Aug 17, 2024 By Rob Burchianti 5 min read

CARMICHAELS – Football is a contact sport, which is why Carmichaels coach Ryan Krull was concerned while he analyzed his squad from a season ago.

Krull coached Carmichaels for a nine-year stretch ending in 2019 when he stepped down and Ron Gallagher took over. Gallagher left after three seasons and Krull decided to step back in as coach, making last season a bit of a transition year for the Mikes who went 2-8 overall and 1-6 in the Class A Tri-County South Conference.

“The nice thing about having a year under our belt is we got a lot of time to identify what some of our problems were and then get them fixed,” Krull said. “I was really surprised. I thought all of the work we put in prior to the start of the season was right and that for the most part our kids were doing the right things.

“But the biggest area where we lacked was willingness to have collisions. As a football coach it pains me to say that. I’m not saying every single kid, but as a whole, as a team, we did not have a bunch of guys that were willing to run toward contact. In a sport like football you’re not going to be successful if you don’t have that. We just did not yearn for collisions and that was our biggest weakness.”

Krull made a change at the quarterback position and made it a point to push his team to be more physical.

“We spent the offseason trying to correct that as much as we can,” Krull said. “Obviously, there are rules in place so we can only do so much in that area but I thought we put a plan in place where our guys were able to do some drills to help improve that aspect of our game.

“Did it work? We’ll see.”

The Mikes will have a new quarterback this year in junior Cannon Bupka.

“Cannon Bupka was a backup quarterback and played some receiver as a freshman. Last year he just played receiver,” Krull said. “We decided to move him back to quarterback. The guy we had back there, AJ Donaldson, will be transitioning to receiver which is more of a natural position for him.

“Just like any quarterback we’ve ever had here, the No. 1 thing is they’ve got to take care of the football. We ask our quarterbacks to be able to advance the football with their legs and their arm. … He’s got to be able to run the ball effectively.”

Krull sees plenty of potential in Bupka.

“He’s a well-built kid. He’s about 6-3, 180 pounds and he can run the ball well and then we’re going to ask him to throw it at opportune times,” Krull said. “He has all the tools to do it. His maturity over the last couple years has really improved and he wants to be the guy playing quarterback. It’s not an easy task. I think he’s done a good job to this point handling what we’ve put in front of him.”

Carmichaels will use a running back by committee approach at the start of the season.

“We’re a team that has to totally embody what a team is,” Krull said. “We have some good players but we don’t have the guy that runs a 4.5 40 and can make everybody miss and make everybody that missed their assignment still look OK. We have to have a kind of all-hands-on-deck approach where everybody’s got to do their job all the time, regardless of the situation or the circumstances, no matter how tired they are, or we’re not going to have the success that we want..”

Juniors Will Murray and Gage Kundly and seniors Parker Hewtt and Robbie Wilson-Jones lead the way in the backfield.

“We’ve got several good running backs and that’s no different than years past. It was always a stable of backs,” Krull said. “We’re expecting major contributions from all four of those backs. Parker also stands out as one of the leaders of the team.”

Carmichaels will try to work up a passing game to balance the offense.

“We’re going to get our receivers, mainly Brandon Yekel, Ryder Kreig and Donaldson, more involved than years past,” Krull said. “We’re trying to be creative with some high-percentage ways to get them the ball and let them work in space.”

The key to the offensive will be the line, according to Krull.

“The position group most responsible for an offense’s success is the line,” Krull stressed. “I think the singular position would be the quarterback but as a position group there’s nothing more important than the offensive line.

“I’m optimistic about our line,” Krull said. “It’s going to be an issue of guys having a nastiness and a willingness to do what needs to be done. It’s ugly in the trenches. It’s tough, difficult, there’s a lot of communication that has to go on. They’re going to be tired and still make sure that their eyes are up and they’re communicating with each other and doing the things that they know we need to do.”

Carmichaels will again compete in the TCS.

“It’s the same faces we’ve seen for a long time,” said Krull who declined to pick a favorite. “Our main focus has to be us. … We need to worry more about ourselves. Then wherever the cards fall, they’ll fall.”