By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – This year’s Carmel Greyhounds football team will see its share of young pups on the field.
Carmel does have some experience, of course, with names that include a leading rusher and several linemen. Those players got together Friday night to participate in a jamboree at Westfield’s Riverview Health Stadium. Ben Davis was there as well, which means the ‘Hounds got to see two tough teams in a game situation before playing their opener.
“They were gracious enough to let us in, because they were partners for a long time,” said Carmel coach John Hebert. The coach said his team “really benefitted from it, I thought, because we didn’t get that competition all summer. We go against ourselves that whole time.”
Hebert said he knew scrimmaging against either team would not be easy.
“But that’s what you do it for,” said Hebert. “You really can evaluate people on your squad when you’re going against top-tier programs. We’ll watch the film and I’m sure we’re going to learn a lot from it.”
Carmel’s leading rusher is back, senior Alijah Alfayyad. The running back totaled 603 yards in his junior year, scoring two touchdowns. While the Greyhounds’ top receiver Reece Bellin has graduated, there is some experience in that area, with junior Nate Rodgers bringing back 19 catches, including one for a touchdown.
“It’s going to be a learning curve for our offense overall,” said Hebert.
The Carmel quarterbacks will be young: None of the four listed on the Greyhounds roster are seniors. But Hebert is bullish on how good his young signal-callers can be, starting with sophomore Anthony Coellner.
“I think Anthony’s got a lot of talent and a lot of potential,” said Hebert. “(Junior) Zack Trent keeps getting better all the time. I don’t know very many guys on our team that are there yet, so we’re all a work in progress, including myself. I just can’t wait to continue to work.”
Carmel’s defense has a few key players back. Senior linebacker Hunter Snow made 77 tackles last season, while senior inside linebacker Artemas Bryant had the most tackles for a loss last year with nine. Senior Christian Peterson returns at cornerback, and three linemen are again in the lineup: seniors Trent Fisher and Spencer Barrett, and junior Evan Parker.
“There were several guys out tonight, maybe six or seven,” said Hebert. But, the coach noted that’s a good thing for some of the younger players, who were able to get more reps in a game-type situation.
Carmel begins its season next week at Homestead, then takes on a slate of very tough out-of-state programs. The Greyhounds host Christian Brothers out of St. Louis for Week 2, and Martin Luther King from Detroit for Week 3, before traveling to Louisville for a Week 4 date with Trinity Lutheran. The rest of the schedule is filled with teams from the Metropolitan Conference, games which Hebert said are going to be “real challenges.”
“I don’t know how they’re going to turn out, but I know that if we keep working at it and we compete and continue to compete, that we’re going to improve,” said Hebert.