Practices for all fall sports began on Monday, and among the first on the field was the Dallas Center-Grimes football team. The Mustangs arrived on the field as early as 7 a.m. with a roster of mostly new names.
With a stable roster compared to last year, the Mustangs improved from two wins in 2023 to four wins in 2024 last season. But now, as head coach Scott Heitland described it, it’s a “major” change that presents DCG with a welcome challenge to maintain momentum.
Position battles
“When you look at the returning players and the experience of the starters, it’s probably as open as it’s ever been,” Heitland said after the first practice. “We’ll have open competition for 90 percent of the positions that we slowly worked out over the course of the summer in camp and then (in the first week of practice).”
It’s no exaggeration to say the Mustangs’ core players are exhausted. Two-year quarterback Ty Mikkelsen accounted for every air yard and touchdown (he threw six of 10 touchdowns to fellow graduate Dayne Mauk) and Eli Carpenter was the only running back to reach the end zone — and accounted for over 80 percent of the ground yards.
The defense has just as many holes, with five of the team’s top tacklers all gone, including Mauk leading the way in solo tackles (62), tackles for loss (11) and sacks (4). Only defensive backs Taitn Gray and Tate Perrin return with more than 30 tackles, and the latter returns with a program-record nine interceptions. After another record-breaking baseball season, Heitland has high expectations for Perrin to become a vocal leader and one of the few two-way players on the team.
While the performance of past years is lacking, Heitland said staff confidence in the current squad has grown over the summer. “It’s just that no one has seen their names yet.”
Identity change?
With such differences on the roster, the Mustangs could look different than in years past in several ways: no clear quarterback, a renewed focus on the running game and reliance on group performance.
Instead of trying to use the first few weeks of practice to find a clear starting quarterback, Heitland said, “It’s not unrealistic to say we could be a two-quarterback team in the first half of the year.”
So far, Heitland has pointed to Perrin, who tries to get him touches in every way possible, “whether we give him the ball, throw it to him or snap it,” with competition from second-year Chase Engel, who has so far been well versed in the playbooks.
And with an untested roster and more moving parts on the roster, Heitland said the running game may be a “key component of what we want to do,” but hopes it will come with a different flavor.
“I think you’ll see a change in us this year. Maybe we’ll run the ball more effectively when we do and not rely so much on calling our plays 85 percent of the time,” Heitland said.
DCG’s running backs rushed for nearly 1,000 yards last year, averaging 4.1 yards per game. That was nearly double the yardage and 25 percent more efficient than the year before. But with many of the core players who provided momentum missing, the next three weeks of practice will be critical before the team plays its opening game against Gilbert on August 30 (last year the Mustangs lost 14-12 to the Tigers).
“You have to play to your strengths, and that will be interesting because at the moment we don’t have many strengths,” said Heitland. “We have to continue to develop.”
