Team Preview:
Written By: Sven Alskog

Youth is the name of the game this year in Jerome.

Gone are 16 seniors from last season, and with a fairly small senior class in place this time around, the Tigers will rely heavily on sophomores and juniors to carry the load.

With youth comes excitement though, and the hope is that these players will catch on to the coaching and improve gradually throughout the season.

“[They are] young and eager in every way. Not many seniors, so we are expecting a ton from the juniors and sophomores,” said head coach Sid Gambles.

Some of the key losses for Jerome include three-year letter winners in quarterback Jordin Myers, linebacker/tight end David Harker and linebacker/running back Colten Craig.

A friendly quarterback competition is underway to try to fill the void vacated by Myers.

“We run spread, so the quarterback is the trigger man in every way. [We are] in a quarterback battle between sophomore Dalan Thompson and junior Jarom Wallace. The ceiling is very high for both of them,” said Gambles.

He likes his offensive line.

“I think our offensive line is big and pretty physical so we should be able to run the ball a bit.”

Dalton Raposo looks to be the primary ball-handler tasked with finding gaps between that line.

If there is one area of surplus on the roster, it comes from the wide receiver core. This position fills up the roster for Jerome, leaving whichever quarterback comes out of the battle with a good core of options to throw to.

“We will have quite a few skill kids, so we are going to have to get creative to get people the ball. I think Shayler Bingham at wide receiver and Victor Santos at tight end will do big things,” added Gambles.

The youth is going to likely be most evident on the defensive side of the football, especially given the losses of Harker and Colten Craig.

“We are young, but will fly around to the ball. Jeffrey Ledezma plays safety and is the quarterback of the defense. Expecting big things from him. We have a few capable defensive ends in Kyle Craig and Isaac Peters that can be a problem for opposing tackles,” said Gambles.

Ledezma is just a sophomore, so he will be getting a heavy dose of playing time from the defensive backfield at an early stage of his high school career.

Gambles hopes to see Jerome become stronger up the middle, with the goal of forcing more turnovers a focus area as well for this season.

In a new-look Great Basin Conference, the Tigers find themselves in the west pod with Wood River, Twin Falls, Canyon Ridge and Mountain Home. It appears that Twin Falls and Canyon Ridge are the early favorites for the two automatic playoff spots, however if Jerome can get its youth acclimated to the varsity level this team may have a chance to compete for a berth as well.

The Tigers begin the season with a road game at Burley.