Sports
Philo Zoned in on Pack Mentality
By: Marisa Salopek
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Across the chest of Philo’s newest practice jerseys reads: “Maximum Effort”. After graduating 13 seniors and fielding a small senior class this year, Philo’s younger players will have to exhibit exactly that.
Despite the overall shortage of varsity experience, head coach Dirk Lincicome insisted his team is physically ready, but there is still work to be done to prepare young players mentally.
.”Some of the younger guys are returning lettermen, but most of them were JV players last year that saw some varsity time,” Lincicome said. “But by and large were a young team with a lot of untested kids. It’s pretty exciting going in not knowing what to expect but kind of makes you a little nervous too.”
On top of developing young players, forming chemistry has been a point of emphasis since going 4-6 last season.
“The kids have spent a lot of time together outside of football. They like each other,” Lincicome said. “That’s something we really focused on in the offseason with the leadership program that we did with our kids. Hopefully it will yield some good results for us come Friday night.”
As chemistry improves, depth continues to be an issue, especially along the offensive line. With so many newer players, Lincicome is expecting each of his players to be ready to roll.
“The next man has got to be ready to go and we’re not there,” Lincicome said. “When those guys come along I’ll know a lot more about who were going to be.”
Lincicome said he expects junior quarterback Nate Baker to create opportunities. Last year, Baker began the season as the backup, but eventually earned the starting role after his performance against Maysville.
“His development has been as good as anybody else that we have. [He is] really becoming a student of the game, looking at himself on film and spending a lot of extra time outside of practice working on his throws with his receivers,” Lincicome said. “I’m very pleased with where he’s at and his commitment level.”
Coming into the season with a young squad, Lincicome emphasized getting to a place of mental preparedness with a focus on a pack mentality.
“Everything we do at practice we try to remind the kids it’s about us, it’s not about me, it’s not about one person,” Lincicome said. “It’s about the whole unit one heartbeat.”
The Electrics begin their season on Friday, Aug. 28 at West Muskingum.