Spell still shuffling Nederland's deck of likely defenders

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http://www.panews.com/sports/local_story_234222552.html?keyword=topstory

Spell still shuffling Nederland's deck of likely defenders

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

By Tom Halliburton

The Port Arthur News

NEDERLAND -- Delbert Spell and his defensive minds probably have young Wareall Grogan's head really swimming by this point in Nederland's second scrimmage week.

  As the Bulldogs prepare for Friday night's final pre-season tuneup at Jasper, the Nederland coaches keep shuffling their deck, trying to place the appropriate bodies in the most effective locations. One of those most shuffled cards just happened to be Grogan, a 5-11, 205-pound junior with plenty of physical tools. The question remains exactly where he ends up in the Nederland defense.

  It's complicated because Spell -- the NHS defensive coordinator -- and his Bulldogs defenders will use different schemes and different looks, depending on the game situations and the personalities of the opposing offenses.

  But here's how many different hats which Grogan has tried on in the last few days.

  Wareall began fall practice as a starter at weakside end. That's before those big, strong offensive tackles from Silsbee got a hold of him.

  "We were just simply asking Wareall to do something that he wasn't capable of doing," Spell explained Monday when he examined a few likely changes in Nederland's defensive front.

  The projected right end, Grogan, appeared on the move to nose tackle by the middle of Monday afternoon. A projected defensive left tackle, Jeremy Stewart, was ticketed to replace Grogan at right end. Junior Daniel Janeaux (6-2, 230) was moved up to the starting left tackle spot because of Stewart's move to end.

  When Nederland's coaches huddled on Tuesday, however, they arrived at a different rubic's cube. They kept Stewart at right end, and Janeaux at left tackle but they gave Grogan another challenge. Not a completely new one... just a new one for this season.

  Wareall had finished the 2006 playoffs as an outside linebacker at Nederland's bandit position in the season-ending loss to Lamar Consolidated. The Nederland coaches liked the prospect of sophomore Grant Lovelady being the projected starter at outside backer. But Lovelady missed the Silsbee scrimmage with a knee strain.

  That's the nature of pre-season coaching. You try things. You seek the best possible combination. And then you keep on trying things.

  "Wareall is not a fish out of water at that spot," NHS head coach Larry Neumann said late Wednesday. "As the circumstances developed, it became evident on Tuesday that it made good sense to move him back to the bandit position."

  Nederland is still shuffling the deck at nose tackle where as many as three or four players have a chance to earn more minutes. The most probable candidates hail from a list of seniors Cole Howerton and Coby Badeaux, junior Aaron Small and sophomore Marcus Louviere.

  "That position is probably going to be a combination of players and it's going to be determined by what we ask of them," the Bulldogs boss said.

  Nederland and Jasper intend to play two live quarters and possibly even more than that. The action will start at Jasper's Doghouse Friday night at 7 p.m. They expect to begin the scrimmage with a 12-play series for each offense. Fumbles and interceptions will be run back but any punt return team members will be expected to signal for a fair catch.

  "I told our players that after one scrimmage, we really needed to establish more depth in both our offensive and defensive lines," Neumann said. "We need to close the gap in our depth on both lines."

[James Mosley]

Remember this name, mark it down, Wareall Grogan! This kid is going to wreck havoc on teams. Most dominant player on Nederlands defense so far. Hopefully Grant Lovelady will be back soon and complete what might be one of Nederlands best defenses in years.

[jake94]

SURPRISED they are moving Grogan around. In my opinion he was the best player on the field for the Nederland defense in the Silsbee scrimmage.

[SFA85]

Remember this name, mark it down, Wareall Grogan! This kid is going to wreck havoc on teams. Most dominant player on Nederlands defense so far. Hopefully Grant Lovelady will be back soon and complete what might be one of Nederlands best defenses in years.

So dominant that he was getting pushed around playing DE against Silsbee.....

And I heard Mr OLB wasn't all that special either......

[SportsFanatic79]

What a shock!  SFA85 is dogging Nederland players again!

[jake94]

Maybe those guys were pushing him into the QB because he sure was in the backfield a lot. Ask the Silsbee QB as well as the Silsbee fans. Grogan was #2 in the scrimmage by the way and I thought he was very impressive.

[adminbaberuth]

The kid really impressed me last year on defense.

So dominant that he was getting pushed around playing DE against Silsbee.....

And I heard Mr OLB wasn't all that special either......

[NHS82]

I was at Silsbee scrimmage. Grogan was not getting pushed around. He played hard and fast along with Stewart. I look forward to watching the entire defense play against Jasper. This should be a another solid test for Ned defense. I'm curious to see if Grogan becomes one of the leaders on this defense. The front 7 on defense look very impressive to me.