Senior Reece Byerly, an All-State pick last fall, is expected to anchor both the offensive and defensive line for Franklin.
Sam Findley | For the Daily Journal
Reece Byerly remembers standing on Franklin’s high school football field as an eighth-grader, just after his team defeated Greenwood to cap an unbeaten season.
“We just talked about how our senior year, or just any year in high school, we just all wanted to go out and play how we always have been,” the senior two-way lineman said. “And our team has the same goals.”
Though the Grizzly Cubs are coming off of a frustratingly uneven 3-7 season, optimism is rampant on campus heading into Friday’s opener at Danville. This year’s team is loaded with experience — headed up by a senior class that has always had high expectations for itself.
“They’ve been together,” Franklin coach Chris Coll said. “They’ve played together through youth league all the way through, and since they’ve been at the high school they’ve been a very committed group. They’ve done the things that you need to do in the offseason, in the winter. They’ve developed physically, they’ve developed as football players. They’ve done things the right way. They’ve done what it takes to be successful in high school football and set a good example for our younger guys.”
Among those leading the way is Byerly, a 6-foot-2, 260-pounder who earned IFCA Class 5A Junior All-State recognition in 2021. He’s expected to again be an impact player on the interior defensive line while also providing protection for the offense as the starting left tackle.
”For an offensive lineman or defensive lineman to have really, truly impactful plays — it’s pretty easy to see receivers and DBs and quarterbacks do that, but he’s doing it from a line position on both sides of the ball,” Coll said of Byerly. “He’s already done it, and it will continue to grow this year.
“You’ve got to deal with him a little bit. You’ve got to plan for him a little bit. He can be very disruptive.”
Much like his older brother Drew did when he was an All-State quarterback at Franklin three years ago, Reece Byerly is quick to answer any question about his own playing prowess or leadership by pivoting toward praise of his teammates.
When asked about how he manages the physical strain of playing on both sides of the ball — somewhat rare at 5A and 6A schools — he pointed out that his teammates make his life much easier on that front.
“It can get a little bit tiring here and there,” Byerly said, “but knowing that I have people behind me — our middle linebacker, Lance Jones. Knowing that he knows the whole defense, and if I’m ever in the wrong spot on defense, he can get me to the spot where I want to be.”
Coll plans to manage reps for Byerly and fellow senior John Shepard to keep them from getting too fatigued. Most of Byerly’s plays off, the coach says, will come on the defensive side.
That’s somewhat fitting, because while Byerly’s postseason accolades last fall were largely for his defensive play, Coll sees offensive line as his most likely fit at the collegiate level.
“He’s 6-2, but he’s long,” the coach stated. “He has long arms. I think people have some different perspectives on him, whether he’s a tackle or whether he’s an interior guy, a guard.
“He has the athleticism to play on the edge at the next level, just because he’s got great feet. He does have long arms. Typically tackles are taller, but at 6-2 plus, he’s more than capable when you start looking at the really good NAIA programs like Marian, St. Francis and Indiana Wesleyan, when you look at some of the Division II programs that have looked at him, I think he’s fully capable of playing either interior or on the edge at that level.”
Byerly has no shortage of schools showing interest, but he’s making it clear that his recruitment can wait a few months. He’ll have plenty of time this winter to take college visits and such, but for now his focus is on living out those dreams that he and his fellow Grizzly Cubs seniors were talking about back in middle school.
There’s a very real opportunity, he believes, to make them a reality.
“Right now, I just want to focus solely on the football season and letting my senior year be the best it can be, and letting the team’s year be the best it can be,” Byerly said, “ Once that’s over, I can focus more on a decision.
“We want to have a chance to win conference this year, and we think we have a good chance at even a sectional title. And it’s not only the seniors that have that goal; if you ask anyone on the football team, we all want that goal and we’re all buying in to achieve that.”
2022 SCHEDULE
Date;Opponent
Aug. 19;at Danville
Aug. 26;Mt. Vernon
Sept. 2;Perry Meridian
Sept. 9;at Whiteland
Sept. 16;Martinsville
Sept. 23;at Mooresville
Sept. 30;Plainfield
Oct. 7;at Greenwood
Oct. 14;Decatur Central
(all games scheduled for 7 p.m.)
SCOUTING THE GRIZZLY CUBS
Coach: Chris Coll
Last season: 3-7, lost to New Palestine in Class 5A sectional semifinal
Key returnees: OL/DL Reece Byerly, WR Max Clark, DL Gabe Delgado, K Patrick Fancher, OL Prab Gill, DL/LS Jake Houston, DB Zach Klein, DB Nate Owens, LB Jesse Pyatskowit, DB Zach Reese, WR Bryce Richardson, TE/LB John Shepard, seniors; DB/KR Beau Baker, WR Luke Bechert, DB Brayden Isley, LB Lance Jones, QB Clay Pinnick, OL Brody Stephens, OL Conner Voris and OL Sam Welch, juniors
Top newcomers: P JD Sever, junior; OL Eli Jewell and RB/KR Alex Leugers, sophomores
Outlook: The Grizzly Cubs struggled with consistency last year, but expectations are much higher this year for a veteran team loaded with talented seniors and juniors. Franklin has several proven playmakers on both sides of the ball. Pinnick should settle in as a second-year starter at quarterback, and he’s got a home-run threat at wideout in Clark, who averaged 22 yards a catch last season. Leugers is the top candidate to step in as the go-to running back. The top seven tacklers from last year’s defense, led by Baker (92), are all back; 11 returnees made double-digit stops in 2021. Byerly and Shepard will be counted on as major two-way contributors.
Coll believes the key to getting back on the right side of .500 this season is consistency. Too many times last fall, Franklin’s hopes were undone by an inability to finish off scoring drives or to get the defense off the field with a third-round stop. The hope is that this group, which should be more seasoned and mature across the board, can get the job done in those critical situations. The Grizzly Cubs face a challenging schedule right out of the gate — they started 1-5 against the same teams last year — but at least a couple of those results could have been flipped with just a couple of key plays. It remains to be seen whether Franklin will clear the high bar it’s setting for itself, but the record should almost certainly be better this time around.
