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PARK CITY MINERS
THE HURRY-UP
Park City finished 2-9 overall, 1-5 in league play, and lost to Hurricane, 49-28, in the first round in 2014.
OFFENSE
When Mike Shepherd returned for his third stint at Park City three years ago, he inherited a program in dire straits. Although the win column has not reflected the transformation, the Miners are starting to regain competitiveness.
"We try and keep it as simple as possible," Shepherd said. "Our biggest thing is we want to be competitive. We've been down a couple years trying to rebuild, and I think we've made some big leaps forward in just about everything in the program."
One perk of the rebuilding process is the experience for underclassman, indicative of the eight returning starters on offense this season. The Miners were middle of the road in virtually every statistical category offensive last year, but with improved success at 7-on-7 camps, production is expected to increase in 2015. However, despite the abundance of skill players, the development of a viable offensive line is still in question.
"We've been starting some really young players for the last couple of years, so now we'll probably end up with three seniors and two juniors on our offensive line, and all of them have varsity experience," Shepherd said. "I feel much, much better about our group of offensive lineman, but [they're] still untested. We have our fingers crossed and a lot of confidence that they're going to be able to step up."
DEFENSE
Mirroring the trend of experience, six returning starters will captain the dark side, specifically lead headhunter Grayson Maddux, who finished with 127 tackles in 2014. Continuing his growth — starting at cornerback as a sophomore, weakside linebacker as a junior and now middle linebacker in his final season — Maddux is the main component to stopping the run-heavy opponents residing in Park City's region.
"I have really high hopes for him. He's looked really good in practice, at both running back and middle linebacker," Shepherd said. "He's going to be a key to us. How he goes, is a little bit how we go; assuming people are going to try and pound the ball at us, we're going to need linebackers that can fill well."
Shepherd also expressed his confidence in the depth at defensive line.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Pegged at the bottom of the region is more an indication of the strength of the opposing programs rather than the shortcomings of Park City. The Miners will be improved and certainly won't be intimidated of the varsity speed with so much experience returning.
BIG SHOES
The Miners are unique, in that most of the production from last season stemmed from returning players. "To be completely honest, we're not really replacing many big shoes because the people that played the best for us last year were all underclassmen," Shepherd said. "We've got a couple players that have been starting at the varsity level for a couple years now that are still only juniors."
PROJECTED ORDER OF FINISH IN REGION: 6
RETURNING LEADERS
Passing: Spencer Zur (Jr.), 48-114-801-6, 8 TDs
Rushing: Grayson Maddux (Sr.), 54 att., 340 yds., 4 TDs
Receiving: Harrison Fugate (Sr.), 16 rec., 274 yds., 4 TDs
Tackles: Grayson Maddux, 127
Sacks: Jonas Loyens (Jr.), 1
Interceptions: Three tied with 1
2014 RANKINGS
OFFENSE AVERAGE REGION (of 7) CLASS (of 13)
Scoring: 21ppg 7 11
Rushing: 113.8ypg 4 8
Passing: 129.4ypg 3 6
Total: 243.2ypg 6 10
DEFENSE
Scoring: 33.1ppg 6 12
Rushing: 268.3ypg 6 12
Passing: 116.7ypg 2 3
Total: 385ypg 6 11
COACHING BIO
Name: Mike Shepherd
Years with school: 3
Alma mater: San Diego State
PROJECTED STARTERS
OFFENSE
QB: Spencer Zur (6-1, 195, Jr.)
RB: Grayson Maddux (5-9, 200, Sr.)
WR: Harrison Wakefield (6-1, 190, Sr.)
WR: Harrison Fugate (6-3, 185, Sr.)
WR: Collin Zur (6-0, 170, Jr.)
WR: Cameron Maddux (5-10, 150, Sr.)
LT: Cameron Gallagher (Jr.)
LG: Beckett Ricks (5-11, 175, Sr.)
C: Elijah Alford (6-1, 250, Jr.)
RG: Oscar Gonzalex (6-9, 180, Sr.)
RT: Parker Shea (5-11, 225, Sr.)
DEFENSE
DE: Mark Vausbinder (5-10, 167, Jr.)
DT: Parker Shea (5-11, 225, Sr.)
DT: Andrew Stencel (6-0, 303, Sr.)
DE: Elijah Alford (6-1, 250, Jr.)
LB: Ben Towery (6-0, 155, Jr.)
LB: Grayson Maddux (5-9, 200, Sr.)
LB: Jackson Burton (6-1, 174, Sr.)
DB: Cameron Maddux (5-10, 150, Sr.)
DB: Jack Root (5-9, 160, Sr.)
SS: Daniel Schoon (5-11, 135, Sr.)
FS: Harrison Wakefield (6-1, 190, Sr.)
SPECIAL TEAMS
K: Ben Coletta (So.)
P: Spencer Zur (6-1, 195, Jr.)
KR: Undetermined
PR: Undetermined
2015 SCHEDULE
Date, opponent, time (2014 result)
Aug. 21, Union, 7 p.m. (Lost, 37-20)
Aug. 28, at Preston (Idaho), 7 p.m. (Won, 32-14)
Sept. 4, South Summit, 7 p.m. (Lost, 21-6)
Sept. 11, at Ben Lomond, 7 p.m. (Won, 45-26)
Sept. 18, Bear River, 7 p.m. (Lost, 43-13)
Sept. 25, Stansbury, 7 p.m. (Lost, 42-21)
Oct. 2, at Judge Memorial, 7 p.m. (Lost, 28-10)
Oct. 9, at Ogden, 7 p.m.
Oct. 14, at Tooele, 7 p.m. (Lost, 35-13)
Oct. 23, Logan, 7 p.m.