Oscar Smith LB Keshon Artis lands his 5th offer
Hanover is Derek Stoudt’s football program. Where are they headed?
by Brandon Mitchell, recruit804
Improvement and quality of play isn’t new to Hanover High School. Every Tuesday they host a brief 7-on-7 tournament that allows local teams to get skill players a little work during the summer months. This 7-on- a quick round robin setup. It helps condition players and also helps the coaching staffs begin to implement new offensive and defensive concepts. This idea is a notion that was developed and inserted when Coach Joshua Just was walking up and down the sidelines at Hanover.
Now in just his third season at the helm of the Hawks program, Coach Derek Stoudt is continuing what Coach Just started in his term prior. If it’s not broke then don’t try to fix it, right? This past Tuesday was no different. Rain threatened to put a damper on the spirits of everyone present, but the rain soon washed away within 30 minutes. This allowed everyone to return to the field and continue warming up. Being the host school gave no advantage to the Hawks. They were required to bring just as much effort on the day and that’s exactly what they did.
“We’re just trying to come out here and give these kids as much competition as possible. We used to do this when Coach Just was here and this is one of those things that I wanted to keep going with. These other teams come to us and we get a chance to see the competition that we need to see. Anytime you can get eight schools to come out here and compete is good for both the programs and for the community in general. I want this to keep growing and once we get the field done in the back completed I wouldn’t mind getting up to 12 teams out here playing. We look at this as just practice for us as we’re continually searching for ways to get better,” stated Coach Stoudt.
In preparing for competition during this 7-on-7 there’s nothing elaborate about what Coach Stoudt implements. The Hawks go over basic scheming which indicates a need to reinforce what should come with relative ease. Right now the mindset for the Hawks is, “if you think you’re a starter then separate yourself”. This is a concept that didn’t sound foreign when Coach Stoudt uttered it from his lips. With three years under his belt, Coach Stoudt wouldn’t have gotten this far if his men weren’t buying into the ideas that came along with his hiring.
Hanover is 23- three seasons which means he’s won 62 percent of the games he’s coached. The Hawks have gradually improved over the last three seasons winning six games in his inaugural season, eight in 2014, and nine in 2015. Last season was Coach Stoudt’s greatest season yet. He led the Hawks to a 9- and coached Hanover to within two games of a state championship berth. To get them over the championship threshold the Hawks are relying in part on the ever so accurate Clayton Cheatham (JR QB 6-3 220).
Cheatham is definitely one of the better quarterbacks in the Richmond area. Kirkland Shaffner (JR FS 5-10 172) will look to perform dual-duties on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball this season. Young guys such as Eric McLemore and rising sophomore Jayden Johnson will be called upon and thrust into supporting cast roles. Coach Stoudt also has high hopes for Parker Chenault (SO OLB 5-10 205) and Jonathon Glore (JR OLB 6-0 170). Taking over for Coach Just and transferring the Hawks into a power house hasn’t been easy. However, there have been great rewards.
“The most challenging part of this process has been putting my own stamp on the program. I’ve only ever coached here so I’ve tried to keep the same traditions going. I’ve really tried to turn this program into what I envision it to be where we promote hard work. To get over that hump it’s going to take us doing what we’re doing now. These kids have to become better football players and as a coaching staff we have to put these kids in the right spots. We’ve been successful thus far but it’s one of those things where you have to get better and better every year. We also have to get better at the things we were efficient at last year,” said Coach Stoudt.
Over the next four weeks Hanover will be traveling to the University of Richmond for a 7-on-7 and continue what they’re doing on Tuesdays. There will be a team camp at Hampden-Sydney College before two-a-days begin on August 8. Look for more to come from the progressing Hawks as the off season nears the regular season.
– Brandon Mitchell
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