High school football: Kearns Cougars 2009 preview

KEARNS — The senior class that graduated out of Kearns' football program after last season was a special one, a group of guys who played on the varsity team over several seasons and helped make Kearns football respectable again.

Accordingly, it will be extremely difficult to replace them and everything they brought to the table, both on the field and off it.

But fourth-year coach Bill Cosper thinks he's got a class of up-and-coming players who can help fill the voids those left behind and help the Cougars continue to take steps forward.

With a pretty good group of juniors and seniors trying to lead the way this fall, Cosper believes his underclassmen have the potential to be similar to the group that graduated last summer — this year and beyond.

"These younger kids that are freshmen and sophomores very similar to the group (that graduated) when those kids were sophomores," said Cosper. "There's some talented guys there. It's just a matter of them maturing and coming along."

Cosper has seven returning starters on defense but only two returners on offense, and he knew going into this past summer that several of his sophomores would probably earn varsity time this fall.

He conditioned them accordingly.

"We weren't very nice to them in the summer," he said. "We killed them. We averaged probably 75 kids a day in summer workouts for our conditioning, and it was tough conditioning.

"We pushed those young kids because we had to. They're the guys that are gonna have to step up. They're gonna have to have some adversity and be able to push themselves through that adversity."

So far, junior QB J.R. Finai, who started last year as a sophomore, likes what he sees from the underclassmen.

"As far as young guys (go) that are coming in, they're really talented guys," said Finai, who had offseason surgery on both of his feet to correct a condition that caused his toes to curl up.

"They've been working hard all summer, and they deserve the jobs. All it takes is a few games at that varsity level, and we'll be good to go."

Having Finai lead the way on offense will definitely help, but especially early on, Cosper recognizes he'll be counting on his opportunistic defense, which returns with most of its front-seven intact, to keep the Cougars in games.

The defensive guys seem ready for that challenge.