Football preview: Up-tempo Jackson Indians rejuvenated under Eckley

As recently as 2011 the Jackson Indians were winless in the SEMO North Conference in a 2-8 campaign, the end of a stretch of three losing seasons that netted a total of six wins.

The struggles led to the hiring of coach Brent Eckley, and the Indians, with a reinvigorated up-tempo, spread offense, have made the transformation from a struggling program to a Class 5 quarterfinalist over the past two seasons.

In 2013, Jackson posted a perfect 4-0 record in conference play while also winning its first district title -- a 14-0 win over Vianney in the final -- since 2007. An 8-4 campaign ultimately ended with a 42-39 loss to Webster Groves in the quarterfinals, with the Indians earning the statewide respect that eluded them all season by getting a No. 10 ranking in the final Class 5 poll.

The Indians lost 15 seniors from that team, including their top running back in Colten Proffer and five other all-region performers, and now face a schedule chalked full of teams bent on revenge, starting with Battle High School of Columbia, Missouri, on Friday night.

"All conference teams will have us circled, that's guaranteed, and Vianney beating them in the postseason, we're going to have at least six teams that I'm sure we're going to get their best game," said Eckley, whose teams have gone 15-7 in his two seasons. "You can either establish your program as a team that other programs circle on the calender, or you can be one of those teams that circle other people, and I rather us be a program that we've hopefully gotten to a level that where other teams are always going to try to play their best game against us."

In addition to Proffer, the Indians lost four offensive linemen to graduation, as well as two stalwarts on the defensive line and two in the secondary, but they bring back two pillars in all-state first-team defensive lineman Preston Hobeck and second-team all-state quarterback Dante Vandeven, both seniors.

"Preston has been really dominant this summer," Eckley said about Hobeck, who led the team last year with eight sacks and 33 tackles for loss. "He's had a really great summer.

"Dante's taken another step, too, so I'm really happy about both those guys."

Vandeven has been a dangerous dual threat since becoming the Indians' starting quarterback as a sophomore.

He completed 59 percent of his passes his junior season for 2,240 yards and 22 touchdowns, while rushing for 913 yards (4.5 yards per carry) and 20 touchdowns. He directed an offense that averaged about 450 yards and 36.8 points per game.

Vandeven and his teammates are confident the program will be able to maintain its upward trend. In fact, at a senior meeting in the spring, they established last year's finish as a starting point.

"I mentioned why don't we go one step further and get to that semifinal game," Vandeven said. "And I think Ty Crowden came out and said, 'Heck, if we're going to get that far, we might as well just win state.' So that's one goal we've been working on. If we got that far last year, why not win state? But we've got to win the first game to win them all."

The Indians must find a way to replace Proffer, who led the Indians with 1,132 yards rushing and nearly 800 yards receiving despite missing time to injury.

Seniors Crowden and Xominique Davis, third in receiving on last year's team but the top returner, lead a group of wideouts that Vandeven will be targeting.

"Even though we have a lot of players that we lost, great players, we're going a little bit faster, thanks to the conditioning that we're doing," said Davis, who had 395 yards receiving last year and 364 yards rushing. "We have to keep the pace going a little bit faster."

The Indians are hoping depth and conditioning will allow a no-huddle, break-neck pace offense to push the envelope even further.

"In order to do that, we've been working real hard on conditioning," Crowden said. "As fast a tempo as possible. There's always room for improvement. You can always go a second faster, a half-second faster."

Eckley said he's put his team through intense conditioning over the summer.

"We've ran them harder this year. We're in better shape than a year ago," Eckley said. "I don't know how we are depth-wise and how it all will shake out, but I see it in our guys ... we ran a lot of volume."

The receiver rotation also will include seniors Ben Maudie and Lucas Helwege, juniors Jacob Starzinger, Jeremy Elliott and Lashone Dean and sophomore Quentin Kent.

The running game will feature a trio in senior Ethan Isakson and juniors Gabriel Dudley and Triston Thele. The committee of running backs will try to lessen the running load by Vandeven.

"We know he's good enough to run the ball," Eckley said about Vandeven. "We're hoping we'll be good enough at some of our other positions that he doesn't have to carry it as much as last year, but that when he does carry it that they'll be big ones."

