Sports
Sheets Adjusts, Thrives Across the River
By: Brad Friedman
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Players on TVC-Hocking teams playing more than one position is nothing new. In many cases, it’s a necessity to field a competitive team.
However, when a player needs to trill his lips, tilt his head up and think before listing off all of his on-field responsibilities, as is the case with Wahama’s Kaileb Sheets, it’s a wonder how he can fine-tune his skills at each position.
Sheets sees significant time as the team’s quarterback, outside linebacker and punter, all positions which he starts, in addition to playing safety, kicking off and returning punts and kick-offs.
“I’ll do whatever the coaches need me to do,” he said, chuckling at the thought of serving as the team’s water boy as well.
But he didn’t say no.
The multi-purpose junior has done everything asked of him since transferring from Meigs to Wahama this season. Through five games, Sheets accumulated six touchdowns and 496 yards with his feet. If one were to discount Sheets’s seven-yard rushing performance against Ravenswood in week one, he is averaging 122 rushing yards per game.
In addition, Sheets turned on the jets on a kickoff return against Federal Hocking in week five, taking the kick 73 yards back to the house.
Not too shabby for a player who was playing under a very different system just one year ago.
Leaving a no-huddle offense and coming into an offense that huddles prior to each play was not the easiest thing to adjust to, Sheets said, but head coach Dave Barr applauded Sheets’s willingness to adapt and execute.
“He is by far the leader in terms of the number of hours spent looking at film on the internet,” Barr said.
Though it can be more difficult to read blitzes and shift protection when running a huddle offense, Sheets said he appreciates how huddling gives the offense time to read the defense and call plays accordingly.
X’s and O’s aside, Sheets said he is glad to be on a team that prides itself on physicality and maintaining a diligent work ethic.
“Here, I feel like we get after it day in and day out,” he explained.
Watch a Wahama practice or game and one will find Sheets hitting someone, somehow. Sheets stated that that he enjoys playing smash mouth football, with a grin on his face, naturally. Teammate Demetrius Serevicz remarked that Sheets is one of the team’s better tacklers and has been a welcome addition.
“I like the way he tackles,” Serevicz said. “He gets two legs, picks them up and puts him down.”
Football is a physical sport no matter the level of competition, but Sheets thinks (or believes) that TVC-Hocking play is more physical than that of the TVC-Ohio, which he doesn’t think is a bad thing.
When Sheets isn’t weaving through defenses or throwing players to the ground, he is a high school student who is adjusting to a new school and a new group of faces in the locker room. Fortunately for all involved, the transition was very smooth.
“I love them all,” Sheets said. “I’m sure they have my back like I have theirs.”
Serevicz agreed that Sheets had no problem adjusting to his new surroundings, describing Sheets as one of his best friends. The two spent a lot of time together during the summer hanging out and preparing for the 2014 campaign.
The campaign has been a success through the first five weeks of the season, with only one blemish on the record thus far. For Wahama, winning is not a foreign concept: the White Falcons captured the West Virginia Class “A” state title just two short years ago.
Names don’t win playoff games, however, and Barr said that a 7-3 record may not meet the team’s expectations. Sheets is not necessarily the missing element to a potential state-championship team, Barr said, but his unique set of skills has allowed Wahama’s coaching staff to add wrinkles to the offense
“Once he got out here and we saw him run and we saw how well he could throw, that fueled the think tank, so to speak,” Barr said. “We always try to fit the things we do within our offensive scheme to the talent we have.”
Should the White Falcons continue their success, Sheets said he is confident in his ability to lead the offense against West Virginia playoff teams.
“I’ve heard that West Virginia playoffs are a little weaker than Ohio playoffs,” he said. “I guess we’ll have to see.”