Bangor Township, Michigan – John Glenn is plotting and intriguing and working on his new offensive.
But sometimes the best plan of attack is plain and simple.
“It’s fun to just go out there and get going,” said Glenn running back Jonny Ford.
This year’s Glenn offense should feature a lot of “go, go, go” because it is built on team speed, unlike the long-standing tradition of power football at John Glenn. These Bobcats can fly.
With players like Garrett Hilborn at quarterback, Ford at running back and Bradley Boyk and Che Arocha at receiver, Glenn fields many of the fastest athletes in the region. Ford, Boyk and Arocha made up three-quarters of the 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams that qualified for the state finals, and Hilborn keeps up with them with his 40 time.
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The Bobcats are looking to move on from two consecutive 2-7 seasons, and speed could be the quickest way to get there.
“We’re making the most of it,” Ford said. “We’re not the biggest, so we’re using the speed to our advantage.”
“Good things are coming. I believe we can make the playoffs and prove what John Glenn is all about. Last year was last year. This year is different.”
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The difference is perhaps most noticeable on offense, where the Bobcats switch to a spread formation to open up the field for their Flyers. Mike LeGrow takes over as offensive coordinator and installs the offense that helped him to a 23-7 record and an average of 34.7 points per game in three seasons as head coach at Croswell-Lexington.
“We’re going to play fast and put teams in trouble with that speed,” fourth-year head coach Jon Horton said.
“We’re young, so we need to improve our football IQ. If we want to be as fast as the offense needs us to be, we need to be able to think quickly, even when we’re tired.”
But once the ball is in their hands, many of Glenn’s talented players are able to simply let their natural talent take over. Speed is hard to teach, but the Bobcats have that ability in abundance.
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That’s a little different than traditional Glenn football. The Bobcats rose to prominence playing ground-and-pound football from 1978 to 2001 under Hall of Fame coach John Loop. They often had a speedy running back, but they perhaps never had the overall team speed that this year’s unit does.
“I’m trying to figure out how teams are going to target us,” Horton said. “Looking at Boyk, Ford and Hilborn out there, who am I going to take out? You can’t stop them all.”
Boyk is the fastest of the fast. Although he is only a sophomore, like Hilborn and Ford, he delivered a stunning track and field season this spring, setting a personal best of 11.18 seconds in the 100-meter dash, winning the Bay County title and helping the sprint relay team reach the state finals in his debut season.
But it’s not just the speed that’s so appealing about this Glenn team, he said.
“We are a hard-working team. We have worked all summer to get stronger and we are mentally strong as well,” he said.
“When we went to training camps, some teams were better than us, but we kept up with them. Before, when we played against bigger teams, we always had in our minds that we would lose. This year we believe we can win.”
Glenn opens the season with away games at Ortonville Brandon and Alma before making his debut this year at John Loop Field against arch-rival Essexville Garber on September 13th.
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