Hobeck will expand his duties to offensive tackle this year, joining lone line returner Josh Stone, a senior who also helped anchor the defense at linebacker.

Jackson won the SEMO North championship team in 2014. Among the Indians returning are all-state defensive lineman Preston Hobeck, left, Xominique Davis, Quentin Kent, Ty Crowden, Josh Stone and all-state quarterback Dante Vandeven. (Laura Simon)

"He's got a guard's body, but he's just so gifted that he can play [tackle]," Eckley said about Hobeck. "He amazes me with his athleticism. You look at him and you wouldn't think he'd be so physically dominant. He has such great savvy as a football player. I've really been impressed with him there, and he's been showing he's in good enough shape."

Other linemen will include seniors Calen Crites, Brandon Simpher, Spencer Brown and Jared McDowell, junior Tyler Brinkopf and sophomores Nick Freeman and Bryce Dickerson.

Eckley said the offensive line will be beefier than a year ago, and that the fast-paced offense will need plenty of bodies to stay fresh.

"We want to have eight or nine that can play, and we want to be able to play eight or nine if we can," Eckley said.

The defensive line will include Hobeck, Brinkopf, Cites, senior Justin Johnson and sophomore Alex Allison.

"I think we have a chance to be better in the secondary and a chance to be better at linebacker," Eckley said.

The linebacker corps includes Stone, players in the running back trio, along with senior Ryan Baker, junior Zach Norrick, Maudie and Dickerson, while the receiver corp also will figure prominently in the secondary.

"I see a good bond building on this team," Eckley said. "You can never say enough for that. When kids like each other, it's such a special experience for them.

"I see good leadership developing that maybe I haven't, and I see more commitment to training, even more so than what we have in the past. You have a chance to be great when your best players are your hardest workers, and we might be that this year."

Indians Roster

No. Name Yr. Pos.

1 Bryndan Reid 10 RB/DB

2 Guthrie Hume 10 WR/DB

6 Dante Vandeven 12 QB/DB

7 Tristan Thele 11 RB/DB

8 Brendan Gross 10 WR/DB

9 Jeremy Elliot 11 WR/DB

10 Gabriel Dudley 11 RB/LB

12 Lucas Helwege 12 WR/DB

14 Payne Guilliams 10 QB/DB

15 Landon Pehle 10 WR/LB

16 Landry Moore 11 QB/DB

17 Chaston Huber 11 WR/DB

19 Xominique Davis 12 WR/DB

20 Ty Crowden 12 WR/DB

21 Jacob Starzinger 11 WR/DB

22 Quentin Kent 10 WR/DB

23 Corson Crosnoe 11 WR/DL

24 Trevor Chaffin 10 WR/DB

25 Ryan Baker 12 WR/LB

26 Zach Norrick 11 WR/LB

27 Ben Maudie 12 WR/LB

28 Ethan Isakson 12 RB/LB

31 Lashone Dean 11 WR/DB

33 Calvin Dudley 10 WR/LB

No. Name Yr. Position

34 Beau Brady 11 WR/DB

36 Kevin Hunt 11 WR/DB

43 Weston Sherrill 10 OL/LB

50 Brandon Simpher 11 OL/DL

51 Gavin Evans 10 OL/DL

53 Tyler Brinkopf 10 OL/DL

54 Bryce Dickerson 10 OL/DL

55 Josh Stone 12 OL/LB

56 Brandon Ladson 10 OL/DL

60 Collin Nicks 10 OL/DL

62 Charlie Vandeven 10 OL/DL

64 Jamison McCullough 12 OL/DL

65 Zach George 11 OL/DL

66 London Terrian 11 OL/DL

67 Tanner Lambert 10 OL/DL

70 Nick Freeman 10 OL/DL

71 Jesse Darrow 10 OL/DL

73 Spencer Brown 12 OL/DL

74 Preston Hobeck 12 OL/DL

75 Justin Johnson 12 OL/DL

77 Alex Allison 10 OL/DL

78 Calen Crites 12 OL/DL

79 Jared McDowell 12 OL/DL