Gridiron: Carson Spies has eyes on building off an impressive junior season

For most athletes, their senior season is the one they look forward to the most.

For Chaffee senior Carson Spies, that is no different.

Spies and the Red Devils are looking to break out this season after having just four wins in the last three seasons.

“I’m really excited,” Spies said. “We’ve been going to 7 on 7’s, contact camps and we’ve just been doing all we can to improve this season. I feel that we already have improved. I feel like the camps we’ve attended have really helped us to improve and achieve greater accomplishments.”

Spies said he feels like he’s gradually improved each season and after a break-out season in 2022 where he rushed for over 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns, Spies is poised to continue to be better.

“I feel like each year I’ve kind of improved just a little bit,” Spies said. “Even if it’s just baby steps, I think I’ve improved each year.”

The reason for Spies’ improvement? He was thrown right into the fire on varsity as a freshman.

“I didn’t really get much JV time,” Spies said. “I just got thrown right onto varsity and that really helped to knock the fear of hitting out of me. It helped me to work harder and get better throughout my career.”

Spies remembers well how he felt during that first year playing varsity.

“There was a lot of fear,” Spies said. “Especially coming from junior high where everyone was about my size. Once I started hitting I feel like the fear just faded away.”

That experience three years ago is not only paying off for Spies in the stat sheet but also as a leader.

“I’ve tried to lead the younger guys and tell them not to be scared because I feel like that hurt me as a freshman,” Spies said. “I just tell them that if you just go at somebody it’s not going to hurt as bad as it would if you sat back and waited. I’ve been trying to lead by example and I hope I’m doing a decent job.”

Spies said the summer practice schedule has been key for the Red Devils’ offensive improvements.

“I feel that we definitely still have some improvements to make,” Spies said. “But, we’ve already made great improvements. We’ve been fixing our little mess-ups from last year and we’ve really been repping our mistakes from last year.”