Speed and experience have the Titans primed for a run

Collins head football coach Jerry Lucas can’t hide his excitement for his team this year. He looks across the field at his players and he sees two things — a lot of varsity experience and a lot of speed.

And if you’re trying to see those two qualities on display, you don’t have to look much further than junior starting quarterback Kade Goodin.

Goodin has been the starting QB for the Titans since he arrived on campus and has been around the program for even longer — his brother, Kenyon, was the starting QB as a junior and senior and was a wide receiver for the Titans his sophomore year.

Entering his junior year, the younger Goodin is well positioned to establish his name as the one people think about when they think of Titans QBs as he comes in with over 6,000 total yards and nearly 80 touchdowns in his first two years.

A true dual-threat quarterback, Goodin gets the benefit of having an experienced offensive line in front of him, who is used to his improvisations behind the line of scrimmage and a deep receiving corps to throw to.

Four of the top receivers from last year’s team — Logan Huelsman, Jason Hence, Avi Delaney and Jackson McIntyre — with an entire second unit of receivers with varsity experience starting on the defensive side.

Up front, the entire offensive line is back, but Nate Bruce has swapped to the defensive side to allow freshman Leonardo Levario to start up front on offense. In addition to having one of the best names in high school football, Lucas said Levario is one of the most talented freshmen he’s ever seen come into the program.

On defense, there’s still a ton of experience, but it’s taking a different shape. The defensive line is comprised of converted linebackers and offensive linemen while the secondary is mostly returning with a lot two-way players focusing on just defense. In all, 10 players with starting varsity experience are on defense, even if they’re not starting in the positions they had previously done.

The focus on defense? Speed and aggression.

“We’re changing up our defensive scheme. We’re trying to go with a more speed and attacking style. We think we can go more man-to-man now and cover more in space and that’ll allow us to mix the fronts up and try to get pressure on people and use our speed,” Lucas said. “We might not be very big on that side of the ball, so we need to use our speed and quickness on the defensive side and create some turnovers. We’ve felt like, historically, people have been able to keep the ball away from us and with how explosive we’re going to be on offense the next couple of years, we need to be explosive on defense as well. We’re changing some things up and it’ll be a different look for us defensively.”

Because of all that experience and depth and speed, Lucas has loaded up his schedule a little bit. Outside of rival games against Spencer and Shelby County, the Titans face three 6A schools in Lafayette (the season-opener), Oldham County and Meade County before entering conference play. There is no off week until the week before the playoffs and they’ll take on North Laurel in between conference opening Scott County and a combination rivalry-conference matchup against Woodford County.

Lucas explained that he’s scheduled those teams to both prepare his players for those games against teams like Woodford County who, despite being a 5A team, have a roster size comparable to 6A schools, but also to help the Titans in the RPI if they can take care of business against their 6A foes.

For Lucas, this year is about fulfilling the potential of the team. He looks at last year’s 5-5 regular season and sees missed chances more than anything.

“We feel like we need to make a run in the playoffs. That’s the goal. We were 5-5 last year and we felt like we had at least three games where if we didn’t turn the ball over, we’re right there to win the game,” he said. “Our goal is to make those plays and come out on top of those games. Our goal is to be hosting a playoff game and we feel like that’s the way we can make a run.”

It’s been since 2017 that Collins has gotten out of the first round of the postseason. That year, the Titans fell in the semifinals to eventual state champion Franklin-Simpson. Lucas knows he’s got the talent to make a similar kind of run. The only question that remains is health and execution.

Collins starts the season on the road at Lafayette on Aug. 22 before hosting Spencer County the following Friday.