King will not depend on only one player to compensate for the loss of Raymond Neal. Rather, it will depend on six.
By MIKE READLING
Published August 29, 2003
TAMPA - The initial reaction after Raymond Neal's latest arrest was to write off King's season before it even faced an opponent.
Not ... so ... fast.
Those are the words of caution that came from coach Joe Severino and those in charge of filling the hole created by Neal's absence.
Everyone acknowledged Neal would be the featured back in the Lions' Double Wing-T offense. He was, after all, Hillsborough County's leading rusher as a sophomore two years ago and, arguably, the best player in the county this year.
But an arrest Aug. 20 on suspicion of possession of marijuana and resisting arrest with violence and a subsequent arrest on suspicion of violating probation Tuesday left Neal at the Orient Road Jail without bond as of late Thursday night.
Whether or not Neal dons a Lions jersey this season depends on two things. First, principal David Steele must decide if he will suspend him from extracurricular activities. Second, and perhaps more important, is how long he remains in jail.
That means his ball carrying duties will fall to players such as Garry Johnson. And Tyrone Mitchell. And Rashid Wilson. And Bruce Brown. And Bjar Atkins. And Mike Sweeney.
If that lists seems like it could go on for days, you're right. And it's by design.
Severino said he knew Neal would be the focus of opposing defenses. How do you ignore a player who rushed for more than 1,400 yards as a sophomore?
Because of that, Severino came up with the plan of using numerous running backs with the intention of giving defenses someone other than No. 21 to think about.
That's where Johnson, Mitchell, Wilson, Brown, Atkins and Sweeney come in.
"We have really made it a point to use more backs quite a bit more, even when Raymond is here," Severino said. "We felt like Ray was going to do great whenever he got the ball but the other teams were going to be keying on him a lot. That's why I wanted to be able to mix it up and give different guys the opportunity to do some things. Even in practice, it wasn't the Raymond Neal Show."
Severino said his job as coach is to "get the right combinations of people in the game at the right times."
Granted, the formula needed some tweaking after Tuesday, but he said he believes he might have solved the puzzle. Or at least has a good start on it.
Garry Johnson will start at halfback tonight when King hosts Durant at 7:30 in a preseason classic. Atkins - all 6 feet 2, 230 pounds of him - will be the fullback, and Wilson and Sweeney will play wingback.
In Johnson's case, the move to halfback is a change. He was slated to start at wingback. The move, however, hasn't affected him, he said.
"Everything is just the same," said Johnson, a senior who missed the first five games of last season with a blood clot in his left thigh. "I still practice hard. I just have a lot to learn because I'll be playing both positions. I'm just going to go with the flow."
The fact all of the running backs point to is the Lions will have more blocking this season and more people to provide rest. While the majority of last season's rushes fell to Mike Brewster (Neal was academically ineligible.), the carries will be spread more this season.
The Lions were known as a second-half team, but their backs weren't quite as fresh as they would have liked when the fourth quarter came around. That shouldn't be a problem this year, the players said.
Teamwork is an underlying theme for the Lions this year.
With the chance one of their senior leaders will miss some, or maybe all, of the season, they know they must do something to compensate. If that means six running backs to share the load, that's fine with them. After all, that was the plan from Day 1 anyway.
"We're a team," Atkins said. "Raymond's good to have, but even if we don't have him here, we still have six other backs who can run the ball. I can't wait."
