Panthers’ pieces in place for fall

Colleyville Heritage’s football program has all of the pieces in place to begin the 2016 season. What head coach Joe Willis wants to do is make it whole.

The Panthers concluded the 2016 spring season this past Thursday with the red and black spring football scrimmage on the Colleyville Heritage campus. The controlled event lasted for four 12-minute running clock quarters. That was preceded by the sub-varsity teams playing five series.

For precautionary purposes, five starters were held out of the game because of minor injuries. That included junior wide receiver Ke’Von Ahmad. The Panthers leading receiver from 2015 was held out due to a nagging finger injury he suffered last week.

“Really, the first goal of the scrimmage was to stay healthy and we did that,” Willis said. “The second was our depth. We have a pretty good idea who our 22 starters are going to be. We just don’t know who the backups are yet.”

That includes the offensive line that will be experiencing a major makeover. Willis made a major change to it. He moved Drew Irion from tight end to right tackle. He also will have Will Bernhardt split time on both the defensive line and at H-back. Both Irion and Berhnardt were named most valuable teammates.

“Really, those two guys shined throughout the spring,” Willis said. “We had to figure some things out with our offensive line. With Irion, we needed to have an athletic player there because we pull our tackles a lot. Drew might be a little undersized but he plays big. Bernhardt just offers us some flexibility.”

Roane commits

On May 25, senior quarterback Cam Roane announced he had given a verbal commitment to San Diego State. Roane put together a very impressive 2015 season by throwing for 2,300 yards and 21 touchdowns as he led the Panthers to the Class 6A Division II playoffs.

Roane’s offer list was starting to grow with the likes of Arkansas State, North Texas and Richmond. But he had been talking with San Diego State coaches for quite some time. Once the Aztecs recently offered, that put the left-hander on the fast track toward becoming one.

Verbal commitments are non-binding. The first day a recruit can sign a 2017 national letter of intent is Feb. 1, 2017. Roanie is the third Division I quarterback Colleyville Heritage has produced along with Christian Ponder (Florida State) and Cody Thomas (Oklahoma).

“San Diego State is my choice because of the coaching staff and [quarterbacks coach] Blane Morgan,” Roane said. “He and his offensive guys are the people I was hoping to find throughout the recruiting process. The West Coast offense is something that will prepare me for the next level. I truly believe that.”

Roane could still be subject to Power 5 schools pursuing him. He said he plans on attending as many local college camps in the DFW area as he can. Strong performances could improve his stock.

Notable

Willis said the secondary came together pretty impressively toward the end of spring. Marcus Mosley and Mitch Hubbard are the cornerbacks. Caleb Murphy and Gervon Thothian are the safeties.

“We had some big holes to fill,” Willis said. “Our first four are really good, coverage-wise. If we can tackle like we did in the scrimmage, that’s great. I don’t think we missed a tackle all night.”

This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 2:13 PM with the headline "Panthers’ pieces in place for fall."