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Two-a-days: Stansbury football preview

Prep Sports Overtime by Bill Oram and Kyle Goon

Published August 5, 2012 1:52 pm

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Blink and you missed it. That's how Stansbury hopes its opponents feel this fall when it rolls out what should be a much, much faster team.

The Stallions enlisted school track coach Steve Allen in February to improve their speed. After months of fast-twitch workouts, every skill player on the team runs a 40-yard dash in less than 4.60 seconds. Coupled that with Stansbury's near-equal timeshares across the offense and, well, the opposition might need a breather.

"We feel like we punish defenses," said head coach Clint Christiansen. "We never rest anybody on defense, but on offense, we just roll like crazy on them."

Stansbury returns seven starters on defense and six starters on offense, including quarterback Chase Christiansen. The junior serves as a model for the team's physical transformation, gaining 15 pounds but shaving 0.30 seconds off his 40 time. Almost the entire team tells a similar story.

"My time's improved tremendously," said senior running back/cornerback Dacota Case, who dropped his 40-yard dash from 4.70 to 4.40. "So did a whole bunch of other people's times. We've all gotten a lot faster."

The tradeoff this year is a smaller offensive line. Only one player tops 200 pounds - which would be a bigger problem if it were still 2010, before the Stallions moved down from 4A. As it stands today, the relatively inexperienced line could still be enough to protect the offense's many moving parts.

"We're quicker to the ball, we're lower," defensive tackle Allan Havili said of the offensive line. "We're pretty good size for 3A."

LAST YEAR: 9-2, lost in second round to Desert Hills.KEY RETURNER: Allan Havili , junior, defensive tackle. The 6-foot-3, 280-pound tackle can shut down one side of the line by himself, and has dropped his 40-yard dash from 5.20 seconds to 4.88. Already fielding offers from Utah, Utah State, Arizona and Hawaii.PLAYER TO WATCH: Hudson Conrad, sophomore, wide receiver/free safety. The fastest player on the team will start at wide receiver and vie for time on defense. He measures roughly 5-foot-8, 140 pounds, but size shouldn't be a huge drawback in this up-tempo offense. Also a potential kick and punt returner.BIGGEST HOLE: The offensive line showed promise during 7-on-7s at Southern Utah University this summer, but still isn't game-tested. Only one starter returns.NEED TO KNOW: The Stallions will constantly rotate players in and out of their flexbone offense. If Stansbury regularly wears out opposing teams by the fourth quarter, it has a shot at the 3A title game.SEASON OPENER: Hosts Uintah. Aug. 17 @ 7 p.m.