Fort Worth area football breakouts identified in spring practices

“Finding an identity” has been a common refrain echoing through area high school spring football practices as Class 6A and 5A teams get ready for the 2016 season.

Coaches took advantage of up to 18 practice dates, many of which culminated with spring games over the past two weeks.

At least 35 schools in the area held a spring game, which often serves dual purposes: as a fundraiser for the team and as the community’s May football fix.

“They look forward to the game; they want to show up their buddy, and there is a lot of good-natured smack talk between players,” Fort Worth Paschal coach Matt Miracle said. “That game is the carrot out there for these kids because they’re starved for football at this point.”

A look at four area teams:

Arlington Martin

If the crowd at last week’s Martin spring game was any indication, the fans are also starved for football. With bleachers packed, Warriors’ fans spilled out along the fence of the practice field, and about 100 more filled in on the sidelines and behind the south end zone to see the Black Team outrun the Silver Team 22-0.

This is the one time of year when the final score isn’t that important.

“Every time graduation hits you and the younger ones come up, they have to be trained in the type of attitude and culture and effort we want in practice every single day,” said Bob Wager, whose Martin teams have won at least a share of their district title in five of the last six seasons. “Secondly, I think it’s important making sure you get all the right puzzle pieces in the right places.”

The culture is firmly established at Martin; about 200 players participated in spring drills. The Warriors have made playoff runs three rounds deep the last three seasons.

Wager said the presumptive starter at quarterback entering the off-season was senior Kurt Wilson, who played wide receiver last year. But the Texas Tech baseball commit had Tommy John surgery in the winter, so one of Wager’s spring priorities became finding another quarterback.

Linebacker/running back Juma Otoviano and defensive back Tre Brown are in the mix for the starting job as both made big plays at the position in the spring game. The Warriors are used to surviving at the quarterback position, though.

In 2014 Brown took over at quarterback in the wake of an injury to starter Eric Walker, another college baseball recruit who will play at LSU next season. Brown led Martin to a 7-0 record during his time behind center, but he also may be the Warriors’ best option at safety in his senior season.

Fort Worth Paschal

Matt Miracle seeks to build on last year’s 3-7 record.

“We took a lot of time to teach so we can go faster when we hit August,” Miracle said. “I’m a big believer in spring football, because the tradeoff is 18 practices now for nine practices if we went with that extra week in August.”

He was promoted from special teams coordinator to head coach in June 2015. Getting in the full spring schedule this year has him feeling ahead of the game. Paschal returns 14 starters.

Colleyville Heritage

Panthers coach Joe Willis enters his second season after moving from Cedar Park in May 2015. Heritage returns 11 starters from a 5-6 campaign that ended with a bi-district loss to 6A state finalist Mansfield.

After being dropped to Class 5A in UIL realignment the Panthers look like a favorite in District 8-5A — with four Fort Worth ISD schools, plus Grapevine, Birdville and Richland — and set to make a deep playoff run.

Players including quarterback Cam Roane, who enters his senior season after committing Wednesday to play college football at San Diego State.

He shouted “December 17,” the date of the Class 5A state championships at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, in the huddle after Heritage’s spring game.

“Having that set spot for next year allows me to focus on my guys, my team during my senior season and eventually a state championship,” Roane said.

Receiver Ke’Von Ahmad, a junior this fall, scored 20 touchdowns (18 receiving) and amassed 1,390 yards on his way to a Sophomore All-America first-team nod from MaxPreps and an Associated Press all-state first-team selection.

He was held out of contact drills for the last of couple weeks of spring practice because of a finger injury on his left hand, but his return in the fall and the emergence of twin receivers Germon and Gervon Thothion have the Heritage offense looking like one of the most explosive in the area.

“I don’t pay too much attention to those A’s, because there’s a lot of teams on our schedule who have a lot of W’s,” Willis said. “We haven’t necessarily celebrated the idea that we’re dropping in classification. There are a lot of good teams in 5A and, of course, I can attest to that.”

Willis’ Cedar Park team won the 2012 Class 4A (equivalent to today’s Class 5A) Division II title over Lancaster. Heritage’s nondistrict schedule includes a season-opening matchup against Aledo and one against Euless Trinity two weeks later.

FW South Hills

Scorpions coach J.J. Resendez had 76 players participate in spring practices on the field, but the coaching staff had its gaze affixed most keenly on one, returning quarterback Tracin Wallace.

The senior-to-be suffered a season-ending left knee injury last August in a preseason scrimmage against Dallas Seagoville. Wallace, however, has been practicing at full speed during the spring the whole month of May, Resendez said.

Wallace and his twin brother, Tylan, a wide receiver, have both committed to Oklahoma State. Despite wearing a knee brace, Tracin showed off playmaking skills on both sides of the ball during the spring game.

“Watching him drop back, set up in the pocket, slide to where he could get a good, clear aim, he did a great job of that and delivering the football down the field,” Resendez said. “He’s back. He’s everything I hoped he would be.”

That should lead to an improvement on South Hills’ third-place district finish a season ago. Tracin thinks a playoff run at least three rounds deep is in the cards for the Scorpions.

No Fort Worth ISD school has made the third round of the playoffs since Wyatt in 2000, but one thing spring practices have accomplished is planting the seeds for success in the minds of athletes across DFW.

This story was originally published May 31, 2016 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Fort Worth area football breakouts identified in spring practices."