MHSAA football practice begins: Saline needs defense that can match potent offense

The 2022 Saline football season ended in Belleville last year, but it was not the way you would expect a team to go out losing to the eventual Division 1 state champion.

The Hornets lost that district final game, 62-44, in what was something of a wild, wild west shootout at the OK Corral.

“It was probably one of the best games I’ve ever played in,” said senior tight end/defensive end Dylan Mesman. “It was high scoring, everyone was playing to the best of their abilities. It was just super fun to watch even when I was watching on the sidelines.”

Mesman, committed to Louisville, caught nine passes for over 100 yards that day and the guy throwing him the ball was quarterback CJ Carr, who had quite a game for himself.

Carr, whose father, Jason, played at Michigan and grandfather, Lloyd, coached U-M to a national championship, completed 37 of 53 passes for 338 yards and five touchdowns.

“I remember a lot about that Belleville game,” said Carr, who is committed to Notre Dame. “I watch that film probably every other week. That’s a fun game to watch. I remember we did our thing. We were playing our best football at the end of the year there.”

That is why there was an unusual air of optimism at Saline on Monday morning at 9 as the Hornets began their season-opening practice.

The players — and coaches — remember how well the team played — offensively, at least — against Belleville and they are hoping to pick up where the offense left off.

“I think the way that we ended the season last year kind of show everyone we’ve got the chance here to compete for state championships,” Carr said. “We’re heading into this season with that same momentum.”

Teams can’t put on shoulder pads until Wednesday and Friday will be the first practice in full equipment.

That is when Joe Palka, in his 12th season at Saline, 28th as a head coach and 32nd overall, will learn more about the team he has this fall.

“Obviously with CJ and some of the things we do offensively, we should be able to score points,” he said. “The issue will be how much we can improve on defense and can we run the ball? Can we take some of the pressure off CJ?

“The measuring stick, honestly, is teams like Belleville, who are loaded top to bottom — physical, who can run, can do all those types things.”

In other words, can the Hornets get off the field quickly enough on defense to let Carr and the offense do what they do?

“What we learned last year is we can score points,” Palka said, “but we’ve got to be able come up with a way this year to stop teams that way and keep it within reach at the end of the game.”

Carr had a smile on his face the entire practice and you got the feeling there was no other place on earth he would have wanted to be other than at that practice.

He is expecting an even more potent offense than the one Saline had last year and a big reason why could be the guys up front who are responsible for protecting him.

“My first year we had a real good offensive line so I was really protected and then they all graduated,” he said. “My junior year there was a whole new line so there was less protection and I had to run the ball a little bit more.

“This year we’ll have a better line just because of seniority and they’ll have a year under their belts so it should be an exciting year.”

Mesman went to bed at 11 p.m. Sunday and immediately awoke when the alarm went off at 8 a.m.

“Usually, on football days, when the alarm wakes me up, I train myself to jolt up as soon as possible so I don’t feel the tired laziness,” he said. “I just get up and get moving right away. Sometimes it fails, but today it succeeded.”

It may have succeeded because Mesman, whose father, Joel, played football at Michigan State, and his mother, Becky (Cummings), was a standout MSU basketball, couldn’t wait to get the season under way.

“I’m so excited,” he gushed. “I feel that we’ve got one of the best teams we’ve ever had. I feel like we have the proper tools. We have a hard schedule, I’m not going to lie, but I feel that was can beat every single one of them.”

Carr was up hours before Mesman ever got out of bed. Carr went to bed Sunday at 8:30 p.m.

“I enjoy getting up really early so I was up at 5:30,” he said. “I have my morning routine.”

The routine includes reading the Bible, reading the “12 Rules for Life” by Jordan Peterson, meditation and stretching.

Next to Carr at practice Monday was his backup — Tommy Carr — who he shared repetitions throughout the morning.

Carr laughed when asked if young Tommy was out to steal his starting job.

“He’s a rising sophomore and he’ll be a good player,” he said. “So hopefully they get him some reps this year.”

How much playing time Tommy receives could be up to CJ and how effective the offense is at building a lead.

Last season, he completed 222 of 326 passes (68%) for 2,685 yards sand 26 touchdowns against only five interceptions.

One of the reasons Mesman is so fired up about the coming season is the presence of Carr and the many things he brings to the team.

“I don’t even have to say much about him,” Mesman said. “I feel like everyone knows already. He’s one of the best in the nation and rightfully so, he deserves it.”

Mesman believes that Carr’s passes have more zip on them than they did a year ago, but he threw the ball fine last season.

The difference in Carr’s improvement this season has less to do with throwing the ball and more to do with taking ownership of the team.

“I think his leadership has gone up a lot, in my opinion,” Mesman said. “I think he starting to take more of that leadership role and starting asserting himself over the teammates and trying to get his point across that we need to be better than last year. He’s filling that role very nicely.”

Palka had every minute of the practice plan scripted. For months he had been looking forward to the first practice and seemed almost serene as he roamed from position group to position group.

“It’s always an exciting day just because it’s the culmination a year’s worth of work to see where we’re at and kick things off and see all of the faces back,” he said. “For me, it’s also a little apprehensive because I know, for doing this for a long time, there’s less than three weeks to get ready for Brighton.

“We’re always trying to face that time crunch, but also we have a lot of enthusiasm because it’s the first day out here.”

It was also the last time Carr will have a first day of practice as a high school player.

“This is the last year and this will be the last year I’ll be able to get on the field with my brother, too,” he said. “A bunch of my good buddies are out here who I have played with for a very long time. It’s an exciting year and I’m excited to jump start it and get it started.”

Carr seemed oblivious to the possible pressure of being a quarterback who eventually will be playing at Notre Dame.

But lofty things are expected of Notre Dame recruits.

“There’s no pressure,” he said confidently. “I feel excited to just kind of come up and just play with my guys.”

Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1. Save $10 on his new book, “Mick McCabe’s Golden Yearbook: 50 Great Years of Michigan’s Best High School Players, Teams & Memories,” by ordering right now at McCabe.PictorialBook.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Saline High football seeking defense that can match potent offense