New coach leads young Indians into season

No one has to tell Gary Robinson that his squad will not be favored in many games this season, but that does not mean there’s not a lot of excitement around the program.

Before school started, the Indians had around 26 players on the team. Headed into this week’s season opener at home against Mangum, the roster now stands at 38.

“We’ve picked up eight to 10 players just in the past week,” Robinson said. “I guess its the excitement and we’re doing some good things in the program that are attracting the kids. It’s not going to help us immediately but I think later on down the road and next year it’s really going to help us out. We still only have four seniors on the team, so we’re going to be really, really young going into the season.”

Still, the coach has been happy with what he has seen.

“The kids have been practicing hard and they put in the time it will take to accomplish our goals and it’s very exciting,” Robinson said. “I’m happy to be here. I told them after the scrimmage Thursday against Meeker that I didn’t want to have any part of any other locker room right now other than the one in Comanche.”

Robinson said that even after being outmanned at Meeker.

“Meeker is big, strong and fast and they’ve played together for a long time,” Robinson said. “They took it to us pretty good. They were huge and aggressive, something a lot of these boys haven’t seen. For many of them, it is the first time they have played high school ball. It’s the first time to see the speed of a high school team. It was overwhelming for some of my freshmen. But what I was really pleased about is how they kept getting back up and never stopped fighting every play.”

Which is what the goal is this season.

“We’re kind of like Rocky Balboa in his first fight,” Robinson said. “He lost the fight, but he never stopped getting up. He always kept coming back and lasted 15 rounds. And the second time, he won. That’s the angle we took with them and what we’re talking about and that’s how we played the scrimmage. They fought hard and that’s our goal for the season.”

Ayden Hines is the only senior who has been with the program from the beginning, but now the Indians have Jordan Thompson, Lathan Allen and Jayden Trumbo to join him.

“Jayden is going to be a player for us,” Robinson said. “He played in the past and decided to come out his senior year. He’ll be a good special teams player for us and maybe some at outside linebacker. So, we have those seniors and 38 total players. We will have a bunch of seniors next year. We’ll be senior heavy and ready to win some games. We’ll win some games this year.”

Offensively, the Indians will be running a spread offense.

“We’re run some jet sweep and counter off of it, and some counter read,” Robinson said. “I’ve got a good running quarterback in Kolby Shannon, which is what I like. I like to run my quarterback and we’ll do some sprint out passes with him and let him throw some quick bubble screens and things like that.”

Robinson also pointed out that Shannon has the arm to be able to go deep as well.

Another running threat will be running back Kanon Clift.

“He’s a good, hard runner, almost like a fullback and Shannon is a scatback, so its going to be good to have them together back there,” Robinson said.

Hollister Pollock will be playing at fullback in some packages.Freshmen Cooper Dobbins and Ty Lane will be playing slot receivers.

“They both are really fast kids and very athletic,” Robinson said. “They’re only freshmen, so as they grow and mature and we get into next year, they’re going to be studs for me.”

Evan Dodd, a junior, will also play a slot reciever.

Ayden Reed will provide a big target as a 6-foot-5 wide receiver and Payton Jones is another tall outside target at 6-foot-2.

R.J. Roberts will start at center and he will have Jonathan Alvarez on one side and Justin Mann on the other side at guards. Brandon Lombard and Clayton Brantner will handle the tackle duties.

“There’s some other guys who are going to play, in and out,” Robinson said. “All of them will be back next year and most of them will be back for two more years.”

With the recent split of Class 2A into two divisions of 16 teams each, there will be two state champions starting in 2024.

“That’s going to be good for us,” Robinson said. “We’re going to be in a good district. We’re young right now, so it’s going to be a good time to be a part of the program in the next few years.”

Most of the players will switch over to play defense. The line will remain the same except Reed will come down to play defensive end to use his length to knock down passes.

Clift will be playing an important role at mike linebacker and he will be joined by Hollis.

The corners will be young with freshmen Rylan White and Ty Lane taking those responsiblities. Dodd will be playing free safety.

“On defense, we have to learn how to play a little more with a sense of urgency and play faster,” Robinson said. “We’re not as fast as what I’m used to. A lot of these guys are just now seeing what it is really like to play high school football. You’ve got to play to get to that point. Sometimes, you’ve got to suffer through it just to understand what it’s all about.”

Shannon will be handling the punting and kicking duties.

“You can win games with special teams and so we’ll do some things that may surprise some people and most importantly, we just want to be solid and not make any mistakes and try to make some things happen on special teams.”

Kickoff against Mangum is 7 p.m. this Friday.