Sometimes, high school varsity football teams have a lot of seniors and sometimes they do not.

But going from 23 one year to nine the next, with only a handful of those seniors even having experience as starters, is just eye-popping.

"We're extremely young," said Brentsville District coach Dean Reedy, now in his seventh season at the helm for the Tigers.

Coming off of a disastrous 2-8 season from last year, there were bound to be changes made in Nokesville. Three-year starter at quarter back PJ Borko is gone due to graduation. The offensive and defensive line returns one senior starter in all-district selection Adler Jacquet.

Enter David Hammond, the key to Brentsville's running game. The junior back saw playing time last season while playing alongside Danny Hoosier and Philip Johnson. He's different from past running backs like Justin Donnelly (Class of '08) and Joe Walton (Class of '07) in that he is not a smash-mouth runner. Rather, Hammond focuses on making defenders miss, which will be quite a change for a Brentsville team accustomed to playing straight up the gut as he is the lead back now.

"His low-end gears are right there together," said Reedy of Hammond, comparing the running back's speed to that of a and quickly-accelerating vehicle.

Reedy particularly credited Hammond for having lateral movement and vision.

"We try to block a designated area," said Reedy. "[With] great backs, you just leave them alone."

Hammond and Jacquet mentioned that a smaller, leaner and more unified offensive line this year means Hammond will be more confident attacking holes. Throughout the summer, the offensive linemen and rest of the team have spent two days a week focusing on speed and agility training instead of just weight lifting like previous years. Between 52 and 68 players showed up for voluntary nightly weight lifting training sessions from the day school ended earlier this summer.

"Last year, we had a lot of individuals," said Hammond. "We didn't have much of a team. This year, we've got more of a team so, like, I feel better running behind this line this year because I feel like they're going to work together to make sure the running backs are safe and stuff like that."

Brentsville practices with a two-back spread offense this year. New junior transfer quarterback Casey Willard is expected to execute play-action passes if Hammond succeeds in his role as running back well enough that teams will be constantly looking out for rush plays. That would potentially leave receivers in one-on-one situations against secondary backs, allowing the 6-foot-5 Casey a chance to show off his arm, which Hammond said is more accurate than Borko's "canon."

The Tigers' defensive secondary is the most experienced unit of the team as Hammond joins veterans Mike Lennox and Garrison Ernst in defending the deep ball. Returner Alex Klasse will be leading the linebacking crew and Adler is taking charge of the defensive line.

As other teams have changed throughout the years from concentrating on the run to employing more four wide out situations, Reedy's defenses have had to adapt as well. This year will be no exception.

"We've got to change. We've got to evolve," he said.