Editor's Note: Earlier this month we projected how the Baker Gator offense and defense will look this fall. We projected the Crestview High School offense in our June 12-14 issue. Today, we conclude the series by projecting the Bulldog defense.
CRESTVIEW — An experienced defense will take the field for Crestview High School when the Bulldogs host Milton Aug. 29 in the 2014 season opener.
“Our defensive front — counting our linebackers — you are probably looking at six seniors,” Bulldog Coach Tim Hatten said. “It’s a pretty good bunch to have defensively. I think we have the same talent level that we had last year.
“We don’t have a Denzel Ware, who is a Division I rush end. But we’ve got more experience, with seven guys that played a lot last year. The experience level goes up and the kids are a little more mature.”
Defensive line
The defensive line starts on the inside with Tyrone “Moo Moo” Baker and Marcus Flavors.
Gage Powers, D.J. Stewart and Chase Henderson will man the defensive end positions.
Hatten likes all of his linemen, but he’s especially high on Baker and Flavors.
“Moo Moo is 5-11, 245 pounds, but he plays bigger than that,” Hatten said. “When you turn the film on, No. 9 (Baker) jumps out at you really hard. Marcus is probably 5-10, 230 pounds.
“They are not big, but they are real active high school players. It’s hard to find a 275-pound high school kid that moves around and plays the defensive line. It usually takes them a little longer to develop.”
Linebackers
“The linebackers will be JaQuan Daniels, Blayze Spencer and Amp Seals,” Hatten said. “That’s three pretty good linebackers. And Antryon Gloster backs them up.”
Secondary
A pair of Bulldog wide receivers will see double duty, manning spots on the defensive side of the ball as well.
“In the secondary we’ve got Marquis McClain and Andrew Adkins playing both ways,” Hatten said. “We’ve still got the little cornerback over there, Trey Dennis. And you’ve got Jakeem Peoples that plays corner for us.”
Special teams
Devin Davis has the edge at punter going into the summer. Nate Gerard, who will handle the long snaps, would punt, but he’s too valuable snapping the ball.
“Gerard can’t snap it for us and punt unless he could snap it and run back there real quick (to take the snap),” Hatten said.
Wrap up
Hatten prefers not to start sophomores, but he said a couple of sophomores could work their way on to the starting defense.
“We’ve got a couple that could play,” he said. “We just have to see if they figure in for us or not.
“We’ve got some things we have to figure out.”
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Projecting the Bulldog defense