Cardinal Huskies’ football Coach Doug Velasquez acknowledged after a two-year stretch in which the team combined to go 1-19 the players’ confidence has waned. The Huskies will attempt to turn the tide and begin a new chapter of football for the 2026 season.
“They are eager and I think they are now just starting to believe that they can,” noted the first-year coach. “They were doing anything that was asked of them but now they are getting into practice and they are now starting to see that this might actually be possible.”
After competing last year with a roster of only 19 players, the numbers are trending in the right direction for Cardinal and it will open the season with a 32-player roster.
“The way I like to run our doubles and stuff like that, I like to have 30 kids because the way I put in our offense and defense, I like to break our team in half and have at least 11-on-11 but 15-on-15, so we will operate all of August with a red team and a white team so every day one team will be learning the offense and the other team will be learning the defense,” added the first-year coach.
The Huskies will seek their first Northeastern Athletic Conference victory, recording a 0-6 record in their debut season in the NAC last year.
As far as Velasquez is concerned, he does not want the team to settle but aim to be a relevant factor in the league race.
He stressed that the goal is to have the program show a level of toughness that it has been missing the last several years, as physical and mental toughness is one of Velasquez’s key principles to building a program, given his own background as a defensive coach.
“Being able to run the football and being able to battle through adversity, that is the mental toughness start of things so that is what we are going to have to be able to do. If we are doing those things Cardinal is going to be in great shape,” he said.
The Huskies have a three-man race for the quarterback position, as junior Dom Harris, freshmen Mike Smith and Landon Fisher will all vie for the job, as senior Jaiden Fix, last year’s starting quarterback, will assume a different starting role.
“He is going to move to a different position almost like a hybrid tight end guy,” Velasquez said of Fix.” We are going to be able to run the ball with him and he will be able to catch the ball so he going to be the guy.”
Velasquez listed sophomore Brayden Page, senior Jensen Yoder and freshman Bentley Ludlow as three players expected to contribute heavily on offense as playmakers in the running and passing game.
He highlighted that the Huskies’ offensive line will be one of the deepest position groups this year, as almost half the team will be capable of filling a starting role in the trenches.
Velasquez said that freshman Axel Young is expected to return to his role as the starting center.
“He started as a freshman last year and watching the film from him last year, I am sure I didn’t see one bad snap, and they were in shotgun the whole time,” he added.
Velasquez listed senior Xxavier Apathy, sophomores Mason Adams and Saif Mohamed, freshman Cameron French and junior Austin Meadows as other key contributors on the offensive and defensive lines.
“I can say that we can probably name eight or nine kids that will be able to rotate in there and play some football and give us some good quality downs,” he added. “I think on the offensive line roster-wise, we have probably 13 kids that are linemen which at a small school, that is probably going to be half of our team, so that is a good thing, that is a really good thing.”
On defense, the Huskies’ linebackers will be led by Fix, but will be supported by Meadows, Yoder and freshman Will Fisher.
According to Velasquez, although the Huskies’ linebackers are inexperienced, he is optimistic about their potential.
“Most of them have never played the position before so I have a lot of teaching to do there, but we can potentially be really good there,” he added.
Velasquez highlighted freshman Blake Hollesh as being a key player to watch at defensive end.
The Huskies will open their season by traveling to face LaBrae in Leavittsburg at LaBrae stadium on Aug. 21 at 7 p.m.
