Football preview: Coyotes see improvement, continue to work on defense

Despite being nearly 10 weeks away from his next practice under center, quarterback Kevin Earl is already excited about the improvement fans are going to see in the 2014 version of the Coyote offense.

Whether it’s from the eight starts under his belt from last year or the four touchdowns he threw during the Spring Game, Earl said the offense is gaining more and more confidence in what they can do.

“First off, it’s night and day for me from where I was last year,” Earl said. “I feel like I’m settling in and taking control of the offense.”

Besides himself, Earl said it was evident the skill of the position players and offensive lineman has improved.

“The offensive line is a group that will really show a lot of improvement next year,” Earl said. “I’ve just gotten way more comfortable with them and we’re returning lots of key guys.”

Starting running back Trevor Bouma said there is a lot of potential for the offense.

“Everyone has more experience this year, and when we get the running game going it just opens up the playbook to hit (Riley) Donovan and the receivers for long gains,” he said.

One of the biggest question marks for the team lies on the other side of the ball. The defense will have to manage playing without the school’s leading sack artist in team history, Tyler Starr.

Head coach Joe Glenn said it’s a challenge the defense will try its best to conquer.

“I’ve been coaching for a long time, and he’s a player you can’t just say we can replace,” Glenn said. “We have lots of guys at linebacker that can make plays. (Auston) Johnson is our bell cow and (Keyen) Lage has made plays his whole career here.”

It’s still a long way until the Aug. 30th season opener at Oregon, and Glenn said the team still has a ton of work to do before they can even think about Oregon.

“Offense, defense, special teams, you name it. They all need to get a lot better still,” Glenn said. “In this industry, you have to take it a day at a time, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

The team improved from one win in 2012 to four wins last year. Three of their eight losses were by less than a touchdown. That gives Glenn confidence that they are closer than people might expect.

“Once we learn how to finish off games we’ll be able to hit the ground running,” Glenn said.