Written by: Will Hoenike
Coming off of a difficult one-win season, the Genesee Bulldogs get to hit the reset button this fall.
Head coach Justin Podrabsky and his staff will be looking to replace some very talented football players but they’ll be doing it with a very young team, one that can be coached and molded over the coming years.
“I’m excited to get the young guys involved in the program,” Podrabsky said. “Over half our players will be freshmen or sophomores, so they will only continue to get better as the season goes on.”
The Bulldogs will be looking for fast improvement on the defensive side of the football. Seniors Sam Stewart and Harper Jarolimek will line up at defensive end in front of senior linebacker Kole Scharnhorst as Genesee will look to make key strides on defense – the Bulldogs only held one opponent under 50 points in 2022 and that opponent, Timberline of Weippe, scored 44 points.
“Missed a lot of tackles last year leading to big plays. Need to be sure tacklers improve our ability to get off the field on defense,” Podrabsky continued. “Team speed should be improved from last year which will help us.”
That’s where the youth comes in. Sophomore Justin Leavitt will join Stewart and Jarolimek along the defensive line while freshmen Cameron Holmes (linebacker), Noah Bollman (defensive back), and Conrad Seubert (defensive back) compete for roles on the field.
The Bulldog offense showed some big-play ability last season behind quarterback Angus Jordan, a first-team All-Whitepine performer who threw 17 touchdown passes and ran for 14 more, Wyatt Jordan and Nolan Bartosz, but that trio has all departed after graduating last spring. So it’s time to re-tool in Genesee.
It starts with the quarterback position. Podrabsky, a quarterback himself in high school before shifting to tight end at the University of Idaho, has two players vying for the spot. Sophomore Cadyn Brummer and freshman Jackson Banks will both have an opportunity to win the job.
“The quarterback position will be huge to us,” Podrabsky said. “Neither player has played QB before so their development will be crucial to our offense.”
Both are capable of filling other roles on the field, potentially at wide receiver, where the Bulldogs have several players looking to step into the large shoes left behind by Bartosz. Bartosz caught 61 passes last fall as a senior. Stewart is the leading returning receiver with eight grabs last season as one of the team’s tight ends. Jarolimek will see some time at receiver this fall, as will junior Vince Crowley, who appeared in six games last season. Bollman and Seubert will also vie for playing time at the receiver position.
Freshman Cameron Holmes is one of the players who will compete for playing time at running back for the Bulldogs. The coaching staff likes Stewart’s ability to contribute to the run game as a blocker along with Scharnhorst.
“Depth at the skill positions will also be a strength. We will have multiple underclassman who will see time at a variety of spots,” Podrabsky said. “We hope to improve on our run game this year to help take some heat off of our QBs. We will need to continue to improve at the O-Line spots to help with this.”
The coaching staff in Genesee is playing the long game this season, knowing this program’s best days are ahead of it but there is work to be done to get there. That means the team that takes the field on September 1 in Potlatch might not look very much like the one that ends the season on the field at home against Lapwai on October 21.
That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to play for this season in Genesee. The 1A Division 1 postseason is comprised of league champions and several at-large playoff berths. If the team continues to progress and grow the way the coaches believe it can, it may find itself competing for one of those at-large berths as the season winds down.