Chadron State is finishing up its first week of spring football practice and one position that’s particularly deep is wide receiver.
Coach Logan Masters is in his second year with the Eagles and said at practice Wednesday, “We returned every single receiver. And we added in a couple kids who redshirted last year who are making things really competitive so (through the) first practices and all through winter conditioning it’s been very competitive in the group, and iron sharpens iron so we’re real excited and hopefully our passing game can hit another level next fall.”
Masters is also benefitting from the experience he gained himself in his first year learning the Eagle system.
Masters (pictured below) said, “For me personally, I’m a lot more comfortable with the offense. I was still learning a little bit (last year). It’s real easy getting up on the board and seeing guys Live and fixing mistakes, trying to go fast (in) our tempo. It was a challenge for me as well learning it (the offense) but now it’s second nature, it’s been good.”
Stevann Brown is transitioning back to running back after a season at receiver but plenty of valuable experience returns with juniors Brandon Fullerton and Tevon Wright (pictured below) who join senior Matt Reader as key returners on the outside. Reader has proven to find the end zone over his career and is a key Red Zone target but sitting out the spring while rehabbing a shoulder surgery. Fullerton and Wright have showed blazing speed, can stretch the field and turn short catches into breakaway plays.
Masters on the Fullerton/Wright combo, “Obviously you want the defense to defend the whole field so having guys who can stretch the field or even just having guys you can throw a hitch to and turn it into 70 (yards) is important.”
And there’s a new downfield threat Coach Masters is excited about that could make the group even more potent.
“Another guy that I think can be a big weapon for us downfield is Chris Barganier, a junior college kid who sat out last fall as a redshirt. He’s been doing well (in spring ball) and we have high hopes for him but he’s still learning too.”
With the pieces in place Coach Masters is now looking for tempo and competition from his guys as they grow and adapt to changes in spring practice.
“Right now, the biggest thing is playing fast. We switched a few things up on how we’re going to do things outside so getting them really familiar with that and being able to play as fast as they possibly can. And then just competing, at wide receiver we do a lot of running so we play a lot of guys, at least six to seven guys, so creating that depth (is a focus this spring) and you never know when your number’s going to be called and being able to make that big play that can change the game.”