July 30, 2012

Bob Hovey
Hovpensports.com

Overview

After a successful 2011 football campaign that saw the Fort Scott Community College Greyhounds make several transitions into the future, second year Head Coach Curtis Horton and his newly revamped coaching staff will look to instill into the 2012 Greyhound football squad that it is time to "Win Today" and prove they are a super tier Jayhawk Conference team and belong in the National rankings once again.

Horton's inaugural season as the Head Coach at FSCC ended with a 4-4 record which is deemed a success after starting 0-2 and having a young inexperienced group of players filling several voids from 2010. The 2011 Greyhounds only returned four players that saw substantial playing time from the 2010 squad.

Coach Horton welcomes a much more experienced group of players that saw action last season and many that played key roles in the success of the 2011 team. Horton also welcomes many new faces to his coaching staff from 2011.

Keith Jorden enters his third season on the Greyhound coaching staff as the newly appointed defensive coordinator, while new offensive coordinator Johnny Cole joins the staff after a stint as the head coach a Texas Southern.

On the offensive side of the ball, Fort Scott will be looking for the offensive line to be the strength of the team with Chris Mayer and Jonathon Morrison returning from last season as well as tight end Devyn McPhaull.

Defensively the Hounds will be strong in all areas with key players returning on the line at linebacker and at the defensive backfield positions. Justin Taimatuia will be watched by several schools at the next level from his defensive line position while linebacker Anthony Curtis returns after recording 23 tackles in 2011. Probably the strongest position for the Hounds will be the defensive backfield where they return Kevin Short and Austin Fulson. Short led the Hounds with five interceptions and Fulson was a key player last season recording 45 tackles.

With many key redshirt players coming back from 2011 and several newcomers that will step into key roles, Coach Horton feels this will be a much improved team from last season. "We were young last year and it showed with some of the mistakes that we made but we grew as a team during the season and especially during this off season. I am really excited to see what we can do when we put all of the pieces together and get out on the field and perform the way we have in the classroom, weight room, practice field, and in the off-season drills", Horton said.

Coach Horton added, "The goal remains the same as it has in the past several years and that is to have each player and coach to believe in Graduation, Championship, and Scholarship." With those things in mind, the Hounds believe 2012 is truly their time to "Win Today".

Season Prediction

Predicted Order of Finish: 1. Butler, 2. Hutchinson, 3. Coffeyville, 4. Fort Scott 5T. Dodge City 5T. Garden City, 7. Highland, 8. Independence