Senior David Warren will liine up at center and strong-side linebacker for the Robert D. Edgren Eagles. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Senior David Warren will liine up at center and strong-side linebacker for the Robert D. Edgren Eagles. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Sophomore Isaiah Robinson will have Robert D. Edgren Eagles senior teammate, quarterback and brother Shawn Robinson throwing to him this season. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Robert D. Edgren Eagles senior Shawn Robinson has gotten a better grasp of fundamentals and recognizing coverage as a quarterback heading into the season, coach Jeremy Sanders said. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
At 6-foot-4, 260 pounds, senior offensive tackle-defensive end Dorian Dillon is the biggest player on the Robert D. Edgren Eagles football roster. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan – There’s no question, Jeremy Sanders says, who will be the front men for Robert D. Edgren football. The question is whether there’s enough behind them to sustain a deep drive at the Eagles’ first title of any sort in seven years.
Edgren has bulked up in terms of physical size, and features better numbers, the second-year head coach said, a 13- to 15-player increase over the 2014 season, when the Eagles won just two of seven games.
“We have a lot of size back this year, we’re two deep on both sides of the ball, plus we have depth at the skills positions,” Sanders said. “We don’t have to go ironman if we don’t want to. We’re bigger, stronger, faster, wiser.”
It’s a matter of determining where players will line up, he said. “Balancing the depth and putting guys in the best spots,” Sanders said. Division II football in the Pacific features any number of teams that have solid starting 11s but are thin on the bench.
“We’re still trying to put them in the right places,” Sanders said. “We know who we’re going to roll with starting. The second unit is about 90 percent there. The third unit, that’s going to take some work.”
Sanders and the Eagles hope to see some of the fruition of the work they’ve done so far starting Friday, when Edgren entertains Yokota; kickoff is 7:30 p.m. at Eagles Field.
Across the board, the Eagles are “much improved” from where they were at this point last year, Sanders said. “We’re going to rely on our (starters) to get us over the hump. They’ll carry the load, but we’ll have to rely on the second and third guys to give our starters rest. Can they do it?”
Edgren hasn’t won a Far East D-II title since 2008, and is still seeking its first DODDS Japan championship.
They have their best chance at each, behind a line featuring 6-foot-4, 260-pounder Dorian Dillon, supported by fellow senior David Warren and senior skills players Shawn Robinson and Skye Philips.
Robinson, a quarterback, has a better feel for his position, Sanders said. He throws better spirals and can look off good receiver options to find a better one, three- and five-step drops, maneuverability, awareness, manipulating opposing secondaries.
“He’s doing it,” Sanders said. “He recognizes now what we’ve been telling him. He understands how to recognize coverage.”
Six seniors departed after last season, but a wealth of underclassmen have come along, and the veteran players are showing the newcomers how to do things.
“They’ll step up and be leaders,” Sanders said.
Toward that end, Sanders says he and his assistants have emphasized that this being varsity football, “nothing is going to be handed” to them. “We’ve been trying to light the fire under them. If we can get the second- and third-unit players up to speed, we’ll be a contender.”
