Across the state, spring football is seen as a time to develop younger players and hit the refresh button from the previous season. But after going 4-6 and 4-7 in back-to-back seasons, El Paso Franklin head coach Daren Walker decided that he needed to shake things up and do something to bring his team closer together: all his teams (freshman, JV, and varsity) would share the same locker room.
“We felt that there were several areas of the program where we thought that youth was going to have step up for us. I felt that there was a little bit of disconnect and I wanted to make everybody equal,” he said, “The goal for us was to build a little bit of team chemistry and I think it worked.”
As spring practice winds down, the response appears to be pretty positive.
“I can say that I know the name of every single freshman,” said offensive lineman Rhett Sullivan, “I think that teamwork will really help bring us together as a team this year.”
It was a very uneven ride for Franklin in 2016. After starting the season 0-3, Franklin won their first two District 1-6A matchups against Pebble Hills and Eastwood. The latter would prove to be the difference in the Cougars getting the final playoff spot. The Cougars would maintain that win-two, lose-two pattern the rest of the season that ended in the bi-district round against San Angelo Central.
Walker is hoping to see a better result in 2017. In order for the Cougars to get things back on track, they’ll lean on running back Seth Dominguez, who was a first team all-district selection and posted 1,349 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns in 2016. They also bring back junior receiver Khatib Lyles (545 yards, 6 TD) who is the only returner from the top four receivers last season.
That said, it’s the offensive line that could very well be the difference for Franklin. After being hit hard by injuries last season, having a core unit with starting experience back should help make things easier for the Cougars.
“’This year is the first year that we’ve ever had an entire offensive line come back,” Sullivan said, “I’m really excited for what could be in store and with this line and Seth, I think we can do some really great things.”
If there is one unit that has showed itself out very well this spring according to Walker, it’s his defense. They lose a fair amount of experience from last season’s unit, including linebacker Elijah Ruiz (100 tackles) and cornerback Jose Rodriguez (67 tackles) but they do bring back linebacker Kaleb Gutierrez (87 tackles) who has shown versatility and is ready to take that next step to lead his unit.
“We’re all hungry and we’re trying to learn a new defensive system but we’re all flying around and showing out well,” Gutierrez said.
“Coach (Frank) Martinez has done a great job with that unit. The kids have really rallied together and are competing harder than ever,” Walker said of his defense, “We’re getting after them and I like the unit as a whole. There’s still a little bit of unknown but I like the energy level that they’re bringing and they’ve done a good job this spring.”
As the start of the season is now under 100 days away, Walker hopes that the gains of spring can help his team through a tough non-district schedule which consists of Midland High, Odessa Permian and Copperas Cove. Last year, the Cougars lost the three games by a combined score of 165-38 but he and the rest of the team believe that the lessons learned from last year will serve them well in 2017.
“Playing the tougher schedule helped us in district play last year,” said Franklin running back Seth Dominguez, “We want to have that same mentality.”
“We’ve got to stay healthy and take care of the ball,” Walker said, “We’ll have some tough competition early and all those teams are going to be really good. We might have to do the same thing we did last year but we’ll be in the hunt if we can do that.”
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