ALTAMONT — Iola coach Doug Kerr had his first look at the 2016 Mustang football team on Tuesday during a joint practice with area teams at Labette County High School.
The team had 20 players in attendance.
One player who stood out to Kerr was new starting fullback Chase Regehr. While the senior earned plenty of snaps last year, the fact that starting fullback Ethan Sigg has graduated and moved on to Butler County Community College, Regehr’s importance to the offensive attack will continue to increase. The team’s other fullback, Evan Sigg, Ethan’s brother, was held out of the practice.
“We had a rotation last year at fullback, Ethan was our main fullback,” Kerr said. “Evan Sigg is nursing an ankle injury right now. It is nothing serious, but we didn’t want him to go today.”
Despite the positive work, Kerr is hesitant to put too much stock in these early practices.
“It was kind of like an NFL preseason,” Kerr said. “We went very bland and basic.”
Iola will return to Labette County next Tuesday for a second joint practice. Kerr said this offseason work is a great opportunity for his team to make sure they are ready to go when fall practice begins.
“We are way ahead of last year’s pace when it comes to (offseason work),” Kerr said. “We still have another one here and we have one in July in Humboldt. Then we have our team camp, before we go to Girard for a camp, so I think we are going to be ahead of schedule.”
