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Nevada Tigers have high hopes for 2009 season
NEVADA, Mo. -- "The boys are working hard. A big deal for us this year was really raising the expectations on them and as a team, we are getting a lot better."
Nevada Tigers head football coach has put his main focus on the intensity and the work ethic of his players in order to improve the game as a whole.
The Tigers had approximately 60 players show up for the first day of practices with a few more coming in over the course of the first week and Fleeman said that he was very impressed with how things have gone thus far.
Very few changes have been made to the overall scheme of the game that the Tigers will use this year and the focus has continued to be simply improving on the same ideals that have been stressed since Fleeman took over the head coaching position.
Most of the starting squad is already "pretty solid," Fleeman said, but several positions will have a number of quality players that he can use at his discretion. "At certain spots we have better depth than others, but this is definitely better than it has been here in the past," he said.
"We've got some younger kids and some returning kids really stepping in and challenging for spots, some good competition for playing time and things like that. So depth chart wise, I really can't complain."
Fleeman spoke very highly of last year's group of seniorswho left the team due to graduation, but said that most of the empty holes that were left by graduates have been filled more than adequately.
Fleeman said this year's group of seniors have played a lot in the past and had success in the past, so hopes are very high that they will be able to fill the needed roles. "The guys that we need to have are in the locker room now," he said.
Fleeman said that he has very high hopes that this year's team will learn from the struggles they experienced in the 2008 season and use those experiences to improve their quality of play and desire to win.
Fleeman said that he has tremendous faith in this year's team's ability to "take a little more pride in following up to what our potential and our expectations can be with actually doing it."
Fleeman is fully aware that looking at another team and what they can do compared to the talent level that his Tigers possess doesn't guarantee a win, but hopes are still high to be able to live up to their potential.
"We understand that the boys need to know that they need to have a higher expectation for themselves and not settling for what they're used to doing, do more each day."
Fleeman said that the offensive scheme will not change and they will continue to be a running team, but the passing game has improved significantly. The 4-4 defensive set that the Tigers played with under Fleeman last year will remain the same as well and that side of the ball has improved significantly, Fleeman said.
The main focus has been to simply improve what has already been done, rather than simply taking a different course to the game. "Our defense is very similar schemes, a lot of returning kids. The kids are really buying into that mentality that defense wins football games," Fleeman said.
Special teams is another area in which the Tigers have made some drastic improvements as well, as the Tigers have acquired a new place kicker in Jake Brasfield, formerly of Webb City. Fleeman said that he has very high hopes for both kicking and the return game for the 2009 season and has seen some definite improvements on both sides.
"We're fortunate to have a new transfer student in (Brasfield) and he's done a great job for us so far, not only on special teams, but also on defense and offense," Fleeman said. "We've got some guys with some real speed that can get out. We also have some guys that can run and hit really well and set up the blocks for them. So I'm excited, I really am, to see what we're going to be able to do."
Fleeman has a new look to his coaching staff as well, but a number of last year's staff members will also be back to continue to help out. Robert Miner will continue to act as defensive coordinator, while Brad Begemann will be the offensive coordinator again for the 2009 season. Devin White worked with the wide receivers and defensive backs in 2008 and will continue in that role this season.
New to the staff this year is linebackers' and offensive line coach Jamie Alexander, offensive and defensive line coach Neil Barnes and former junior high coach Luke Clark.
The Tigers are looking forward to making improvements over last year's team and Fleeman said that he is looking forward to the start of the season to see how everyone's efforts will pan out. The Tigers will get the chance to put those efforts to the test on Aug. 28, as they open the regular season against a very tough Bolivar squad.
"Bolivar, they're a very solid football team. They're very well coached, they're very physical," Fleeman said. "They play just a good, fundamentally sound, physical brand of football. But we're excited for the challenge."