Day 3: Heritage In Position to Challenge
Tight end Russell East was one player who stood out in camp today. A strong and athletic athlete, East will be utilized throughout the field for the Pride...
Photo By: Helene Shain/ Gameday Magazine
Heritage wants to win, no doubt about it. And by the looks of things from camp, they certainly have the talent, but what's more important is the approach in which they go about things.
Take for example head coach Wes Driskill at the end of practice. Rather than talking about practice, he instead berated the point incessantly about being a family on the field. By his tone and manner, it's very clear that is something he strongly believes in as he wants it to be the cornerstone of this year's team.
There's no questioning that having a family attitude does help as it was part of John Wooden's 'Pyramid of Success' while he was at UCLA. Now that Driskill wants to implement that same philosophy with his team, you can count he'll beat that into mindset into his players.
Yet in looking at what actually took place on the field, most of the practice was centered on basic fundamentals. For the first two hours, the basics of the offense were being implemented as were the special teams. Certainly not the most fun thing in the world to observe, but it did allow us a chance to look at Heritage's quarterbacks in Zack Gordon and Brian Rhody. Gordon will likely be the starter, but Heritage is set in the future with Rhody. The more he fills out his frame, he'll be extremely dangerous. His arm is nicely developed for his age, and by next year, he'll be making plenty of headlines.
What does help separate Gordon, besides his age, is his athleticism. He's perfectly suited for Heritage's spread option offense, not to mention he's much bigger in size. No question that having Gordon as their ring leader will win the Pride ballgames this year.
Also looking impressive was receiver PJ McPhaul. He looked noticeably better from a year ago as his athleticism might be the best Heritage has aside from running back Ross Madison. How he progresses into the season should be interesting to note.
Joining McPhaul at receiver will be Russell East, who can combine to play either tight end or be split out wide depending on the offensive set used. For his size and versatility, that hybrid role is a perfect fit for him. He is athletic enough to play the receiver position full-time, but having a body like his on the line surely doesn't hurt either. Him and McPhaul right now look to be two rock solid options for Gordon.
But aside from the passing game, it was interesting to note Heritage operating out of the pistol formation a lot. Just like the spread, it's one of football's hottest trends, but it looked to fit Heritage perfectly. It sets up the option perfectly and it leaves the ball in the hands of Gordon, who like we said earlier, was built for an option type of offense. So in having him, along with Madison and David McCarthy all utilized out of the pistol seems practical.
If there is one thing to take away from Heritage's camp, it's that they have the talent to be very effective. Their first scrimmage is against Spotsylvania County's Riverbend, and it'll be interesting to see how they fare. This is a team right now with enough talent that could very well win the district.
