Making an impact: freshmen are stepping up
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Entering the 2021 season, two freshmen area running backs had ever eclipsed 1,000 yards. Lewisburg's Max Moyers became the first in 2017 and Loyalsock's Davion Hill the next, two years later.
Last year three players joined that club. Milton's Chris Doyle, Muncy's Austin Johnson and Cowanesque Valley's Tim Freeman all went over 1,000 yards and scored 12 or more touchdowns. Jersey Shore's Elijah Jordan topped 700 yards, Muncy freshman Ken Hampe developed into one of the year's premier linemen and players like Lewisburg's Quin Michaels, Warrior Run's Isaiah Betz and Hughesville's Luke Stutzman shined defensively.
One gets the idea. If one was looking for a way to label last season as a whole, the best title may have been, "The Year of the Freshman."
Until the 1980s, freshmen were not allowed to play varsity sports. Even after that changed, the volume of freshmen making major varsity impacts were minimal. That has started changing throughout the 2000s and has gone into hyperdrive over the last 15 years.
"I do think that we're seeing a bigger growth in freshmen in terms of what they're able to bring to the table. In football, there's almost always a 1,000-yard rusher who's a freshman, not just in our conference, but in the Northern Tier, too. That was absolutely unheard of in years prior," Loyalsock coach Justin Van Fleet said. "Every school in the last few years has had a freshman make an impact on their team, especially at the running back position. I definitely see that growth factor occurring at young kids and I attribute it, mostly, to player development throughout the entire region and I wouldn't say just in football, but every single sport. People are paying much better attention to it."
Part of the growth comes from greater resources being available at a younger age now. There are more camps, more leagues and more opportunities basically as soon as one first puts on cleats. Athletes are learning what it takes to succeed at the next level early on and are reaching high school more prepared to play than ever before.
Sports often feature copy cat concepts and/or trends as well. Younger players seeing freshmen excel boosts their confidence and gives them belief that they can make an immediate impact. Advances in strength training, speed training and conditioning also play a role. Put it all together and a sport which sometimes featured a few freshmen here and there starting in years past is now featuring many who immediately are playing huge roles.
"The fact that there's so many great football programs in Lycoming County and District 4 and in neighboring areas provides a boost because, over time, players have seen freshmen make impacts. They know about it and read about it. And with camps and speed trainers locally, they are able to help kids out and help them grow," Jersey Shore coach Tom Gravish said. "We have a bunch of freshmen that we feel will play in games, how much we don't know until camp, but we anticipate we will have some playing (in the opener) against Pottsville."
That likely will be the case for many area teams and, honestly, throughout Pennsylvania. Locally, the rise of freshmen making big contributions started taking off around late in the 2000s. Loyalsock's Mike Kinney quickly developed into one of the area's best linebackers as a freshman in 2008. Ditto Lewisburg's Brandon Smith a year later.
The real turning point, though, came in 2014. That year South Williamsport enjoyed one of the most dominant seasons by area team in the 2000s, going 13-2, capturing the District 4 Class A championship and coming within a touchdown of reaching the state final. That squad was bolstered by the arrival of three freshmen starters, center Reilly Barnes and linebackers Gideon Green and Ashton Martin. All three played critical roles on a team which mercy-ruled three straight playoff opponents and routinely overwhelmed them on both sides of the ball.
"We were starting all those kids and rotating (Ben) Johnson in and they all had big roles," South coach Chris Eiswerth said. "We couldn't survive without playing freshmen at South. Every year we're usually starting one or two freshmen. We couldn't have done what we did in 2014 without those freshmen."
Current Minnesota running back Treyson Potts burst onto the scene a year later at Williamsport and freshmen standouts started becoming the norm with Muncy's Branson and Ross Eyer helping Muncy win the District 4 Class A title in 2019. Johnson helped Muncy romp to the NTL-II title last year, rushing for 1,179 yards and 16 touchdowns. Doyle and Freeman were at the center of remarkable turnarounds at Milton and Cowanesque Valley, combining for 2,310 yards and 30 touchdowns.
"I'd say that in our athletic culture, not just our region but entire country, people are ultra-focused in player development from the time a player is young to the time they're leaving the scholastic environment in athletics," Van Fleet said. "I don't recall from when I was young, a tremendous volume of camps to extenuate your play or trainers working with kids at a young age. Now, that's incredibly common."
Still, coaches are careful about when is the right time to play freshmen at the varsity level. At some smaller schools, their hands are forced and they have no choice but to put those players in the frying pan. But with some big rosters, coaches can be more selective.
A lot of these freshmen are physically ready, but the question becomes if they can mentally handle everything. Often, that what coaches are more focused on when it comes to deciding whether a freshman will play a major role.
"There are two variables and we always look for this: they have to be physically ready and they have to be emotionally ready," Eiswerth said. "You have to have the physical part, but it won't work unless you are emotionally and mentally ready. Some can't handle it and it's not for everybody, but if you can do it it can be a lot of fun because you get really good over the course of your career."
There was a time when several programs throughout the area consistently fielded ninth-grade teams but those days are mostly gone. Back then, coaches may have had their most promising freshmen play there and ease them into things. Some still do that at the JV level to let them settle in.
Basically, it's a balancing act and one coaches take seriously. They are focused on what is best for the team, but more importantly on what is best for that athlete.
"The St. Louis Cardinals used to bring guys up to different levels of the minor leauges and let them get a taste success and doing it the right way before calling them up to the majors. I go a little that way. If they're the best players you have, then you go with them but I don't believe in necessarily bringing them up just to bring them up," Gravish said. "We take that JV development serious. All of our assistants do a good job with that. Sometimes we take a freshman or sophomore and give them 3-4 games on JV and after they get a taste of success there, they are ready for the Friday Night Lights."
However coaches approach it, freshmen starting likely is a trend here to stay. What once was few and far between has become the norm.
"I've never had much of a concern about what year one of our student athletes were. I'm a bit different. I try not to look at them as freshmen. If they can play, they can play," Van Fleet said. "I have seen our younger kids coming into the program much more prepared. I give a tremendous amount of credit to not only our middle school program, but our youth program too. I'm actually president of our youth organization for cheer and football. We spend a tremendous amount of time to build their growth and build the same system from the time a kid picks up a ball for the first time until they're 18. Just today, I was able to talk to one of our athletes when they were down here in our 7-on-7 and give topics and concepts, and they were able to readily adapt.
"That's an exciting thing to see."