If there
’s one essential area in which a football team must upgrade if
it expects to improve overall, it is up front. The old adage that
football games are won or lost in the trenches — on the offensive
and defensive line — is a truism that has been brought home all too
clearly to the Live Oak High f
ootball program the last few years.
If there’s one essential area in which a football team must upgrade if it expects to improve overall, it is up front.
The old adage that football games are won or lost in the trenches — on the offensive and defensive line — is a truism that has been brought home all too clearly to the Live Oak High football program the last few years.
But as summer workouts draw to a close, Acorn football coach Glen Webb has seen reason for optimism in an area that has, as often as not, proved to be the program’s Achilles heel over the past two seasons — winless campaigns both.
According to Webb, Live Oak has one of its finest crops of linemen in years.
“Our linemen are starting to grow up,” Webb said. “We’ve been pretty young there the last few years and now they’re upperclassmen.”
Among those players who have given Webb reason for such optimism are seniors Dustin Vertin and John Pederson, and juniors Jason Romero and Justin Frost.
That crew will be charged with protecting the quarterback (seniors Jon Redmond and David Iseman, along with junior Steven Webb — the coach’s son, are prime candidates) and opening holes for running backs Cody Welch (Sr.) and Dustin Muhn (Jr.), among others.
Other top prospects this summer include senior receivers Doug Porras, Shawn Standridge and Ed Arias, and junior linebacker Mark Pimentel.
The group’s work ethic is perhaps best defined by Pederson, who has been joining several of his teammates in morning workout sessions with 49er linebacker and Live Oak alum Jeff Ulbrich this summer before the grueling workout sessions later in the day.
And, Ulbrich’s influence has been just part of the Acorns’ NFL connection as former 49er Randy Kirk has joined the coaching staff and ex-NFL lineman Rhett Hall has helped out occasionally.
Live Oak finishes its summer session on July 30, then takes a break before two-a-days begin Aug. 9.
The Acorns begin play with a scrimmage against visiting Hollister-San Benito on Aug. 27, then officially start their season by hosting Alvarez on Sept. 11.
