Season Preview

THIRD-YEAR HEAD COACH, TOM MINNICK HAS DELIVERED HIS MARCHING ORDERS: NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP OR BUST!

MESSAGE

by MIKE PILOSOF

photography by SHRIMPLIN PHOTOGRAPHY

RECEIVED

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If you live in Tom Minnick’s world, expectations are always high. And now after battling through an abbreviated spring season played with a global pandemic in the backdrop, it seems as if the Broncbusters are ready to tackle anything. But make no mistake about it, anything less than a trip to Little Rock in December, will be considered a disappointment. That’s because in Minnick’s world, it’s always now or never!

It wasn’t that long after the dust settled on a season that nobody, not even the billionaire tycoons who run some of the most valuable franchise on earth, thought with absolute certainty, that games at any level, would be played without interruption. COVID-19 had its fingerprints all over the sports landscape, causing athletic departments to rethink their most basic necessities. The crazy thing is it wasn’t unprecedented. In fact, in 1918, Major League Baseball slogged e through the Spanish Flu pandemic, a nightmare considering the lack of technological advancement that modern medicine provides. They

even managed to play the Fall Classic.

Still, 2020 will go down as a lost year; the first time since World War II that football was not played in the fall. And if it had been, Garden City may have sprinted to the National Championship Game. Tom Minnick, whose legendary resume will someday land him in the NJCAA Hall of Fame, brought in a slew of five-star recruits in a matter of weeks including former University of Miami quarterback Jarren Williams. But the NJCAA’s decision to push fall sports to the spring put most of those players in limbo, and Williams jetted back to Division-I, while former Florida State running back Anthony Grant transferred to New Mexico Military. Oh, what could have been?

It also didn’t help matters that spring football turned into a mirage, a who’s who of teams that didn’t play. Hutchinson claimed the program’s first National Championship, but they did so during an abbreviated campaign with powerhouses East Mississippi, Gulf Coast, Northwest and Lackawanna, the 2019 National runner-up, sitting out. Throw that in with the fact that most teams didn’t have much time off before the start of camps in August, and 2021 may be one of the craziest seasons in Junior College history.

Enter the Broncbusters, a team that, for the second straight year, fell one win shy of reaching the big game. And they bring back a wealth of experience on defense. On the front line, All-American end Raymond Cutts, who started seven games in the spring, returns after posting a team-best 4.5 sacks including a season-high 1.5 in a 20-0 win over Coffeyville. He finished sixth in the nation in quarterback sacks and tallied 32 tackles. Also back is end Xavier Peters, the transfer from Kentucky who spent the early part of the spring as a bulldozer running back behind Jordan Ford. Those two

BIG V Vaai Seumalo was once a star volleyball player in Hawaii. Now he's a D-I prospect anchoring Aaron Cheatwood's defensive line

join Missouri commit Shemar Pearl, who battled injuries during the spring, Eliye Oshaye-Hill, and Vaai’ Seumalo, whose recruiting really took off during the summer. In the middle, linebacker Christian Fuhrman is back for his third season under Minnick. The red-shirt freshman notched 40 tackles, the second most on the squad behind Hill’s 41. Hard-hitting Cameron Johnson and his 38 stops is back along with Shawn Smith, who returned from a torn ACL in 2019 to post 20 tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery during the spring.

“Every year, our goal is to play in the National Championship game,” Minnick said. “Conference accolades are great, but we have our eyes on the big prize.”

On the back end, corner Keylon Kennedy returns after missing the final three games of the spring. The shutdown corner landed on the NJCAA All-America second team after recording 15 tackles. He also made opposing quarterbacks think twice before throwing to his side of the field. He teams with preseason All-American Exzavieus Roberson, whose scintillating pick6 vs. Highland will go down as one of the best plays of the spring season.

“Our defense has a chance to be really good again,” Minnick explained. “With that many guys back, they know the system, and they know what to expect."

On offense, the line returns pretty much intact. Carter Habich is back at center with Nymonta Doucoure, the lone holdover from the Jeff Sims’ era, at left guard. Isaiah Adams, who holds offers from Central Florida, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Liberty, UMASS, Ohio, and Syracuse will start at left tackle, while Chris Carter is back at right tackle.

