[July 29, 2011] Returning players give Windsor boost Tweet Jul 29, 2011 (The Macon Telegraph - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- At smaller GISA programs, it's not unusual for underclassmen to move into key starting positions on the football field. A sophomore running back? A ninth-grader at receiver? That's not all that unusual for teams that are below the Class AAA level. But a team with all underclass players in the skill positions? That is unusual, even at the smallest of football-playing schools. Windsor faced just such a situation last year. The Knights fielded a sophomore quarterback and a pair of sophomore running backs, giving the team an extremely young presence. That team went 4-7 last year, winning three of its five final regular-season games to qualify for the Class A playoffs as the fourth-place squad out of Region 2-A. Now, with nine starters returning on each side of the football and all of the skill positions filled by players who started last year, the prospects are there for some improvement. "That's the one good thing about Class A GISA football, the kids get plenty of opportunities, so a lot of times kids that are young, especially if they have a little talent, they get an opportunity to go ahead and start playing early," first-year head coach Ricky Worsham said. "But for the number that we had, that was unusual for those key positions." The experience that Windsor players have is especially strong on offense, where the only graduation losses were a couple of linemen. Worsham, who has been Windsor's athletics director since 2007, took over as head football coach from Michael Smallwood during the offseason. Worsham is keeping the team's option-based offense largely in place, making a few tweaks here and there. That's just fine by quarterback Kaleb Fuller, who led the team in rushing with 870 yards and 10 touchdowns during the regular season last year as a sophomore. He also passed for 669 yards and eight touchdowns. "I've been running the option for two years," Fuller said. "I'm pretty comfortable with it." Two more players who were sophomores last year, Caleb Shipp and J.B. Brooks, rushed for 813 and 415 rushing yards, respectively. Shipp rushed for seven touchdowns, while Brooks had three rushing and four receiving touchdowns to go with 319 receiving yards. Most of Windsor's senior leadership will come on defense, where leading tacklers Jake Coursey and Dalton McEldowney return. "I've been pleased so far," said Worsham, who said the team had 26 players participating in summer workouts. "We've increased our strength a great deal since last year, and we have a large number of returning players. All those things have made it a very positive summer." To see more of The Macon Telegraph, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.macon.com Copyright (c) 2011, The Macon Telegraph, Ga. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]