Legacy football coach tackles major rebuilding project

Legacy coach David Snyder is experiencing a little deja vu.

Snyder, who began building the Longhorns' program from scratch when the school opened in 2006, feels as if he's starting over this season. Legacy returns just one offensive starter and two defensive starters from last year's Northwest League championship squad.

"We're replacing (almost) everybody. It's almost like the first year we opened," Snyder said.

It's not quite that bad, but the Longhorns have plenty of holes to fill as they try to prove they weren't one-year wonders after going 11-1 last season.

"It's hard to replace experience," Snyder said. "We have maybe four or five kids in total that have any varsity experience at all."

The most obvious losses were all-state running back Deshae Edwards (1,426 rushing yards, 15 touchdowns) and all-state linebacker Billy Purcell.

But Snyder said some of the team's other players, such as free safety Marcus McCollum and quarterback Devin Wiedemann, might prove more difficult to replace.

"We had one of the best free safeties in town," Snyder said. "He saved us quite a bit defensively, and replacing him's going to be tough."

Wiedemann passed for 11 touchdowns and rushed for eight last season.

"Devin Wiedemann was good," Snyder said. "Jordan Pinkney's going to be pretty good, but he doesn't have the experience Devin did."

Legacy appears to have talent at running back but must replace not only Edwards but also Martell Crockett, who rushed for 765 yards and eight scores.

Junior L.J. McMorris played when Edwards was hurt, rushing for 510 yards and four TDs.

"We have two good running backs in L.J. McMorris and Jordan Ireland, but I had Deshae and Martell Crockett for four years," Snyder said. "That was always something that I never had to worry about. These two kids are good, but, again, not a lot of experience."

McMorris admitted it took him awhile to adjust to the varsity level last season but said the younger players on this year's team are doing well.

"The younger guys are coming together faster than what we expected," McMorris said. "We have a lot of inexperienced players coming in, so we need to get them up to varsity speed."

One area that should be a strength for Legacy is the interior of the defensive line, where all-state tackle James Price is back along with returning starter Jamar Woods.

Snyder knows his team has the physical skills to compete but fears the young players might not be ready at the start of the season.

"We have the talent, we've just got to groom them and get them where we need to be," Snyder said. "And we don't have a lot of time to do it."

That might turn out to be one of the biggest issues. The Longhorns play just one nonleague game before they take on their first Northwest League opponent.

"I wish it was like the old system where we had three games at the beginning of the year that didn't matter," Snyder said. "We play one and now we're right into league play where every game matters.

"We hope we don't come together too late."

Contact Prep Sports Editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587.