Fred Bouchard got a good eye full of his MICDS football team at its preseason jamboree Thursday night.
“I think we saw some pretty positive things and we saw some things we certainly need to work on,†the fifth-year Rams coach said. “Going against other people at full speed honestly helps us get a really good assessment of things we need to shore up in the next week.â€
MICDS — the No. 5 team in the preseason small-schools rankings — finished 9-3 last season and fell to eventual state champion Cardinal Ritter in the Class 5 District 3 championship.
The Rams will welcome back a large crop of starters from last year’s squad.
“We bring back quite a few starters on defense and the guys who weren’t starters a year ago have acclimated pretty quickly, so we’re pretty excited about that,†Bouchard said.
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The defensive line will be led by Iowa commit Lucas Allgeyer, a 6-foot-6, 285-pound senior defensive tackle who has produced combined totals of 132 tackles and 12 sacks the last two seasons.
“He’s a big anchor on that d-line,†Bouchard said. “He’s going into his senior year with a chance to be a four-year all-conference player and three-year all-state player.â€
Allgeyer is excited about what the Rams could accomplish this season.
“I feel really good about our team,†he said. “I think we have a remarkably strong group this year. Our senior class has a lot of super strong leaders. We’re a really tight-knit group. We do have a little less guys than in previous years, but in all honesty, I don’t think I’ve been more confident in a team than I am this year.â€
The Rams’ d-line also includes another standout in junior Ben Petersen, who earned some all-state recognition after a 13-sack campaign, along with other solid players like juniors Sam Glasser, Axel Jones and Miles Coleman and sophomore Weston Roller.
MICDS’ top two tacklers last season — seniors Adrian Ritchey (104 tackles) and Peyton Simon (103) — also return to lead the linebacking unit, where they will be joined by fellow seniors Lucas Starks, Cam Cooper and Henri Sokolich.
“There’s a good battle at linebacker between two newcomers (Starks and Cooper) that played early in their high school careers but then stepped away to focus on other sports but decided their senior year to come back,†Bouchard said.
The Rams’ secondary includes senior cornerbacks Brian Gould and Bauer Brown, junior cornerback Will Frank and sophomore cornerback LJ Triplett and junior safeties Graham Faust and Peter O’Leary.
“I didn’t see a kid working harder than (Faust) this offseason. I think that loss (against Ritter, in which MICDS permitted 420 passing yards) really hit him and he wanted to make sure that our secondary is as strong as it can be going into the season.â€
The offense has been led by Gould the last two seasons, but he won’t be able to be under center this season due to having Tommy John surgery in the spring. Gould, who passed for 1,840 yards and rushed for 1,083 more last fall, should still be heavily involved in the offense, just not in a throwing capacity.
“One of the things about Brian Gould is he’s excited about being able to see how he can contribute on defense and how he can contribute on offense,†Bouchard said. “He’s a really talented guy, so we’re excited about what Brian does.â€
The new signal caller this season will be 6-1, 175-pound sophomore Noah Menneke, the son of Rams offensive line coach Nick Menneke.
“He’s probably been on campus since the first week of his life,†Bouchard said. “He’s been part of the MICDS fabric for quite a while. He’s 15 years old and all 15 years have been, I’m sure, present on that campus.â€
Menneke did complete 13 of 21 passes for 138 yards in limited duty last season.
“We cycled him in because we felt like it was important for depth, so he played some a year ago as a freshman to give Brian a spell every now and again and it proved a little bit prophetic now that we’ve handed him the keys as the quarterback,†Bouchard said. “He spins it pretty well. He's put in a lot of time and effort to work his quarterback craft and now he gets to put that on display.â€
Menneke will have a trio of outstanding wide receivers to throw the ball to in Faust (42 receptions, 666 yards, 9 touchdowns last season), Gabe Weaver (30, 355, 3) and Henry Rohan (20, 612, 6).
“I think we’ve got a clear strength at receiver. I think we’ve got three of the best receivers in the state,†Bouchard said. “Graham Faust is a kid already with Division I offers who was all-state in football and lacrosse as a sophomore. Gabe Weaver is 6-6, 205 pounds and was a pretty high-end hurdler going out for track for the first time last year. And Henry Rohan took fifth last year in the 100 meters. And they’re all juniors.â€
Seniors Joe Walsh and Jack Wienstroer will both line up at the tight end/H-back spot. Joining Gould in the backfield will be junior Rodney Freeman.
Allgeyer, who will play offensive tackle for the Hawkeyes, will anchor the MICDS offensive line at right tackle. He’ll be joined on the starting line by senior right guard Gokhan Yilmaz, junior left guard Andrew Ford, sophomore left tackle Caleb Otten and Coleman at center, with Jones and Glasser providing depth.
“They’re weight room warriors, those guys,†Bouchard said. “They are always working. They are super dedicated to that part of their game, and it has translated.â€
Gould will also handle punting duties and the Rams bring back senior kicker Malik Orsan.
“He was all-state,†Bouchard said of Orsan. “The last two years, he’s been a perfect 5-for-5 in field goals with a long of 46, 47.â€
MICDS will open its season with an immediate tough test Friday night when it travels to Hillsboro to take on a Hawks team that was the Class 4 runner-up last fall.
“They’ve got maybe one of the top three quarterbacks in the state of Missouri in Preston Brown. He’s impressive. He throws it well but also does an awesome job of eluding, buying extra time and always seeming to keep one eye downfield. Not every athletic quarterback has that skill, but when they do, my gosh are they dangerous. So, we have a tall order defending against what he brings to the table,†Bouchard said. “They’ve got an outstanding program. It’ll be fun. It’ll be a Friday night in rural America. If you ask me, it’s tough to get a whole lot better than that.â€