If Mike Christensen had to pick between loading up on experience on the line or having it at the skill positions, he’d go with the situation Toledo finds itself in now.
The Riverhawks may have to replace six starters on their offense. But on the offensive line, they’re as veteran as any group in the 2B ranks.
“That’s where it starts,” Christensen said. “It all starts up front. High school football is getting so complicated with blocking. You can’t just be a base-blocking team, you’ve got to have line calls and all of that stuff, and that just takes experience.”
On the left side of that line are Jaih Tilton and Bayron Rodriguez, back after both earning all-area honors last season, as well as first-team all-league nods on both offense and defense. Then there’s Gabe Cabrera at center and junior Leland McCree at right tackle, both of whom were second-team all-leaguers in 2022, as well as Ethan Brooks, who himself earned second-team honors at right guard but has moved out to tight end this season.
Filling Brooks’ place will be freshman Nico Acosta.
Outside the trenches, though, it’s a whole lot of underclassmen.
Sophomore Eli Weeks is set to run the offense, becoming the first non-senior to start at quarterback Week 1 for Toledo since the Obama Administration. Lining up alongside him will be fellow sophomores Nathan Beaver and Trevin Gale.
Ethen Carver, who broke onto the scene briefly last season before dealing with injury troubles, is back as a senior to provide at least a bit of experience, but Christensen said he could see as many as eight freshmen and sophomores starting.
That’s not exactly a new challenge for the Riverhawks, though, who have made eight straight state tournaments.
“As far as their understanding of the game and what we’re trying to do, I think they’re ahead of where we’ve been in the past, just because … they’ve gone to all of the off-season stuff,” Christensen said. “We’ve had really high participation.”
With that in mind and the experienced line there to set the tone, Toledo is hoping to let its new weapons branch out from its traditional ground game, with an offense operating out of the shotgun more often and a more balanced attack.
“Every team we’re going to play in league and State is going to expect a lot of run plays, and they don’t know about the throwing we’re going to do,” Weeks said. “They’re not ready for that.”
