Jefferson City Jays head coach Terry Walker is bringing some small-school football with him to one of the largest schools in the state.
"We're playing kids both ways, that generates a lot of competition," said Walker, who is in his first season as head coach for the Jays. "The pool is a lot deeper because you've got to beat out a few more guys to earn that spot. That's made some good competition. We've got some young guys battling for spots, which is good to see. We've got some older guys who have been in some spots that are getting pushed right now."
Some of that competition is on the defensive front. Senior quarterback Devin Roberson could go from avoiding sacks while on offense to chasing down the quarterback while on defense.
"He looks to be a pretty good fit there because he's a big kid, he's strong, he runs really well and has a great motor," Walker said of Roberson, who was listed at 6 foot-3 and 210 pounds last season. "He works well in practice so I think he'll get snaps on both sides of the ball."
Then on the offensive side of the ball, Roberson may have a new weapon in Corey Suttle, a senior defensive end who's committed to play at Iowa State.
Walker said the 6-4 Suttle is also working as a tight end and H-back.
"He'll do some motioning for us," Walker said. "He'll run the football a little bit, he'll catch the football a little bit, he'll block a lot just because he's an imposing presence."
Tight end Ian Cote, receiver Christian White and others may also have roles on both sides of the ball.
"Obviously if you have 22 great guys then that's what you do, but we don't have that," Walker said. "We've got some good hard working kids, but we've got some kids that are capable of playing on both sides of the ball and that's what we're going to do because it will give us the best chance to be successful. I think the kids have really enjoyed the opportunity to flip around to the other side of the ball."
Having two-way players won't be completely new to the Jays. Dennis Barnes played cornerback and receiver in 2016 and defensive tackle K.D. Rosser spent time as a fullback last season.
The difference will be the number of players being inserted into that role. Walker said he may have five or more players playing offense and defense when the Jays host Kirkwood on Aug. 24 at Adkins Stadium.
"Every single kid practices on both sides of the ball," he said. "Even though they may be incredibly inexperienced on that side of the ball, athletically and physically they are the best person for that position at this time."
The Jays will have a chance to help sort out position battles Friday when they play Hickman, Battle and Rock Bridge during a Jamboree at Hickman. Action will start at 7 p.m.
"We'll probably be relatively vanilla with the stuff we're doing on offense and defense and just try to assess where we're at fundamentally," Walker said.
Before then, Walker said the focus will be continuing to become more physical and tougher.
"Our effort needs to be better," he said. "We need to be more consistent effort-wise. It's not that our effort is bad, and it's not the same players, it's different players on each play. But our effort needs to be more consistent and our kids need to understand that the most fundamental component of success at any sport at any level is just a willingness to compete and play hard during the course of that play."