By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
Following a disappointing 2-7 campaign that saw the Gorillas drop seven straight to close out the year, the Solomon football program is under new leadership in 2023, as Andrew Capsey takes the helm.
Despite being one of the youngest head football coaches in the state of Kansas, Capsey speaks of, and to his team like a true veteran, and is optimistic about the upcoming season.
“We want to play fast, be physical, and fearless,” Capsey said. “There’s a lot of scheme involved in football as far as what we do and why we do it but the most important thing is how we do it. Our guys are buying into that and really getting after it.”
While improving the product on the field will be a huge point of emphasis for this Solomon program, Coach Capsey is also committed to investing in his players off the field, and trusting that the results will follow.
“It’s a huge point of emphasis for me to build a relationship with each one of these kids and to help them understand that my job is to teach them and help them become better young men, leaders, and people of character in our community,” he said. “I really believe that if we can do that, that’ll make us better football players as well.”
The Gorilla’s cupboards are far from empty, as the team returns quite a bit of talent from the season prior, including at quarterback, where dual-threat Spencer Coup reprises his role, fresh off a season contributing just shy of 2,000 yards and 30 touchdowns.
Coup’s favorite targets return as well, as Spencer Krause headlines a receiving corps that will include Jake Sommers, and Porter Hynes will lead a backfield that will also feature Aiden Shepard.
The O-Line will be filled out by Mathias Baxa, Andrew Gray, and two-way lineman Wyatt Howard, who will anchor the D-Line with Hayden Zerbe.
Seth Pekarek and Mathias Baxa will hold down the linebacking corps while Spencer’s Krause and Coup patrol the secondary to round out the defense.
While expectations for the Gorillas remain tempered ahead of the season, this group spent a lot of time getting stronger in more than one way over the offseason and will be hungry to compete right out of the gates when the season kicks off on Friday
“All through summer weights we built mental toughness as well as physical strength,” Capsey said. “We know things aren’t always going to go our way but it’s how we respond to those things that will define our team. We talk about the three E’s every day and that’s energy, effort, and enthusiasm. If we can control those things I think we’ll be just fine.”
Solomon opens their 2023 campaign on Friday, September 1st when they play host to the Rural Vista Heat at 7:00.