Football is a fall sport, but around this time of year there is something called “spring ball.” It is a time players and coaches can get together and fine tune their fundamentals before the summer break leading up to fall camp. That is exactly what the Bisons finished up with a few weeks ago.
“Spring is always about evaluating your team, because when spring comes around you always have a new team,” head coach Ronnie Huckeba said. “Whether you lose a bunch of seniors or not, it’s a new team.”
Every year teams deal with players that leave due to eligibility, graduation or simply transferring to another school. This year, the Bisons lost 21 players just in graduating seniors alone, promising that new and old faces will emerge into the spotlight as starters.
“It’s not like the cupboard was bare,” Huckeba said. “We’ve been fortunate to play a lot of people over the course of the last three years in a lot of ball games. So some of these guys have tons of experience; meaningful experience.”
Huckeba said spring is all about finding out what type of team this new group will be. He said every year he looks to see what type of personality the new group has and what type of character it will bring.
A player who will have a huge say in how the team carries itself is sophomore quarterback Park Parish. Parish has big shoes to fill, replacing two-year starter, senior Keenan Kellett.
“I think Park Parish is going to be a stud; he had a great spring,” Huckeba said. “Parish is a home run hitter running the football.”
Huckeba said teams tried to take away the pitch and make Kellett keep the ball because he was not as big of a threat running the football, but said teams will not be able to do that with Parish running the ball.
“I felt good about this year’s spring,” Parish said. “I felt comfortable running the offense and feel even better about the guys I have around me.”
Parish saw limited time during the 2014 season as a backup, but this coming season he is labeled as the starter and ready to prove he has what it takes to be No. 1 on the depth chart.
Parish said the biggest difference in his role will be the leadership aspect. He said he did not play a significant role on the team last year and so this spring has been a major change.
Harding’s defense, which finished first in both scoring and total overall defense, is looking to continue its dominant form.
“I think we have a chance to have a great defense,” Huckeba said. “I think our front six and linebackers are going to be really stout. Most of those guys are coming back from last year and we lost (junior) Matt Cain early in the year and he’s going to be back as well.”
One of those returning linebackers is red-shirt sophomore Daylan Skidmore. Skidmore ended the 2014 season with a team-leading 56 tackles. Skidmore and company will look to echo Huckeba’s thoughts about having a dominant defense entering the 2015 season.
“What we have done in the past is now seen as average and we really don’t like average,” Skidmore said. “Setting a new standard is our motivation for next year.”
The Bisons have finished 9-2 the last three seasons and look to continue their success and bring home a conference title in 2015.
“The success of this football team will hinge on how hungry they are, how hard we work over the summer, the work we get done in preseason camp and then prior to our first ball game next year,” Huckeba said.
