By Dave Morrison for the register-herald

The maturation of Summers County quarterback Eli Franklin is more about off-field situations than anything he will do on the field, coach Justin Pugh said.

Tasked with taking over for record-setting QB Brandan Isaac last fall, it’ s not numbers Pugh was looking for this season, but leadership.

“ We were sitting in the coach’ s office this summer talking about the schedule and he said,‘ I think the floor is six wins,’” Pugh said.“ He went through each game on the schedule and rationalized how we can win six of the games.

“ It’ s one thing to tell me that. But he got up in front of the team later and said the same things:‘ the floor is six wins, there are a couple of‘ tweener games and we could potentially win seven.’

“ That would not have happened

last season. And it’ s a positive sign.”

Pugh, a former Bobcats standout, understands his quarterback must perform better than he did last fall during a 3-7 season, though it was certainly not all at his feet or arm.

And Pugh believes Franklin will do that.

“ Even last year he was a smart player, he was just thrown into the mix without a whole lot of reps at quarterback,” Pugh said, noting he was thrown into the mix after expected starter Ryan Oliveros stepped away from football.“ Now he is a year better in the system. He knows what I’ m trying to do, get back to the original plan of being more of a read option team.”

He will have a few weapons among the approximately 30-man roster to help, including Braxton Lambert, who will take over for Tyson Adkins in the backfield and on defense at linebacker.

Adkins was a multiple year all-stater on defense

who famously made his bones as a freshman when he stopped eventual Kennedy Award winner Atticus Goodson of Independence on a play at the goal line. He is gone now. Colton Taylor, a guard last year, will be in the mix along with Noah Vanaman, a transfer from Florida who played competitive flag football in the past.

The Cozort brothers— senior Braiden, center, and sophomore Chris, sophomore— with senior Evan Dick, a guard, anchor the offensive line.

Freshman Jackson Bennett, who worked out all offseason prepping for the varsity level, freshman Preston Ferrell and sophomore Blake Richardson will also be in the rotation.

As many as three other linemen will play both there and in the backfield— Aiden Brunty, coming off an ACL injury, Seth Whitt and Rylan Tabor.

Pugh will be looking for some receivers to go with

kicker / punter-turned-receiver Josh Okes and sophomore Cody Snavely. Vanaman might be able to help there, too.

Many of the same players will see action on the defensive side of the ball.

And defense was a problem last year, when Summers gave up 35.3 points, the second most in program history.

“ We have a young team, so most people would label it rebuild, but I prefer to look at it as we are reloading,” Pugh said.“ Maybe retooling is the best way to describe it.”

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