weldy is excited to see what the junior will do with a full year’s focus.
“Last year, we felt like we were playing catch up,” Weldy said. “This year, we feel like we’re way ahead of last year as far as the connection with the quarterback.”
As youth and inexperience give way to age and wisdom, Weldy said the future for the Wildcats looks bright.
“It’s exciting when you look at a team with only seven seniors because we know we’ll be playing some juniors and sophomores — and we did that last year, too,” he said. “We hope to have a good year and to be solid for the next couple years because those sophomores and juniors are playing. That’s the case for almost all position groups.”
A position not dealing with youth is tight end, with two seniors, Hunter Morse and Malcom Terry, and a junior, Trevis Moore, looking for playing time.
“Right now, Hunter has the most reps this summer, and he played a little tight end late in the season last year in dome double tight sets,” Weldy said. “Trevis also played almost the whole game against Hollister because of an injury, then he injured his shoulder and was out.”
While Morse has the most reps, Weldy said there are still ways the three can separate themselves.
“It’s kind of the same thing as wide receiver,” Weldy said. “You have to line up correctly, be physical and block, and a positive is if you can go catch the ball in our route concepts. Hunter has done the best catching, but they all have done well.
“ Publisher’s Note: This story is the second in a five-part series running July 24 through Aug. 21 breaking down the 2024 Cassville football team by position groups.
