CAMERON — The Cameron Dragons graduated a highly successful senior class last season, but head coach Tim Brown is confident that his current Dragon crew can build upon a strong foundation from last year’s 10-2 campaign.

“Last year, outstanding season,” Brown said. “We had some seniors who, when they were freshmen, a lot of those guys started or played a lot, so they had a tremendous amount of experience. That group didn’t lose very many ballgames throughout their career and they were in the playoffs every year.

“You can’t really replace that kind of leadership with someone like Colson Wichterman being your quarterback for four years. There’s going to be some adjustments. That being said, having that kind of leadership those four years, all these younger guys were there, they were part of that success, and they didn’t forget the things they learned. What I’ve seen is a sense of urgency out of the group this year to keep that standard really high. Last year we bowed out of the playoffs in the second round to a very good team, James Monroe.”

The cupboards are far from empty in Cameron, with standouts from the 2023 season back for more- and many new faces bolstering the Dragons’ ranks to new heights.

“A lot of our problems in the past have been just attrition,” Brown said. “You start out with 20 kids, two or three of them get hurt and next thing you know you got people playing out of position. This year we have 32 kids out here, which is up for us. We have 11 seniors, we have 10 freshmen. It’s really nice to have those numbers.

“We also have a lot of kids who have a lot of experience at the varsity level and the middle school kids who moved up had a lot of success there. We’re really excited about the athleticism we have, and the diversity we have- we have more linemen than we’ve had in the past, so we have a little bit more size to go with our speed- and this summer, we had more people in the weight room than we’ve had in the last five years. A lot of these guys are hungry, they’re working hard in the weight room and in conditioning, so we’re really excited to see what happens this year.”

Coach Tim Brown discusses the upcoming season

Stepping into the starting role at quarterback is junior Kason Angel, who spent last season as the backup.

“Kason, he’s a multiple sport athlete,” Brown said. “His older brothers were fantastic athletes and he’s following right along. We really think we’re going to have an intelligent, good athlete at the helm with Kason. He’s gotten a lot bigger, he’s put on about 20 pounds of muscle.”

Freshman Griffen Miller will back up Angel.

Miller is one a large freshman class, many of whom could see the field on Fridays. Other freshmen include Dallen Dishman, Dawson Hill, Kadien Chapman, Brandon Miller, Grayson Bonar, Cale Winters, Griffen Miller, Maverick Lilley, Anthony Bellonco and Talen Brown.

“Our whole freshman class we’ve got a lot of good athletes, multiple sport athletes coming in who can fill some spots,” Brown said.

Freshmen are not the only first-years on the team. Senior Brendon Carrol just came to town this year, and figures to factor into the team’s fortunes.

“He’s a big, athletic kid and he’s really showing a lot of promise,” Brown said. “We’re not very far into practice yet so I don’t know exactly what he can do but all signs show that he’s going to be a heck of an athlete.”

Toting the rock the majority of the time for the Dragons will be the explosive senior, Klypsan Wallace. Wallace far exceeded 1,000 yards on the ground, and also led the team in tackles at the linebacker position. This year, history is on the mind of the Dragons tailback.

“Klypsan Wallace is back, his eyes are set on trying to set the rushing record,” Brown said. “He’s a very capable running back as we’ve seen over the last few years.”

Other seniors include Wes Starcher, who returns to start at center, Atley Bonar, Hunter Wright- who should also make an impact on the O-line and at noseguard- and pass-catchers/defensive backs Mason Scott, Camden Frye, Trey Estel and Slaton Pettit.

With large senior and freshman classes, the Dragons find themselves in a position they haven’t been in often.

“Out of the 32 kids we have right now, there’s a possibility that 25 of those kids could see action on Friday nights,” Brown said. “We’re really excited about the development of these athletes over the last few years.”

The extra bodies also are enabling Brown and his staff to open up their schemes.

“We will be able to do a lot of different things,” Brown said. “We can go with a 250-pound noseguard in Hunter Wright, we can put a 165-pound super quick freshman like Talon Brown in there to mix things up. We’ve got a lot of options that we haven’t had before because we’ve got 32 bodies this year. That’s a whole lot better than having 18 kids dressed by the end of the season. That makes it tough.”

“We will have the option to give our offensive linemen a rest every so often, to give our defensive linemen a rest.

“That’s something that doesn’t happen too often at Cameron. If we can keep those guys fresh, we have very high expectations.”

Up front will be Starcher and Wright, with the likes of Carrol, juniors Brody Hill and Carter Paczewski, and sophomore Landen Dempewolf in the mix as well.

“He’s an athlete who could play runningback,” Brown said of Starcher. “He’s played that center spot because he’s so daggone quick and so good at it. He makes very few errors. We’ve got him back anchoring us this year.”

“Hunter’s in much better shape than he was last year,” Brown said. “Stronger, faster; he’s become a heck of a leader for us upfront.”

“Even though we’ve got some new guys on the line, they’ve seen these older guys play, they’ve prepared themselves and man, they’re becoming young men this year.”

Magers, Scott, Frye and sophomore Soier Reed should be some of the top receiving options when Cameron goes to the air.

“We’ve got several kids who have come into the program this year just bigger, faster,” Brown said. “There’s Collin Magers who just keeps growing, he’s a big lanky athlete, plays defensive end and receiver.”

Rounding out the junior class is Gunner Lilley and Ike Yoho, and rounding out the sophomore class is Anthony Hall, Hayden Bonar, Brian Thomas, and Gabe Kinneer.

“There’s a lot of kids who are here who are just good teammates,” Brown said. “When you have that, it’s great to come to practice everyday. My group of guys, I think I have the best assistant staff in the state. These guys have knowledge, they’re compassionate to the kids, they work them and we have a lot of fun. We actually are smiling and laughing and having a good time with these kids coming out to work every single day.”

Brown has led the Cameron program since 2019. He is assisted by defensive coordinator Derek Martin, offensive coordinator Matt Burge, special teams coordinator Gibbs Davidson, line coach Jim Rogers, skills coach Jacob Berger and manager Matt Wiseman.