Week 1 Scrimmage Outlooks

Lorena Vs. Cameron Yoe - Friday - Yoe Field

The Yoemen will finally get to knock around someone other than themselves on Friday when the Lorena Leopards come to town. Under coach Ray Biles, Lorena has always put together a solid product on the field and this will be a good early look for Coach Tommy Brashear and his team.  

The Leopards are returning a total of five starters on each side of the ball from a team that finished with a 5-7 record and an area round loss to Madisonville, 45-35. Lorena is predicted to finish in fourth place in 8-4A DII this year behind Fairfield, Madisonville and Waco Connally, and ahead of Salado, Mexia and Robinson.

For the Yoe coaches and fans, there will be plenty to keep an eye on Friday night. I would pay very, very close attention to quarterback play. Anytime you replace a quarterback in this system, it is a critical piece that must be filled. I am also really interested to see what this offensive line can do in 2018. Improvements are going to be needed across the board, but as many of you may know, if you don’t have good line play, you’re probably not going to be very successful with anything you try to do.

Additionally, we are going to need to know who the Yoe running back will be this season. Since Traion Smith graduated in 2015, there has been a glaring void that has simply not been filled. I believe Davion Bynaum will get a shot in these scrimmages and in the non-district games. He could be the fastest player in all of 3A football, and we need to see if he has the other intangibles to make a solid running back.

Defensively, I am generally less concerned overall based on what I see on the depth chart. Linebackers should be the overall strength of this football team with Nico Vargas headlining the group. The defensive line is going to need to be re-tooled, and no position was hit harder than the secondary, which lost all four starters to graduation. Lorena will test this group, both on the ground and through the air.

Rockdale Vs. Groesbeck - Friday - Groesbeck

This will be a good early test for the Tigers, which are going to be breaking in quite a few new players in some critical positions. At the end of the day, the big production numbers from the departure of quarterback Torry Locklin (Kansas) and receiver JaQuayln Crawford (Oklahoma) will have to be replaced. Had Locklin not moved into Rockdale last season, you may have seen what is now junior Ross Loth at the position. Will that be his position in 2018 or does Rockdale have something else up their sleeve? We should know quite a bit more after this one.

Teague Vs. Fairfield - Friday - Fairfield

Teague has had a very nice run over the last several years and that has resulted in many playoff matchups with Cameron. Talent has never been an issue for Teague during these past several years, but after the departure of the most recent senior class, there may be a few more

questions than normal. If there was a time for Teague to possibly take a step back, it would be this year. Fairfield is expected to win their district this season, so this should be a good early test.

Mexia Vs. Franklin - Friday - Franklin

Franklin is expected to take that next step this season and may be the favorites to come out of region III. The Lions simply do not have many question marks as essentially all the main pieces from a season ago are returning for another deep playoff run. Mexia is Cameron’s week one opponent and Rockdale will be scrimmaging Mexia next week, so you can draw a few comparisons.