“I said it at media day, but the strength of this team is our offensive line,” Minnick said. “We’ve got everyone back. And we added some depth with a couple of transfers." In the backfield, starter Jordan Ford transferred to the University of Tulsa, leaving Devion Hodges as the new man in charge. He will get some much-needed help from Will Knight, a transfer from Delaware who began his collegiate career at Old Dominion, and before that-led Smyrna High School to three straight state championships. At quarterback is 23-year-old journeyman Rhett Ricedorff, who played for his father, Randy at Show Low in Arizona. Also, in the mix is Illinois State transfer Jack Baltz, who played in four games for the Redbirds in 2019. On the perimeter, the Broncbusters lost All-Conference wide out Khamran Laborn, who transferred to Buffalo. Replacing him will be Jacobi Bellazin, who once held offers from Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, TCU, Tennessee, Arizona State, Arkansas, Duke, Florida State, Houston, Indiana, and Kansas State. Scieneaux Jarmon returns as well with newcomer Demetrius Wilson, a 6-3 transfer who’s had stints at both Snow and Iowa Western.

“We will be more up-tempo this season,” Minnick explained. “It will be a little more wide open."

That’s because of the shakeup in the coaching staff. Longtime Minnick assistant Mike Orthmann retired, leaving the play-calling duties to Ryan Felker-who spent the past two seasons as the head man at Gila River College in Gilbert, AZ. He brought with him offensive line coach Robert Ortiz.

On the other side of the ball

Jerry Dominguez left to take a job at Western New Mexico, prompting Minnick to promote Aaron Cheatwood to defensive coordinator. The new lead man won three state titles at Yuma Catholic High School in Yuma, AZ and spent the past two seasons coaching the defensive line. Joining Cheatwood is defensive line coach Trey Jackson, who coached the last two years at IMG Academy, and Tony Banks, a former star defensive back at Virginia Tech who was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in 1996.

CONFERENCE RACE

Gone are the days where the Jayhawk Conference preseason poll was a general consensus. For more than a decade, the Butler Grizzlies were the darlings of the region. That is no longer the case; not by a long shot.

Defending National Champion Hutchinson was picked to win the league, but not by a landslide. Garden City was slated second, but one could make the argument that the Broncbusters are the top team in the region.

During the spring, no team other than Snow in the National Championship Game, stayed within two touchdowns of the Blue Dragons. And while Minnick and his staff aren't into moral victories, to play Hutchinson tight for most of the way with a backup quarterback and without their top defensive player in Florida transfer Jonathan Huggins, who broke his arm in the

Independence game, has to count for something.

"Hutch is the team to beat, make no mistake about that," Minnick said. "We gave ourselves a shot in that game, but we didn't get it done. But maybe it's a good thing to not have that big target on our backs this year. Maybe it will allow our guys to focus more this fall."

At this point, it appears to be a three-team race with Garden City, Hutchinson, and Independence. The Pirates, who smashed Butler in week one, are as talented as anyone in the conference. The Blue Dragons, which suffered a season-opening loss to Coffeyville thanks to a seven-turnover debacle that no one, not even Minnick saw coming, are still very much the same squad from the spring.

"It was definitely surprising, but I say it all the time that anyone in this league can beat anyone," Minnick added. "You can't fall asleep or be overconfident against any of these teams."

WELCOME TO THE PLAYOFFS

It has been a longtime coming, but finally, during an abbreviated offseason, the powers that be approved a new four-team playoff. What does that mean exactly, and how will it be structured? Well, for starters, the top four teams in the final regular-season poll, will be bracketed. The No. 1 team will host the No. 4 and No. 3 travels to No. 2. The winner of those two semifinals games will meet in Little Rock on Dec. 17 for the National Championship Game.

Additionally, there is a bit of a kicker for the Jayhawk this year. With the alliance with the three Iowa schools on a one-year hiatus, the conference approved to return to the playoff format for the 2021 season. So, the Broncbusters will play seven regular season games before opening the Region playoffs on Nov. 6.