Great young talent, veteran leaders, new coach, Chaparral football finds stability amid changes

It's been a whirlwind spring and summer for new Chaparral football coach Doug Nisenson, who commuted between ThunderRidge High to Chaparral in May and finished his teaching contract in Colorado, before moving into new digs in Scottsdale on June 2.

Since then, it's been a lot of learning and meshing great young talent with veteran leaders who have been through the ups and downs in the last few years under previous coach Brent Barnes.

Chaparral won the 6A title in 2020, was runner-up in 2021, then slumped to three wins last season.

"I moved down June 1st, so it was a whirlwind at first," Nisenson said. "I think I actually moved into my house on the second and our first day of workouts was the fifth.

"It's been amazing to be down here. I spent a few months kind of commuting down about a week at a time,'' he said. "It was tough. You kind of jump in and start working with the kids, then you disappear for two or three weeks. You're only communicating mostly with DMs on Twitter. I've been impressed with our kids in the way they've persevered having a period of time not having a head coach then having a period of time where their head coach didn't live here."

Bouncing back

Barnes resigned as coach after last season, and after this past school year moved back to Oklahoma to coach high school football.

At the beginning of last season, a group of top incoming freshmen arrived from the same Goodyear-based youth team together and lit up the freshman football scoreboard with weekly routs, an indication of what was to come for the varsity program. Four of those freshmen, led by linebacker Jaylin Colter (who played varsity as a freshman and has Power 5 offers) transferred together to Phoenix Mountain Pointe, and Noel Mazzone's role as an offensive coordinator was short-lived.

But the players who have stayed are committed to Nisenson, a ThunderRidge alum, who was a winner as a player and as a coach. He kept most of the same staff that was already in place at Chaparral and brought his ThunderRidge defensive coordinator, Aaron Bittler, with him to coach the Firebirds' defense. He was an assistant under Niseson for the last five years at ThunderRidge in Highlands Ranch.

"Obviously, you see a lot of talent," junior wide receiver/cornerback Jordan Williams said after a morning July conditioning workout on the field. "We talk about discipline. Everybody shows up. Everybody puts the work in.

"I feel like we're going to be good. We had a hard season last season. I feel we're going to bounce back strong and get on the map."

It began basically when Nisenson moved to the Valley permanently in June. The Firebirds competed in only one big 7-on-7 passing tournament, Just Chilly's Flight Club which was the last big one of June in Maricopa. Other than that, they competed mostly against themselves, picking up games with a few teams here and there.

They're ready to roll out what could be a pretty dynamic offense with sophomore quarterback Marcel Jones on the cusp of greatness. He was the quarterback on the freshman team last year that left every other freshman team in their wake by huge margins.

Jones is a freak athlete at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, fast and a dangerous dual threat, who already holds offers from Arizona State and Northern Arizona without leading the offense in a varsity game.

Stars ready to emerge

Jones still works individually with Mazzone, who was one of the best offensive minds in the college game for a long time.

"Getting reps is all that matters right now," Jones said. "We know what we're going to be facing. We just want to make sure we get the work in."

Then, there's another playmaker from that freshman team, wide receiver Tristan Armstrong, who figures to have a breakout varsity season as a sophomore, who complements senior Plas Johnson and junior Gavin Mesa, a big target at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds. Mesa has been juggling baseball this summer with football. Mesa could go play either baseball or football in college, he's that good in both sports.

Leadership by committee

Mesa caught 46 passes for 706 yards and six TDs last season, while Johnson, a recent Arizona State commit who projects as a college cornerback, caught 88 passes for 1,157 yards and eight TDs in a '22.

With Williams in that mix, Chaparral could have the best-receiving corps in the state.

"I'm glad I got recruiting done, and I can work with the boys," Johnson said. "Recruiting took a lot of time. I'm finally settled down.

"We're getting everything back in a row. We're starting to get rolling again, finally."

Nisenson likes the blend of young talent with a good core of senior leaders, led by Johnson and 6-4, 255-pound defensive lineman Keegan Shank, who is committed to Colorado State.

"I think it the offseason, when we didn't have a head coach, everybody was kind of questioning it," Shank said. "But just making sure that the younger guys were on the same page with everybody was definitely one of my goals. Coach Nise came in here and he was nice at the start and got to know everyone.

"But it's time to handle business and get going. Thank God we've got a defensive coordinator, too, who knows what he's doing."

It might take a while to jell. The Firebirds will spend much more time together bonding in Flagstaff at a team camp at Northern Arizona in the last week of July. But by the time the season opener rolls around, against Phoenix Sandra Day O'Connor on Aug. 25, they figure to be ready to show that they can bounce back big.

"Coming up as a leader of the group, I think it's all mental," Williams said. "That's what football is. Everybody is all talented and physical. But if you can't last all four quarters, it really doesn't matter. As long as I can get this team. You've seen other leaders. If we can get this to get through all four quarters to be strong and stay motivated, we should be good."

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter@azc_obert

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Chaparral football finds stability amid whirlwind of change