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KLAA Training Camp Update: Northville, Walled Lake Western open up practices
~~At Northville, the Mustangs have two Division I players in David Moorman and Ryan Roberts who are obviously looking forward to taking the next step in their football careers.
But both are focused on Northville first and foremost, most notably on helping the Mustangs make a deep playoff run this fall.
Moorman says that the offseason for him was a fun one, as he gave his verbal commitment to Wisconsin back in June, but he’s ready to move on from the recruiting process and focus on high school football one last time.
“I’m very excited, this offseason was a lot of fun for me, with the whole recruiting process,” he said. “But I’m just ready to put it all behind me and get back out on the field with the guys and focus on our season.”
Moorman is a 3-star offensive lineman according to Rivals.com, standing at 6-5, while Roberts, a 6-7 tight end, committed to Northern Illinois back in May.
Roberts said that to have the recruiting aspect all wrapped up is going to be a big benefit to him as he looks forward to the 2014 season.
“It’s great, I’m focused on Northville football right now and I know David’s thinking the same thing,” he said. “He and I are both focused on Northville football right now.”
Northville head coach Matt Ladach said on Tuesday he could already see the leadership that his two D-1 stars will be bringing to the table this fall for the Mustangs.
“Even though it’s only been two days so far this year, there is no doubt that those guys are both great leaders,” he said. “They’re both great leaders in our school and community and you couldn’t ask for better young men than those two.”
Northville will get its season underway on August 28 as it plays host to Lakeland.
For Moorman, once the practice season got underway on Monday, he knew that his senior season at Northville was going to have his full attention before he looks ahead to the next level.
“It doesn’t bother me too much,” he said. “I know that when it’s time for the season to go, I can put it on the backburner and Wisconsin’s letting me do that, they’re kind of hands off right now and letting me focus on my senior season and then after the season, we’ll start talking to see what I can do to get ready for my freshman season. So right now ‘I’m focused on Northville football and hopefully making a run before that.”
— Over at Walled Lake Western, the Warriors will be looking to fill the shoes of two Division I players as they graduated kicker and quarterback Kyle Bambard, who accepted an offer to North Carolina State, as well as offensive lineman Alex Joss, who will play for Ball State.
Stepping in to take over the offense at quarterback will be junior Kyle Thomas, who the Warriors are confident will be able to fill the void and will have some extra help adjusting as Bambard will stick around to coach this fall for the Warriors before leaving to enroll at NC State in the winter.
“Kyle’s stepping in and we’re going from a Kyle to a Kyle,” said Western head coach Mike Zdebski. “He’s the same type of kid, he’s got a great motor, he can run, so if something’s not there he can pull it down. The hard part is being careful of your expectations, because you had a kid who was back there for two and a half years starting, opposed to a kid where this is going to be his first varsity game starting. He’s been a starter all the way through, he has confidence, great player, but things are a little bit faster and things are a little bit different.”
Thomas noted that while he doesn’t have much experience playing at quarterback for the varsity team, he will definitely be working towards getting experience playing against the Western defense in practice and will have an opportunity to learn plenty from Bambard throughout the fall.
“My mentality coming is that while I don’t have experience, I’m going to work to try and get the best experience possible against the defense,’ he said. “And I can learn from Kyle who was a three year starter here.”
Alex Gammo and Jon George will be stepping in along the offensive line to help replace the loss of Alex Joss and Leon Richardson (Indiana State), who anchored the Western offensive line in recent years.
‘We have two more 6-3 300 pound tackles moving in there,” he said. “So, size wise, you can’t see any difference, it’s just going to be how well do they move their feet compared to the other kids, because we lost two Division 1 offensive linemen.”
