By Yaneek Smith

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

Shawn Kiss has waited for this opportunity.

Kiss, a native of Brunswick, Ohio, was an assistant with Bowling Green for eight years before being named the head coach in January, and he’s worked hard to alter the direction of the Bobcats’ program.

One of the major changes Kiss has made is to bring a new philosophy to the offense, primarily giving quarterback Jameson Horst more freedom to throw the ball after a season in which he threw the ball less than 40 times.

Running backs Ja’ceous Shannon and Jackson Shafer rushed for over 1,000 and 700 yards, respectively, last season. As a team, the Bobcats rushed for over 3,300 yards in 2023.

“Horst is 6-1, 215 pounds with a good arm. He’s super smart, cool and calm under pressure, and he doesn’t get rattled easily. You have to be the calm in the storm as you’re trying to navigate the storm,” said Kiss.

“We’re going to put a lot more on his shoulders this year — he’s not just being the guy to hand the ball off. We won three games without throwing a single pass.”

Kiss alraedy knew he had two solid running backs returning.

“Both have good, home-run potential,” he said. “They’re two great, hard-working kids.”

Kiss says the offense he’s going to employ saw its share of success last year, but he’s going to tweak in the places where the Bobcats were not successful.

“We’ll run some of the same stuff as last year. We’ll be a flexbone-pistol team with the option and gap schemes,” Kiss said. “We’re going to throw the ball a lot more than we did last year. We faced boxes of nine to 10 defenders and not being able to make enough out of it, we knew we need to do something.”

Shannon and Shafer are going to be slot backs where they’ll double as running backs and wide receivers. The wide receivers are Carter Earl and Joey Kline with Brennan Howard backing them up.

How has it looked thus far?

“We had a scrimmage against Maumee, and looked good in some aspects, but we still need a lot of work,” Kiss said. “The offense was a little shaky, I think we had to knock some rust off. After some time, we looked a little more consistent.”

The offensive line has four returning starters with Drew Erekson starting at center. The left guard is Hunter Kozlowicz, the left tackle is A.J. Miller, the right tackle is Navoia Ragin and the right guard could be Tyler Pierson, but it’s currently up in the air. The top two starting tight ends are Taylor Naugle and Aiden Rohleder.

Defensively, BG has a new coordinator in Roy Findley.

“He came in right away and got to know everyone. He’s a great guy, has a good attitude. He loves on the kids, but has high expectations for what we’re able to do,” said Kiss.

“He’s meshed well with the kids. All of our defensive coaches have done a good job, they’re all on the same page. The unit has come so far in a year, it’s ridiculous. I feel good about our chances because I have a guy on the opposite end of the ball that I can rely on.”

Kiss says one of his best players on the defense is Shafer, who plays linebacker, and free safety Rhett Winger, whom he refers to as the unit’s field general. Winger is an all-league three-sport athlete, and his athleticism works well.

“Winger is not the biggest kid,” Kiss said, “but he’s tough, and he loves contact.”

The Bobcats must limit the number of big plays they give up.

“We’re a zone team, for the most part. We’ll mix up coverages, play fundamental football and make (the other team) earn it,” said Kiss.

“If they score, they’ll score in 12 plays, not two. We gave up seven plays per game of at least 20 yards last year. We have to be gap sound and play smart, fundamental defense with some blitz coverages.

“It all comes down to the fact that if (the other team) is going to gain six yards, they gain six, not 20. Making a team go 12, 14 plays is tough because high school kids are going to make mistakes.”

BOWLING GREEN SCHEDULE

Aug. 23 @ Otsego

Aug. 30 FOSTORIA

Sept. 6 ANTHONY WAYNE

Sept. 13 @ Springfield

Sept. 20 SYLVANIA NORTHVIEW

Sept. 27 @ Clay

Oct. 4 SYLVANIA SOUTHVIEW

Oct. 11 @ Toledo Woodward

Oct. 18 @ Napoleon

Oct. 25 FREMONT ROSS