Whitko Enters New Era With Familiar Face
August 17, 2016 at 4:22 p.m.
By Dale [email protected]
Now he holds its reins.
Thirty years after his father, Bryan Sprunger, led the Wildcats to a 14-0 record and a Class 2A state championship, 29-year-old Jeff Sprunger is making his head-coaching debut.
Sprunger played at Whitko for his father and graduated in 2006. He has been an assistant at Tippecanoe Valley and Whitko.
Sprunger takes over for Josh Mohr, who led the Wildcats to an 18-14 record the past three years before taking over as Whitko’s athletic director.
“The opportunity to come back to Whitko has been really exciting,” said Sprunger. “I was an assistant coach last year, and being around the program was exciting, but then to actually take over the program where as a little boy I was on the sideline as a ballboy and later coming through the program, is just so exciting.
“To be the head coach of the program where my dad coached for so long, where my dad won a state championship, is something I’ve dreamed of. It’s years of hard work and everything finally coming together for me. The support I’ve gotten from the community, and from my father, who’s an assistant on the staff with me, it just doesn’t get any better.”
The Wildcats were 6-6 last year and fell 22-19 at Woodlan in the sectional finals.
Garrett Elder was the face of last season’s team, rushing for 1,783 yards and 23 touchdowns.
Elder, who averaged nearly 10 yards per carry last season as the quarterback in Whitko’s Wing-T offense returns for his senior campaign, though he’s making the move to tailback.
Senior Collin Craig will play quarterback for the Wildcats, who open the season Friday with a long bus ride to Cambridge City Lincoln.
“We want to be unpredictable and balance ourselves offensively,” said Sprunger. “We’re making some transitions with Garrett Elder. When he was a freshman he was a split end, and he has some of the best hands on our team ... he’s a fast, shifty kid so we’re putting him in that more traditional tailback position.
“We’re moving Collin Craig, who was a wing for us last year and also our backup quarterback, into the quarterback role. He has a better arm than Garrett had, and now we’re going to play some games where we get Garrett out in space, get the ball to him and get him to be more explosive in that tailback position, rather then have him under center.”
Elder completed 14 of 65 passes last season for 138 yards with two touchdowns and five interceptions.
The rest of the team was 0 of 2 through the air last season.
“With my time over at Valley, working with Scott Bibler and Jeff Shriver, guys who were Wing-T running game guys, it’s going to be something I bring in,” said Sprunger. “But I also spent some time down at IU ... the spread offense under Bill Lynch and Terry Hoeppner and I learned a lot about the passing game.
“I’m gonna take a mixture of both and really try to balance ourselves out a little bit more this year. I was looking at the stats, and last year we only had 138 yards passing for the entire season. I told our linemen that 138 yards for a game is not going to be acceptable, let alone for the year. We’re going to try and get that balanced out and be a little more unpredictable.”
Also returning on offense are senior linemen Brandon Fugate, Gavin Howard and Jared Smith.
Other skill-position players who got time last year include junior Robby Owsley and seniors Dylan Stump, Cole Cmar and Draven Ivy.
“Those guys got some time last year and they have decent hands, so they should do a good job catching the ball for us,” said Sprunger.
Defensively, the Wildcats return inside linebackers senior Conner Sherwin and Craig, as well as senior end Zach Hewitt.
Others with varsity experience on defense include Owsley and Stump.
“We think defense is kind of going to be our strong suit this year,” said Sprunger. “We’re trying to bring a new attitude about our defense ... we gave it a nickname, we call ourselves the ‘bomb squad’ and we’re gonna bring the boom. They kids love it, they’re buying into. They’re excited.”
Following Friday’s game at Cambridge City Lincoln, the Wildcats will host county rival Columbia City on Aug. 26 and open Three Rivers Conference play on Sept. 2 at Maconaquah.
Now he holds its reins.
Thirty years after his father, Bryan Sprunger, led the Wildcats to a 14-0 record and a Class 2A state championship, 29-year-old Jeff Sprunger is making his head-coaching debut.
Sprunger played at Whitko for his father and graduated in 2006. He has been an assistant at Tippecanoe Valley and Whitko.
Sprunger takes over for Josh Mohr, who led the Wildcats to an 18-14 record the past three years before taking over as Whitko’s athletic director.
“The opportunity to come back to Whitko has been really exciting,” said Sprunger. “I was an assistant coach last year, and being around the program was exciting, but then to actually take over the program where as a little boy I was on the sideline as a ballboy and later coming through the program, is just so exciting.
“To be the head coach of the program where my dad coached for so long, where my dad won a state championship, is something I’ve dreamed of. It’s years of hard work and everything finally coming together for me. The support I’ve gotten from the community, and from my father, who’s an assistant on the staff with me, it just doesn’t get any better.”
The Wildcats were 6-6 last year and fell 22-19 at Woodlan in the sectional finals.
Garrett Elder was the face of last season’s team, rushing for 1,783 yards and 23 touchdowns.
Elder, who averaged nearly 10 yards per carry last season as the quarterback in Whitko’s Wing-T offense returns for his senior campaign, though he’s making the move to tailback.
Senior Collin Craig will play quarterback for the Wildcats, who open the season Friday with a long bus ride to Cambridge City Lincoln.
“We want to be unpredictable and balance ourselves offensively,” said Sprunger. “We’re making some transitions with Garrett Elder. When he was a freshman he was a split end, and he has some of the best hands on our team ... he’s a fast, shifty kid so we’re putting him in that more traditional tailback position.
“We’re moving Collin Craig, who was a wing for us last year and also our backup quarterback, into the quarterback role. He has a better arm than Garrett had, and now we’re going to play some games where we get Garrett out in space, get the ball to him and get him to be more explosive in that tailback position, rather then have him under center.”
Elder completed 14 of 65 passes last season for 138 yards with two touchdowns and five interceptions.
The rest of the team was 0 of 2 through the air last season.
“With my time over at Valley, working with Scott Bibler and Jeff Shriver, guys who were Wing-T running game guys, it’s going to be something I bring in,” said Sprunger. “But I also spent some time down at IU ... the spread offense under Bill Lynch and Terry Hoeppner and I learned a lot about the passing game.
“I’m gonna take a mixture of both and really try to balance ourselves out a little bit more this year. I was looking at the stats, and last year we only had 138 yards passing for the entire season. I told our linemen that 138 yards for a game is not going to be acceptable, let alone for the year. We’re going to try and get that balanced out and be a little more unpredictable.”
Also returning on offense are senior linemen Brandon Fugate, Gavin Howard and Jared Smith.
Other skill-position players who got time last year include junior Robby Owsley and seniors Dylan Stump, Cole Cmar and Draven Ivy.
“Those guys got some time last year and they have decent hands, so they should do a good job catching the ball for us,” said Sprunger.
Defensively, the Wildcats return inside linebackers senior Conner Sherwin and Craig, as well as senior end Zach Hewitt.
Others with varsity experience on defense include Owsley and Stump.
“We think defense is kind of going to be our strong suit this year,” said Sprunger. “We’re trying to bring a new attitude about our defense ... we gave it a nickname, we call ourselves the ‘bomb squad’ and we’re gonna bring the boom. They kids love it, they’re buying into. They’re excited.”
Following Friday’s game at Cambridge City Lincoln, the Wildcats will host county rival Columbia City on Aug. 26 and open Three Rivers Conference play on Sept. 2 at Maconaquah.
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