Scottsdale Chaparral will make the switch to a spread offense next season, a formation that has rapidly grown in popularity the past few years.
The Firebirds ran a pro-style offense last year, but coach Charlie Ragle believes the spread best suits this year’s team.
The change will be made in all levels of the program.
‘We just looked at our personnel in the offseason, and it’s a chance to be more successful,” Ragle said.
There is currently a three-way battle to quarterback the team, although sophomore Connor Brewer has shown enough to be the early favorite.
Brewer is the younger brother of Charles and Chase Brewer, who were both successful pitchers on Chaparral’s baseball team in the past.
Charles Brewer was drafted by the Diamondbacks in the 12th round of the MLB draft on Wednesday out of UCLA.
Running back Dwayne Garrett is expected to once again be the focal point of the offense after an impressive junior season. Garrett will also play cornerback.
He will be helped out on offense by wide receiver Danny Trittler, a transfer from Cactus Shadows.
Trittler should be the guy who won’t allow teams to stack the box against the running game. The Firebirds lacked that big-play receiver last season after Tyler Williams went down with a torn ACL early in the year.
Ragle is looking forward to the second game of the season against Mesa Mountain View after Chaparral’s move up to 5A-II. He doesn’t like the talk that Chaparral purposely shaved enrollment numbers to stay in 4A.
“We want to show we’re a legitimate football program and we weren’t hiding between 4A numbers,” he said.
Chaparral has a couple of raw but talented offensive linemen who have already gotten scholarship offers. Jake Ehm (6-6, 250 pounds) can be a “big-time tackle” collegiately, Ragle said, and Andrew Gustafson (6-6, 265) could earn himself a spot on a lower-level Division I team if he has a good year.
The defense lost quite a few players from last season, but Ragle believes it will still be a strong unit.
