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Trying to determine how many players are going to be on Polk County’s football roster may be the thing that Dustin Fry least expected for the start of his second season as the Wolverines’ head coach.

The preseason numbers game has been as challenging as any scrimmage; losing several players shortly after practice began meant that the Wolverines would not be able to field a junior varsity team for the second straight year. But as Polk County gears up for Friday’s season opener at Madison, the Wolverines’ numbers have begun to grow, adding some much-needed depth for this season as well as the future.

“Early in August, when it looked like we weren’t going to have JV, a lot of kids, the freshmen, just kind of stopped coming. That was disappointing because that really killed us depth-wise,” Fry said. “And then, as we took pictures and they saw guys in jerseys, they were kind of like, you know, I want to be there.

“So it’s been a kind of an influx since school started, and even a little bit before, of kids getting back out. We’ve been as high as early summer at 38 and then as low as 25, and now we’re back to around 34 or 35. I’ve had some new kids come out that may not necessarily play this year for us, but at least there’s interest and they can help us with depth and practice. And that’s the biggest thing, being able to practice the right way. We can’t do it with 25 kids.”

Sorting the roster and adding depth is also paramount for Polk County this season given the number of new faces on the squad. The Wolverines have just five seniors, and more than half the roster is comprised of freshmen and sophomores. There’s almost a first-year feel for Fry in his second season.

“It definitely feels like a different team,” Fry said. “I like the youth energy. Sometimes they like to keep talking on the side. They don’t understand quite yet, but they’re learning when the whistle blows and when they can talk.

“It’s nice to have guys that enjoy football and show up every day. They work pretty hard, so hopefully it shows up on the field.”

Expected to deliver big results on the field this season is junior running back Loreynzo Sanchez, who finished just shy of 1,000 rushing yards last season and also proved a dependable receiver out of the backfield. He will again be a focal point of the Wolverines’ offense in 2024, with Donte Tingling spelling or joining him in the backfield.

“LoSan is like a coach’s dream football player, just his attitude and his work ethic,” Fry said. “He’s a great running back with unbelievable vision, but then his catching the ball and running routes is so elite. Just the way he moves and breaks and his hands are so good.

“He’s just another dynamic weapon, and he could line up out and maybe I have Donte in there. Donte is a nice changeup guy that’s going to be more straight-line and kind of one cut, but he’s going to be hard to tackle because he’s so big and strong. So it’s a nice change there. There are so many options and things you can do with LoSan because he’s such a dynamic back.”

Junior Lucas Johnson is the lone returning starter on Polk County’s offensive line

Polk County had one of the top receiver duos in the area last season in seniors Antonio Simpson and Keaundrae Green. Both are gone, but there’s plenty to like about this year’s receiving corps, starting with seniors Aaron Dickey and Billy Booker, junior Nolan Simpson and senior newcomer Karson Scruggs.

“Aaron’s had a really good camp,” Fry said. “He may not have as great as hands as Tony does, but he’s still a big deep threat receiver, and he also runs good intermediate routes and can run little quick routes. Nolan is probably our best route runner. He just does a really good job of getting open, finding space.

“Formation-wise, we’re a little bit less just so guys can get lined up. For Billy, it’s kind of new for him. Karson is new. We would move guys around a good bit (last year), but I’m trying to get them to where they can think fast and not worry about where they’re lining up as much.”

Running the offense will be another newcomer, junior Gunnar Alm. The baseball standout last played football in middle school, but returns to the gridiron this season to give Fry an athletic option to replace last year’s starter, Lawson Carter. Fry hopes to take advantage of Alm’s skillset by perhaps moving him around and out of the pocket and also looking to get the ball out of his hands quickly.

“He’s a different style quarterback,” Fry said of Alm. “He’s a guy that can probably run a little better than Lawson, so just the things he can do in getting out of the pocket, and making sure we protect him as much as we can.

“It’s the same offense, but different play calls in different situations and different things we’re doing. It’s not a complete revamp, but there are definitely some new wrinkles to it. Gunnar is enjoying the quarterback stuff, not just playing quarterback, but also the learning the game plan and the strategy and the reading coverages. He’s enjoying that.”

Junior Lucas Johnson is the lone returning starter on the offensive line, though sophomore Simon Moore did see extensive playing time. Juniors Lashi Miller, Kamron Montgomery and Zalen McCraw, sophomore Sawyer Huff and freshman Chester Wilson are part of a group that will also see time up front, with Huff sliding in from his tight end spot due to an injury to junior Jahkeem Lipscomb. Styler Blackwell and Zach McCraw will likely see some time at tight end with Huff in the line.

“He’s doing a good job of being a selfless teammate,” Fry said of Huff. “I’d love to have him at tight end, but having to move him to tackle, he’s done a good job.

“It’s a new bunch and the lines are always what you worry about the most around here. Because if we had depth on our lines, we could be pretty unstoppable.”

One of five seniors, Aaron Dickey is expected to play a key role on both sides of the ball for Polk County

Polk County’s 4-7 season a year ago ended with a four-game run that all would like to forget. The Wolverines surrendered 239 points in that span, struggling to stop the run against four good opponents in Chase, East Rutherford, Brevard and Murphy.

Avoiding a repeat has been a preseason priority.

“It has been a focus of guys understanding, and we show them, if it was a good call made and you weren’t in a position to make it, it’s not just because, well, it was a bad call or we weren’t there,” Fry said. “You just didn’t do your job. We’ll show them on film, you’re supposed to be right here, this ball would have spilled right to you, you’d have been made the tackle but you didn’t do the right thing.

“So it’s about playing the right assignment, not being selfish and if you’re supposed to contain, contain, and things like that.”

Anchoring the defense will be linebackers McCraw and Blackwell.

“Zalen pretty much could call the defense,” Fry said. “He just knows the defense really well. Same thing with Styler. He understands the defense and the playing time he got last year is really serving him well.”

Simpson and Scruggs will head up the secondary, with Sanchez also playing a pivotal role.

“Nolan is probably one of the best corners in the conference,” Fry said. “I’d love for LoSan not to have to play as much defense, but he does a great job there. Having Karson back there, he’s another big body, and we’re starting to move some freshmen back there as well.”

Dickey and Huff are expected to start at the edge positions, with most of Polk County’s offensive line flipping over and playing defense as well.

Booker is expected to handle Polk County’s kicking and punting duties, with some of the newcomers to the team filling out the special teams unit.

“We’ve been able to play some better athletes on special teams, even with some young guys,” Fry said. “It will be interesting to see how they do it when they get in there and play. We’ve got some kids that are new that can kick. Grayson Clancy can kick, Jonathan Sokil can kick, so we can start working them at punting or kickoff to build some depth.”

The Madison game will begin what at present is a nine-game schedule as Polk County officials are still working to replace the vacancy left when Patton decided not to field a varsity team.

Brevard again looks to be the favorite to win the Mountain Foothills 7 Conference, with East Rutherford and perhaps Hendersonville the closest contenders. Fry hopes Polk County can enter that conversation at some point as well.

“I’m excited to see what this offense can do and what the mentality of the team is,” he said. “They’re excited about playing, I think they’re ready.”