Sims

WICHITA -- Fort Scott Community College's football team was picked to finish third in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference in a coaches' poll released at a media conference at the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame here Saturday.

The No. 1 pick was -- who else? -- Butler, winner of last year's national championship, the past two Region VI championship games and last seven KJCCC crowns.

Garden City was picked to finish second. Coffeyville was tabbed fourth followed by Hutchinson, Independence, Highland and Dodge City.

Adams

"It's a great league and I'm blessed to be part of it," Fort Scott head coach Jeff Sims told the media. "If you come to a practice, you'll see some very good players. You may see 20 good players but they can't all be on the team. You have to find the right combination of in-starters to go with the 12 out-of-starters you can have."

Butler, 7-0 in the conference and 12-0 overall last season, was picked to repeat even though it lost nine All-Americans from last year's team, according to head coach Tory Morrell, who had a record of 85-10 since taking over at Butler in 2000.

"We're going to have to have a lot of freshmen come in and contribute for us," Morrill, just one of two KJCCC head coaches who has been in charge of his team for more than two years, said.

Judie

Garden City head coach Lucas Aslin, in his second year as head coach and fifth year overall, will rely on quarterback Eugene Smith, who was one of just three players to pass for over 1,000 yards last season.

"This is the first time since I've been here that I feel like we had the guy who will be the quarterback in the fall here with us in the spring," Aslin said.

Garden City was 5-2 in the conference and 7-3 overall last season.

Fort Scott's second-year head coach, Sims, will oversee a transitional year as many sophomores graduated from the Valley of the Sun Bowl runner-up squad that finished 6-1, 9-3.

There will be four returning starters on offense, including FSCC's MVP in the bowl game, receiver Nick Adams, who was second in the Jayhawk in receiving years per game.

"That's the fun part of junior college football," Sims said. "You have to start from scratch every year. We have a big challenge but we've been fortunate that the program has been very good."

Fort Scott also lost a lot on defense. Both defensive ends went to Division I schools. Two linebackers graduated as did three members of the secondary. But Coryell Judie, who led the KJCCC with six interceptions, returns.

Coffeyville, fourth last year at 4-3, 5-5, has a new head coach in Darian Dulin, who played at Butler. And he's going to bring something with him that may look a little strange to Red Raven fans: A spread offense.

"It still has that aspect of the two-back run game," Dulin says. "Some of the old aspects of football are still involved. I think it makes it that more difficult when a team cam spread things out and throw it, but also be able to run power at you."

Fort Scott High School graduate Tony Karleskint was signed by Coffeyville to play tight end.

Hutchinson, which finished fifth at 2-5, 2-7 under former FSCC coach Rion Rhoades, returns 11 players, including five starters, on offense and nine players, six of whom started, on defense. He feels FSHS graduate Jacob Lattimer will "be one of our main linebackers." Lattimer, whose brother, Josh, is on the coaching staff, had to redshirt last season after he suffered an injury during pre-season camp.

Also on the Hutch roster are FSHS grad Dakotah Gettler at safety and former Uniontown back Gage McKinnis, who is listed as a wide receiver. McKinnis transferred to Hutch High last year when his father, Chad, took as job as one of Rhoades' assistant coaches and helped the Salt Hawks win the Class 6A State championship.

Indepenence's David Ward has a potentially-exciting offense with quarterback Jeff Schibi, All-American wide receiver Andre Simmons and tight end Luke Baker. Schibi, a Parsons graduate, was the leading returning passer in in the conference with 1,373 yards, second only to Fort Scott's Greg Cross, who threw for 2,127 yards.

Schibi didn't become a full-time starter until after he came off the bench to lead Independence (2-5, 2-7) to a 20-16 win over the Greyhounds with 195 yards and two touchdowns in the second game of the season. Simmons led the conference with 60 receptions for 878 yards despite playing a game or two less than other receivers.

Independence later had to forfeit two wins, including the one over Fort Scott, because of a clerical error that resulted in an ineligible player taking part in the early portion of the season.

Highland's second-year head coach Mike Beagle is determined to make the Scotties (1-6, 1-8) a contender to the point that he asked his administration for more support and feels he has it.

"You have to be competitive off the field," Beagle says. "You have to be so you can have a recruiting base....We had our back against the wall in recruiting (last year). We had a great off-season this year."

Dodge City, with rookie head coach Bob Majeski, a former Coffeyville assistant, was picked to finish eighth. The Conquistadors were 1-6, 1-8 last year, taking a another step back after a fourth-place finish, a Region VI title game berth and 7-5 record two years ago.

Although nine lettermen return on offense and five are back on defense, it looks as through the defense will be the better unit. Most of the top players Majeski listed, including linebackers Kevin Dix and Anthony Williams and safeties Antwain Loving and Joey Garcia, are on defense.

"I don't know, to tell you the truth," Majeski said as he talked about his team's expectations. "We're going to be improved. Our attitude and work ethic is good. In the situation we're in, everyone is important. We're asking everyone to give up individuality for the good of the team."