High school football: Timpanogos Timberwolves 2009 preview

OREM — Timpview may be the first school to come to mind when talking about Region 7 football, but the first-year coach at Timpanogos hopes to establish his Timberwolves as another big name in 2009.

A former assistant coach at Pleasant Grove, Timpanogos coach Brad King said he expects the 2009 Timberwolves to be a lot more competitive than people think.

"Our plan is to come out and be solid and play aggressive ball," King said. "I think we'll surprise a lot of people; I think we will."

Rather than continue as a predominantly pass-oriented team with a spread offense, King said he plans to mix things up through a variety of offensive schemes. He said his offense will be a bit more complex than most and the defense will be new to his players.

"We're not going to be a 90 percent passing team or anything like that," King said. "We're going to balance our attack, and I think that's important."

With the new offense and more aggressive defense, King said the Timberwolves should be strong competitors in their region and in the state, even after finishing just 3-6 in the region last season.

"We are not going to surrender, willingly, a yard," King said. "Blitzes and stunts, we're going to work a lot in there. We're going to mix it up."

As a first-year coach coming in, King said he's established a consistent pattern of discipline that is yielding improvement on his team. Timpanogos will need plenty of discipline as it plays through a tough 2009 schedule with games against 5A Pleasant Grove at home and Timpview on the road.

But, even with all of the changes taking place to start the season, King said his players are optimistic about 2009. He said athletes have come out in droves this season — more than 100 already, with some more to come.

"The kids seem to enjoy what they're doing," King said. "I'm not a big yeller — I'm more of a teaching coach, but I have very high expectations for the kids."

Timpanogos Timberwolves at a glance

Coach: First-year coach Brad King has been coaching for more than 20 years. He coached at Orem High back in the 1980s and has since coached in Idaho, Nevada, Kansas and Alaska. Most recently he was an assistant coach at Pleasant Grove. Half of King's staff was at Timpanogos previously, while the other half is completely new. However, King said he's never coached with any of the other Timberwolves coaches before.