Offensive install continues for Hodag gridders at team camp

The Rhinelander High School football team held its last four contact days of the summer this week, and they were perhaps the most important as the team tries to reinvigorate its offense this fall.

    Defensive line coach Steve Zangl goes over assignments on a whiteboard during Hodag Football Team Camp at Mike Webster Stadium Monday, July 17. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

More than 50 team members in grades 9-12, and roughly another 25 from the middle school level, attended this week’s camp, which wrapped up on Thursday. 

Head coach Aaron Kraemer has always used the camp, less than two weeks from the start of fall practice, as a springboard into the season, getting a head start on installing the offense and defense. That’s doubly important this year as the Hodag offense transitions from a pro-style look to a pistol wing look. 

    Participants in the Hodag Football Team Camp break a huddle after the completion of a drill at Mike Webster Stadium Monday, July 17. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

“I thought that today was a lot of learning, just like the first time we ran it in June,” Kraemer said after Monday’s three-hour session at Mike Webster Stadium. “Any time that you’re running a new offense and you’re putting in different motions and people are playing different positions and learning new things, of course there are going to be some growing pains. We’re hoping that the growing pains are gone after this week and when we come back in August, we can really hit the ground running.”

There’s a lot of new that comes with the offense, which features a quarterback, in Rhinelander’s case operating out of the pistol, with a tailback behind him and wingbacks on either flank. 

Monday’s offensive team sessions focused primarily on the running game and two emphases seemed apparent — the need to get in and out of the huddle quickly and the ability to trick the defense via misdirection.

That’s all important as Hodags try to get their offense back on track. Rhinelander was last in the Great Northern Conference last year in both scoring offense (7.0 PPG) and total offense (156.9 YPG), while finishing seventh in the eight-team league in rushing offense (81.0 YPG).

“That’s what Wing-T is all about. Not that I’m a card-carrying member of the Wing-T organization, but I will say that is something that a good offense is predicated on, setting the tempo and running to your tempo and then being able defenses can be kept off guard,” Kraemer said. “We felt, last year, with our offense, the I-formation we were giving too much away with our fullback and that our tailback carried a heavy load. It was a two-back system instead of a three.”

It could essentially be a four-back system, if you include the quarterback position. The majority of the reps with the returning varsity group were taken by junior-to-be Truman Lamers, while last year’s starting quarterback, senior-to-be James Heck, was seen at tailback along with returning all-conference player Owen Kurtz — who Rhinelander experimented moving from guard to fullback last year before he sustained a season-ending shoulder injury in a Week 6 loss to Mosinee.  

“We feel like we’re going to be a little more versatile and we also feel like, in the pistol, we can still throw the ball. You saw Truman today, he can air it out. We’re excited about what we’re able to do,” Kraemer said. 

Kraemer admitted all the changes are a lot to digest at once, and that the offense may have had a bit too much on its plate on Monday. But he said he was hopeful that the team will have been able to go over much of the base offense by the end of camp.

“I want to make sure that, offensively, we have our base running package in, that base series,” he said. “Then I want to make sure that we understand our quick passing game, so we have a two-headed dynamic, so that when we walk in we can review those plays on Day 1 and Day 2 and then start to put our secondary schemes in.”

While not the major overhaul that the offense is experiencing, Kraemer said there have been subtle tweaks to the defense too, primarily focused on the alignment of the outside or “Hodag” linebackers.  

“Defense actually went pretty well because the kids understood the base structure from last year,” Kraemer said. “We have one tweak to the defense and James Heck’s doing a great job setting that all up, setting the defense up. Him leading up, the change defensively isn’t that big of a deal. We’re hitting the ground running on defense.”

Kraemer said he’s hopeful much of the base defense will be in by the start of fall practice, with only the goal line package and a few other wrinkles to throw in during the first week. 

While most of the team was there for this week’s voluntary workouts, Kraemer expects the turn out on opening day to be higher than what it was for camp. Regardless, he was excited for the energy on the field between the high school and middle school groups.

“We’re hoping to push our numbers into the 60s and 70s and we know that we’ll probably have that come that first day, but we were very excited about what we were able to do with the high school group,” he said. “Then the middle school group, it just seems to grow every year, the middle schoolers that are excited about playing football is tremendous. They have a good spunk to them and they’re a good group.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].