Demon football looking to leaders

As the Washington football team prepares to open up its team camp on Monday, the Demons will have a lot of questions to answer, and it all starts with the roster.

After a strong look during multiple scrimmages last weekend, the Demons have a number of athletes who are stepping up and competing for the top spot on the depth chart for the Week 1 opener on Aug. 28.

?We met as coaches after (our scrimmages) and we can?t find one spot on our field that is locked in,? second-year head coach Garrison Carter said. ?It?s a good thing, but it?s a scary thing as we look forward. We have a lot of guys who deserve to be on the field, and we have to find a way to get them out there.?

With a lot of fluidity on the depth chart, the Demons aren?t backing down from the challenge they?ll face every day in practice in the next month, as Washington prepares for its season opener against reigning state champion, Pella.

?This team is competing,? Carter said. ?We had an awesome camp and didn?t back down. It?s a product of good leadership, and it?s a product of competition and it?s a product of where we are at as a program. It doesn?t matter what 11 guys we put on the field, Washington football expects to win.?

Washington went 8-4 in Carter?s first year as head coach, falling to Pella in the state quarterfinals.

As the Demons enter Year 2 under Carter, the biggest challenge will be replacing a number of key contributors from last season, including the three-year starting quarterback, a two-time All-State offensive lineman and multiple starting linebackers.

Four of the members gone from the squad are now competing for spots on their respective college teams.

?We lose a lot of good kids from last year?s team and we are trying to replace those guys with younger kids coming through,? Carter said. ?I wouldn?t say we are more at ease (in the second year); it?s stressful every year no matter what the situation is.?

However, as Carter begins to look at his second year, he can notice a change in the attitude and believes the entire team has bought into his system.

?We are starting to establish the way that I want to do things and run the things I want to run,? Carter said. ?We are starting to phase out what was done before and transistion to what I see the program becoming.?

To help ease the changes from Year 1 to Year 2, Carter is eyeing a small, yet key group of seniors to take the mantle.

?I think that the senior class as a whole has been awesome,? Carter said. ?It?s a smaller group of seniors, and I think they?ve done a great job of embracing the underclassmen and pulling them along with them.?