High school football: Timpanogos rebuilds and reloads offensive attack

OREM — When a coach has 11 new players trying to run an offense that was one of the state's most-potent last season, he might need to be a little patient and make a few changes.

In fact, even though the Timpanogos Timberwolves will still run a form of the spread offense and "try to get into 7-on-7 situations" as much as possible, this year's version could be effective in a totally opposite way.

Mainly, new quarterback Parker Brown is so fast and athletic that he'll probably be more effective running the ball than passing it. Add in the single running back JoJo Pili, who runs more with power than speed, and the T-Wolves might be running over people more than running around them.

"Offensively we're reloading, but we do have some good athletes who are stepping into those positions who should be pretty good," T-Wolves coach Brad Molen said. "So we're looking at this season more as reloading than rebuilding."

Still, the T-Wolves plan to open up the field and get the ball to the receivers as much as possible. This year the main targets will be Kellen McWhorter and Justin Nickle. But Timpanogos' not-so-secret weapon might be 6-foot-7 Joe Kruger, who is being recruited by just about every college as a defensive end. However, Kruger has outstanding speed and can surprisingly catch the ball quite well.

"We're going to get things done this year by committee," Molen said.

With the inexperience the T-Wolves have on offense, they're going to depend greatly on their defense to keep them in games. This year they won't win many offensive shootouts like they have in the past. Fortunately, they do have a quality defense with six returning starters — one of which is Kruger. Parker will also play in the defensive backfield.

"Our defense is going to have to carry us until our offense gets going and gets off the ground, because it might take us a few games before the offense steps up and gets rolling," Molen said.

With the need to play so many players on both sides of the ball, Molen is hoping to provide some relief by platooning some and having players share time on the field. And even though the school has a very strong sophomore class, the T-Wolves will still depend on a dozen or so core players to carry most of the load. Clearly, they must remain healthy to repeat the success that the team experienced one year ago.

"We just don't have the same kind of depth as we've had in the past," Molen said.

Timpanogos T-Wolves 2008 prep football preview