2014 Maury Commodores Preview
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115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";text-decoration:none;text-underline:
none'>2013 Tidewater Football Schedules & Results
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style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Eastern
District, Class 5A, Region 5A South
Head Coach: Chris Fraser
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style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Recent
History:
2011 - -
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>1-9 (missed playoffs)
2012 - - 5-6 (lost to Lake Taylor
51-0 in regional quarterfinals)
2013 - - 8-4 (lost to Green Run 46-7
in regional quarterfinals)
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Rewind:
"Verdana","sans-serif"'> For the first
time since 2006, the Maury Commodores advanced in the playoffs, beating
class=SpellE>Kellam 35-16 in the opening round one week after throttling
longtime city rival Granby 54-7 in the regular season finale.
style=> In the regional quarterfinals, the Commodores
gave up a season-high 265 yards through the air and fell to Green Run by
39. It was only the second time all year
their offense got held to single-digits.
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Offensive Outlook:
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style=>
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mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin'>By putting up 332 points last year, Maury had
its highest offensive output since the 2005 campaign when they were led by
current Seattle Seahawks Pro Bowler Kam Chancellor at
quarterback and finished with 424 points.
Most of the skill position pieces return for the Commodores, boding well
for them this year. The engine of their
offense will once again be junior tailback
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Delveon
normal'> Little (5-9, 187), a First Team
All-Eastern District performer that ran for 1371 yards and 16 touchdowns on 280
carries.
"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin'>"He's
a stud, one of those rare talents," Fraser said of Little.
style=> "He's fast, big and tough."
style=> There will be plenty of support around
class=GramE>Little with juniors Markell
Wood (5-8, 165) and Ronnie Faulk (5-9,
205). Wood ran for nearly 100 yards in
the second half in their comeback win over Warwick.
style=> Back at quarterback is junior
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Devon Perry (5-11, 175), who'll be
firing passes to sophomore Isaiah King (5-8,
165), senior Tyree
Jones (6-1, 175) and senior tight end Derek
Wilder (6-1, 240). King is a
nationally-recognized track athlete, while Wilder is son of ODU Head Football
Coach Bobby Wilder.
"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin'>One
of the question marks for the Commodores is how quickly can they jell on the
offensive line? Senior
class=SpellE>Vershawd
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Coleman (6-2, 205) and junior
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Tyrique Sharpe (6-1, 215) are the vets
of a group that will have some new faces.
"We look even better up front than we were last year," noted Fraser.
style=> "Some of our younger kids are better than our
seniors from last year. It's going to
take some of them a while to get caught up, but they're better athletically."
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Defensive Outlook:
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minor-latin'> Through the first four
games of last season, the Commodores limited foes to a total of 94 yards
rushing. When they gave up over 100
yards on the ground, including 241 apiece to Churchland
and Lake Taylor, Maury went 0-3. They'll
have a new defensive coordinator this coming season in
normal'>Tyler Mosley, who was with Fraser at Smithfield for six years.
style=> The Commodores will run a 4-3, but often walk
a safety up in the box that acts like a linebacker and it turns into a 4-4.
"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin'>Much
like the o-line, Maury will be developing new starters on the defensive front
to go alongside one of the few returnees in Coleman.
style=> "We rotated a lot of kids last year and
there's going to be quite a few kids in that mix," said Fraser, confident in
his linebackers of Sharpe, Little and Wilder, an ODU commit.
style=> In fact, the linebackers should serve as the
backbone of the defense. Both Faulk and
Little will alternate between strong safety and outside linebacker.
style=> King is slated to play free safety, while
Jones is drawing some interest from colleges and figures to be one of the area's
more underrated cover corners.
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Date to Circle:
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minor-latin'> August 28 vs.
Grassfield. Ordinarily, we'd look to the
matchup with Lake Taylor or possibly even that rivalry showdown at the end of
the season against Granby since it often has significant meaning to the playoff
picture. But with eight teams going from
6A-South and 5A-South for the regional playoffs, that game may not determine
whether Maury is 'in' or 'out' as far as the postseason goes, whereas this game
with Grassfield could decide whether or not the Commodores are at home for the
first round in 5A. Grassfield has won
each of the last four meetings.
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Hat's Hit:
line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin'> Though
I wouldn't call them mega name recruits, Maury has known commodities in Wilder
and Little, plus a few emerging in CB Jones, WR King, RB Wood and LB
Sharpe. Several guys go both ways, so it'll
be interesting to see how they hold up. Like
many teams trying to make that jump from pretty good to very good bordering
elite, the Commodores need that signature win.
That means they have to beat a perennial contender to boost their
confidence further and make a deeper run in the playoffs.
"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin'>"Of
course, we want to get past the second round of the playoffs, but we've got
some other business we want to take care of and kind of some nemesis out there
that we haven't been able to knock off yet, like Grassfield and we haven't
played Lake Taylor well. We've got some
earlier short-term goals as far as be more competitive or win at least one of
those two games," Fraser commented.
"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin'>"Later
in the season, we really had a bad game against Churchland,
which really hurt us in the playoff seeding, and we learned some lessons from
that Green Run game with their speed. As
far as our skill kids, we're in really good shape.
style=> We're excited, yet we're cautiously nervous
because we think we can be good up front, but time will tell."
"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin'>�
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