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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information
Director
Saturday, July 25, 2009
WICHITA – The Hutchinson
Community College football team received its highest preseason prediction
since 1996 on Saturday at the annual Jayhawk Conference Football Media Day
at the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.
The Blue Dragons were
picked second behind defending NJCAA national champion Butler in the 2009
Jayhawk Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. Butler will be looking for its
ninth consecutive conference championship this season.
The rest of the poll was 3.
Fort Scott, 4. Garden City, 5. Coffeyville, 6. Independence, 7. Dodge City;
8. Highland.
The last time Hutchinson
was picked as high as second in the preseason poll came in 1996 when the
Dragons were picked to finish second.
“(Being picked second) is a
credit to all the hard work that’s been done to this point,” said HCC head
coach Rion Rhoades, who begins his third season with the Blue Dragons in
2009. “A lot of this is based on what’s happened in the past. So you have to
take this with a grain of salt.
“What matters for this year
is how you do in week 1, and then in week 2 and so on. We are excited that
we have gotten better, so we aren’t going to put too much stock on where we
are ranked.”
The Blue Dragons made a
five-win improvement in 2008, going 7-4. HCC made a late-season run that saw
the Dragons win 4 of 5, going to Fort Scott in the Region VI Semifinals and
winning 30-17 and carrying a fourth-quarter lead against Butler in the
regional championship game at Cessna Stadium before falling 29-14.
The Blue Dragons have six
starters and 11 lettermen on offense returning.
First-team All-American
Gage McKinnis, who was one of the top kick returners in the nation last
season. Now fully healthy, he will be utilized on offense more this season,
according to Rhoades.
Also back is back is
running back Chris Clay, who ran for 629 yards and 10 touchdowns in backing
up 2008 Jayhawk Offensive Player of the Year LaDarrian Page.
The Blue Dragons return
three starting offensive linemen in guard Mike Powell, center Chase Hartman
and tackle Calin Archer. Powell and Hartman earned postseason league honors.
The quarterback position
will have a freshmen starting this season.
Defensively, HCC returns
five starters and 11 lettermen from a defense that was second in the Jayhawk
in total defense.
Defensive end Adam Davis
will lead a deep and talented defensive line. Davis had 14.5 quarterback
sacks last season, the sixth most in HCC single-season history. The Dragons
will still have to replace NJCAA National Defensive Player of the Year
Eugene Kinlaw.
HCC lost all three starting
linebackers, but has three starters returning in the secondary led by safety
Matthew Pearson, who had four interceptions last season. Starting
cornerbacks Thad Williams and Kendall Davis also return.
“The first year at Hutch, I
got here late enough where we didn’t get a full swing at recruiting,”
Rhoades said. “This is really the first class of sophomores that we went out
and recruited from May to February that we are playing with. They are our
guys. They’ve been through the battles. They know the work ethic that is
needed to make our team stronger.”
For the second-straight
season, the Blue Dragons had the most Shrine Bowl participants of any of the
Jayhawk Conference teams. HCC will have 11 players (9 West, 2 East) in
tonight’s Shrine Bowl at Wichita State’s Cessna Stadium.
“That’s an exciting thing
for us,” Rhoades said. “All 11 of those guys will have a chance to be
contributors to our program. We had 10 last year and 11 this year, and then
we had a couple of guys who transferred in that played in the Shrine Bowl
last year. We have 23 or 34 of the best players in the state. Our staff has
worked hard in recruiting.
Practice for the Blue
Dragons opens Aug. 8. The first game for HCC will be on Saturday, Aug. 29 at
Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in Miami, Okla. HCC opens the home season on
Saturday, Sept. 12 against Highland at Gowans Stadium.
2009
Jayhawk Conference Predicted Order of Finish
1. Butler
2.
Hutchinson
3. Fort Scott
4. Garden City
5. Coffeyville
6. Independence
7. Dodge City
8. Highland |
