Britton Deerfield deep in numbers for 2023
BRITTON — Two years ago was a dream season for Britton Deerfield football.
The Patriots entered 8-man football and hit the ground running going 9-2 with both losses coming to eventual state champion, Lenawee Christian, and winning the inaugural Tri-River 8-man Conference.
Juding by numbers after two seasons, it's safe to say BD has embraced 8-man football.
"We had 35 kids out, which is awesome," said head coach Erik Johnson. "It's been great to grow the numbers here the last few years. Just a few short years ago we were barely in the 20s, so to have 35. They've worked hard all summer."
While the Patriots are big in numbers, they are lacking in experience with 21 of those 35 student-athletes being either freshmen or sophomores.
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"It's great to see the younger kids," Johnson said. "It seems like we have the bigger lineman type in the sophomore class and the faster skilled position kids in our freshmen class. It's exciting."
Entering the 2023 season, the Patriots will be looking to find a new quarterback.
Helping find the new signal caller is going to be Nico Johnson, who joins his dad's staff which also includes his grandfather, John Johnson.
Nico graduated in 2022 after a tremendous senior season where he held BD to an 8-0 mark before getting injured in the Week 9 unbeaten battle with LCS.
"He's been working with the quarterbacks all summer and giving them pointers," Johnson said. "He has a different way of talking to them than I do, which is probably good. He's done a real good job of pointing different things and reads and what we're looking for on certain plays. The kids know him, he didn't graduate that long ago. They know how good of an athlete he was and that helps with them listening to what he has to say."
The Patriots were hoping to have to find a new quarterback and have Logan Shiels pick up where he left off before an injury ended his junior season of football, but a torn ACL in basketball season will have Shiels on the sideline this fall.
"(Junior) Keegan Bush and (sophomore) Caden Kubacki have done a nice job all summer," Erik Johnson said. "One of those guys, or it could both of them, because they both do different things and have different strong points. They'll be battling for that spot."
Whoever is under center will still have some experience around them on the field.
"Colin Johnson is going to be in his third year starting on both sides of the ball," Erik Johnson said. "Leeland Smith is healthy and has had a whole summer healthy. It seems he's always been nipped by some injury. He's looked really good at receiver and defensive back. Carson Johnson at receiver and defensive back has looked good and gives us speed off the edge.
"Aden Anspach returns as defensive end and tight end and Brayden Shiels returns in our defensive backfield and tight end. We've got some experience in key spots."
BD also has plenty who have been waiting for their turn as juniors or seniors.
"Jayden Brooks and Caden Freeman are two guys who haven't been in the limelight yet but are looking for it," Erik Johnson said. "That's always great to see, too."
The Patriots have veterans to lean on while the newcomers learn and gain experience.
Coach Johnson is hopeful the mix of the two will propel BD to its third-straight winning season, something the program hasn't done since the two schools consolidated and went 21-12 with three playoff appearances in the first three seasons.
"We just need to work one day at a time and get better each day," he said. "I never go into a season thinking we need to win this many games. Our expectation every game is to go in and give them the best game we can.
"I'm cautiously optimistic about how good we can be and what our ceiling can be. We have talented kids, now it's about getting those kids to gel together. If we do, that'll be great."
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Britton Deerfield football deep in numbers for 2023
