Ravenna Ravens’ football head coach Brian Coman won’t predict what his team’s record will be this season but one thing he is hopeful about is that his team will bring that competitive edge into every game.
“I think some good things are going to happen,” the first-year coach told The Weekly Villager. “We are learning new concepts and the kids are coming along so I think we are going to have a good season.”
The Ravens enter the season with a senior class of only 10 players but return 15 lettermen. In spite of Ravenna’s smaller senior class, Coman said that he sees having a young roster as the perfect opportunity to build the foundation of what he hopes Ravenna can become for the foreseeable future.
“When the kids come back next year, they know what to expect,” he noted. “It is not great that we have a young team, but it is good that I know when they come back next year it is not new to them.”
After a string of winning seasons from 2014-2019, the Ravens have struggled to rediscover their winning ways, with three losing seasons in the last four years. According to Coman, although the roster size is smaller than it was when he suited up for the Ravens, he still plans to bring back that toughness that the teams he competed on displayed.
“The kids already know,” he added. “It is not that we are not going to not hit because we have a short roster but I believe in hitting and when you get used to hitting then it becomes the norm. Football is a physical sport so in order to get ready for a physical and 48-minute game, you have to be able to have contact in practice and everything.”
Coman said that Ravenna’s offense will resemble the offenses he ran while serving as Akron East’s offensive coordinator, which is similar Ravenna when athletic director Jim Lunardi coached the program. He added that the Ravenna’s offense will allow it to become more adaptable and read what kind of look the defense is presenting.
Ravenna’s quarterback position is still a two-man race between junior C.J. Ross, who was the starting quarterback after week five last season, and sophomore Mark Miller, who served as the junior varsity quarterback last year.
“C.J. is a leader and he can throw, and he has played quarterback all of his life so that helps out being behind center all of your life and just having varsity experience, that speaks for itself,” Coman said of the 6-foot-0 junior.
Coman said that no matter which player wins the starting quarterback job, the other will still have an integral part on offense.
Senior Jaxon Kelly will return to serve as the Ravens’ primary tailback and will be flanked by junior Amare Marshall, who receives a promotion this season from the junior varsity squad.
Coman said that Ravenna’s offense will be dictated by their wide receiver room, which consists of several talented athletes including seniors Bryant Thompson, TyKwon Ward, junior LaDarian Askew and sophomore Zander Mehalic.
Thompson will be the wide receiver to watch, as his speed has already been recognized as elite after setting the school record in the 100-meter dash last spring.
“Bryant can go,” Coman said of the 5-foot-11 wideout. “He will line up as an outside receiver and line up as an inside receiver and line up inside. They might motion him into the backfield as a tailback.”
On defense, Coman said that Ravenna’s backbone will be the secondary, led by Thompson, Askew, Ross, Ward and sophomore Malachi Prisby, but added that the Ravens also have some talent at the linebacking position, led by junior Braylon Burks.
“Braylon will be pretty good, he played junior varsity last year, but he is a tall and slick guy that likes to hit and will be pretty good for us,” Coman said.
Coman said that that he hopes to see Ravenna set the tone defensively at the beginning of games.
“Being a defensive guy, I don’t want any high scoring games but hopefully on the other side we score a lot of points,” he noted. “When 11 guys run to the football, that is when good things happen and that is when the turnovers and all of that happens is when 11 guys get to the football.”
Ravenna will begin its season when it hits the road to face Portage County rival Kent Roosevelt at Roosevelt Stadium in Kent on Aug. 23 at 7 p.m.
