Admirals stay on the rise

Farragut

2007 record: 9-2

Coach: Joshua Vanderjagt (3rd year)

Returning starters: 20

Players to watch:

QB Jose Reyna, 5-9, 170, Sr.

RB Cecil Hudson, 5-10, 175, Sr.

WR Maurice Branch, 5-11, 180, Sr.

Outlook: The Admirals return 20 starters, part of a core group of 28 players that have varsity playing experience out of a roster of 42 players. Third-year coach Joshua Vanderjagt inherited a program that was winless three years ago.

Reyna orchestrates the offense and has a good target in Branch and an excellent run support in Hudson. The quality of the competition is significantly above that of the Intra-City, where the Admirals lost to Orr in the city championship last year.

Coach's take: "We've made excellent strides. The biggest adjustment [to the Chicago conference] is the step in the quality and competition of the teams we play. Last year, we made special emphasis on certain teams we played, like Orr, and we have to do that every week.

"We have a good nonconference schedule and that is going to be a real eye opener. I don't know a lot of about the rest of the teams in the Chicago [conferences].

"The thing is, we're going to be playing against teams that are not going to have to rely on the small corps of key players the way we do. I think this is going to be a really good intermediate conference for us. Our goal is to get into the Illini and start getting eligible to play in the state playoffs. Our sight is winning a city championship. Right now, there's a lot of promise at Farragut." -- Joshua Vanderjagt

Patrick Z. McGavin