By Gustavo Gonzalez

It’s year one without standout NFL draft prospect Hayden Bauserman for the Shenandoah Hornets, but there is still a lot of firepower head coach Scott Yoder can showcase. After a sit down with the associate head coach, Brock McCullough Hornet fans shouldn’t be too concerned about the loss at the QB position, because we have a star-studded receiving core coming back.

Filled with a lot of young talent, leading the way for this group is the 6’4”200-pound machine, Casey Stewart. Stewart is coming back for his senior year after putting up a very impressive 16 touchdowns and almost 900 receiving yards last season.

The defensive unit will have 10 of 11 starters coming back. Daquan Pridget and Nate Hill were ranked one and two in the conference for interceptions in 2018, both of them combining with 12 interceptions for the year.

Coming back for his 3rd year, Nigel Duberry will hold down the defensive line as he excels at the pass rush and creating havoc at the line.

Hornet coaches believe the biggest challenge this team faces is how to produce an elite culture. The coaching staff said “ We have figured out how to be just okay and good, but to be great it is a culture thing. To be elite in everything we do. Whether it’s going to class or attacking the weight room. You only have ten games a year and … there are 355 days a year where we have to be elite in absolutely everything we do as a program. This will help us be a program that’s been a little bit over 500 be a championship caliber team”.

“ Saturdays we all get along very well especially after a victory when we are all celebrating we are like brothers but we have to work on our communication on the gridiron we can have lapses at times and it hurts us during the game” said Hill.

The expectation for this unit is to become elite and become a championship caliber team. Coach Brock says: “ You can’t win rings in February or March. It’s what you do during this time that matters and maintaining an elite mindset that will help us become champions in November”.

A bold prediction for this season is the Hornets will be a couple games over 500 and will be looking for a chance at the ODAC championship.