With an impressive number of participants, Durant concluded spring football workouts last week with a total of 66 players in camp from 10th to 12th grade.
The Lions managed to get the full allotment of 10 practices in spite of a variety of weather issues thanks to their indoor facility as well as hosting a team camp that included McAlester, Broken Bow and Sulphur last Thursday.
“It’s the best numbers we have had since I’ve been here,” head coach Todd Vargas commented. “Most all 66 of those kids got a lot of reps. We were able to maneuver through the weather and get all of our practices complete, which a lot of teams did not accomplish. We are so thankful for our indoor facility.”
During the two weeks of drills, the Lions installed a new defense as well as incorporated several offensive changes that the DHS skipper said should suit their current personnel a little better.
“We installed a new defense with a four-man front that benefits the personnel we have, so it was good to get the kids started on that,” Vargas said. “We are going to run a bit more counter offensively, so we installed some new things that fit our kids better with the new ones we have coming up. Overall, I felt we had great practices, great attendance and great effort in spring drills.”
While they have several skill players to replace offensively, one constant for the Lions will be the return of junior-to-be Cole Robbins, who led the team with 819 yards rushing and eight touchdowns a year ago.
Robbins will anchor the quarterback position with Stephen Manhard leading a deep corps of running backs following a campaign in which he toted the ball 56 times for 321 yards while averaging a team-best 5.7 yards per carry.
“Obviously, losing some senior skill guys left big holes for us,” Vargas said. “Cole Robbins is going to be fantastic at the quarterback position as a dual threat guy that can run it and throw it. He’s a competitor and a great athlete. Manhard will be our running back starter and Jaxon Cuesta has looked good as well. We’ve also moved Axel Thurman to fullback.
“We’ve got a lot of guys we like at the receiver spot. Holdan Robinson, Sajon Davis, Colton Poore and Jayden Rangel did some good things in spring drills and Ryder Jones will be back for the fall. We have a lot of young kids that have shown promise, even into our team camp. We lost two All Staters up front but like the group we have. Jayston Stepp and Reid Thompson will compete at center. Grant Bull and Max Airington return as spectacular players. Senior Hunter Romero has looked good. We have some young kids looking at filling in those other spots that we were able to get up to speed pretty well.”
Defensively, the Lions will be anchored by the linebacker position that welcomes back their top two tacklers from a year ago in Rangel (112 tackles) and Thurman (108 tackles) along with Manhard, who also was impressive and will utilize a four-man front in front of them.
“We return some really talented guys at linebacker,” Vargas added. “Thurman, Rangel and Manhard are three juniors that are tremendous players back to lead us. We’ve moved Jaxon Cuesta up on the line to be a disruptive force, which he was in team camp. Davis, Jones, Robbins and Daltry Barker are back in the secondary. We have a lot of young and athletic guys that can run. This is the fastest we have been defensively. They are smart kids and tenacious tacklers. We just need to work on developing more depth.”
The Lions’ schedule in the fall will have familiarity early on with some new wrinkles leading to the middle portion of the schedule. That includes just their second game in school history against an Arkansas opponent when they travel to Gravette in the northwest part of the state in the third game of the season.
Durant will also open district play against perennial power Booker T. Washington, which returns to Class 5A after a stint in 6A.
“WehaveAdaandBroken Bow like last year in the first two weeks,” Vargas said. “We had a difficult time finding an opponent in the third game and picked up Gravette, Arkansas. It’s a long, four-hour drive but our kids are used to long drives. Booker T is new to the district and has been very good in 5A in years past. They replace Sapulpa and we’ll also have Coweta, McAlester and Bishop Kelley along with Shawnee, Tulsa Edison and East Central.
“It’s going to be a challenging district. I don’t think there is anywhere to hide in 5A no matter where you are. It’s nice to see some new people occasionally though. It’s going to be a fun challenge.”
