The 2010 offseason was a delicate balance of looking back and forging ahead for the Waco High Lions.

On one hand, there were plenty of lessons to be learned from a rare 2-8 season in which very little went right, especially considering it was coach Danny Ramsey’s first at the helm.

On the other, two-win seasons don’t do much for team morale.

Ramsey’s answer? It’s a new day at Waco High.

“If I waited until today to put last season behind me, I’m way behind,” Ramsey said. “It’s something we put behind us last year after we thought that we learned the lessons from them. We went back, took notes, saw where we were good and where we weren’t good, (looked at) the kids that we got that are coming up and tried to analyze what would be best with the kids we have.”

To say Waco High was unused to a season like last year is understating the matter.

Under Johnny Tusa, 19 of his 23 seasons at Waco High ended in the playoffs, including an appearance in the Class 4A Division II state title game just four years ago.

Not only did the Lions finish well out of the playoff race last season, but they did the unthinkable and lost to University, the first Waco High team to do so since consolidation 24 years ago.

Ramsey insists that the team’s dubious two-win season from a year ago is dead and buried, all but forgotten in the Waco High locker room. But the seeds planted from that lost season took root in the form of motivation.

No one likes 5th

One such rallying point was a recent prediction in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine that had Waco High finishing fifth in 8-4A and out of the playoffs — behind University.

“Before practice one day I showed that to the guys,” said linebacker Tristan Eche, who tallied 71 tackles last year. “It fired us up just to get after it, and let’s get it this year and just try to change it around. It was just really hard last year with Coach coming in late, and the whole new offense from what we’ve been doing since we were younger. We’ve got a year experience under our belt, so that will help us out this year.”

For Ramsey, 2010 isn’t about revenge. It’s about improving.

“I don’t have any disrespect for anybody who points us out wherever,” he said. “Whatever their information was ... to me all of that stuff is irrelevant. It’s something for a fan to read who wants to get all excited about what’s coming or what’s not coming. All I can focus on and all we can focus on is what we can do.”

One of Waco High’s most pronounced stumbling blocks last year was the transition from Tusa’s pound-it-out, I-formation offense to a more misdirection-oriented spread attack. Ramsey kept the insistence on the run in place, but concept retention lagged behind.

This year, with a full offseason devoted to teaching, Ramsey is confident the offense has taken significant strides.

First-year starting quarterback Deonte’ Phillips will replace Kollin Kahler as the head of the offense and operate Ramsey’s spread option. Phillips missed spring drills with an injury, but the coaching staff has been impressed with how quickly he soaked up the playbook.

“He might be one of the top three option quarterbacks that I’ve had in all the years that I’ve been coaching spread option stuff,” Ramsey said. “That’s a vital role, whether he can run a 4.4 or a 4.8. If he can read the option, he can gain six yards regardless.”

Ramsey joked at the Crying Towel Luncheon in early August that losing so many players — the Lions bring back four on each side of the ball — from a two-win team might not be such a bad thing. Some of the ones he’s filling into those holes could be the catalyst for a turnaround this year.

Athletic wide receivers Adrian Norwood and Keimon McDowell, both of whom also saw some time at QB in the offseason, figure to be big weapons for Phillips in the slot. When paired with an athletic stable of running backs and an offensive line that averages above 300 pounds, Phillips will never have a lack of options.

“It’s a big role,” Phillips said. “You’ve got to work on everything. You’ve got to work on your running, your throwing. First you’ve got to get your mind right, because the fans are going to eat you up, it’s going to be the lights shining on you, and what are you going to do when the Friday night lights shine on you? You’ve got to make sure you’re mentally tough.”

Determined attitude

Following a dismal season, the same can be said for the rest of the roster. How the Lions bounce back from the edge will determine a lot about the their trajectory in the years to come.

If Eche and the defense can improve upon its 303 points conceded last year and the offense regains its luster, Waco High will make last season a distant memory. Permanently.

“I think every team has to have a sense of urgency regardless of what position they’re in,” Ramsey said. “But this team knows that they want to play for each other, and that’s the most important thing. That’s something that they’re learning about life lessons.”

wparchman@wacotrib.com

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