NEW PALESTINE — Entering the 2019 season, the defending state champion New Palestine Dragons had a pretty big question to answer about their roster.
Who was going to play linebacker?
More than anywhere else in the lineup, the position was thin. There were concerns. The graduation of Luke Ely, CJ Faubion and Jacob Hockett left sizable holes in the Red Rage defense.
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They had a returning all-state linebacker back in Aven Jones. From there, the Dragons coaching staff had some work to do.
“That was really one of our concern spots coming into this season was linebacker, just because you’d lost Luke, and CJ, and Jacob who all played a lot of football for us at those positions,” New Palestine coach Kyle Ralph said. “Luke especially was a four-year starter, made all the checks, made all the calls, got us aligned right. When we lose a guy who has essentially done that the majority of his career, it’s really hard to replace that. You can’t really do it with just one guy.”
They found three.
Jones was the obvious one. He was an all-state selection after a 91-tackle season, second most on the Dragons state championship team. He added 10 tackles for loss and four sacks last year.
He’s moved from the outside to middle linebacker, taking Ely’s old role. That has worked out well for the Dragons so far, as Jones led the team in tackles through the first month of the season and has been a force in the middle.
“Thankfully Aven played a lot last year, started for us a ton and really kind of molded himself after Luke as far as the intelligence is concerned, understanding the defense,” Ralph said. “He’s filled that spot really well at the Mike linebacker position, and that’s been huge for us. He’s a smart kid, he understands football and the scheme, he practices really intense. His job really, interestingly enough and he’s even said this before, was to kind of nurture those other linebackers into those other positions because he was the most veteran guy. I think he’s done a great job of that.”
Stepping up
Joining Jones in the linebacking corps are a pair of juniors, Richard Clevenger as the strongside linebacker and Hunter Burks on the weakside.
Clevenger played on special teams and had a great season on the JV in 2018, his coach said.
“He worked his tail off in the weight room,” Ralph said. “He’s a really good wrestler, so toughness is not an issue with him. He’s really explosive out here at track, too. He’s definitely got the attributes you need in a linebacker.”
Burks was a bit of a different story. He didn’t play for the Dragons at all last year, as he took his sophomore season off of football.
He was at the games in 2018. He just wasn’t standing on the sidelines in a New Palestine uniform. Watching the Dragons run to a state championship made him miss the game.
He knew he had to rejoin the roster as a junior.
“Standing in the student section on those Friday nights really just reminded me of those days, so I decided to come back and give it another shot,” Burks said. “I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen. I was hoping for the best, working hard in the offseason, and I got the spot.”
When Burks made his intentions known of coming back out for football, Ralph challenged him. He was thin from playing basketball. His football coach wanted to see him gain some weight and add some muscle.
Burks went from the low 170s to the 180s, and it’s made a difference. It helped him win a starting spot and have what Ralph said is “an outstanding start to the season.”
Also making a difference in Burks’ development was having a player of Jones’ caliber right next to him.
“For guys like Richard and for Hunter, that makes a huge difference because the example is right next to you of what the standard is for linebacker play at this school,” Ralph said. “Aven is as good as any linebacker we’ve had since I’ve been here. When you’ve got him next to you, who can kind of lead, and direct, and encourage, it makes it a little easier for those younger guys.”
Under the radar
When teams prepare for the Dragons, they see names like running back Charlie Spegal on the scouting report, names like Kyle King and Maxen Hook on the defensive side of the ball.
King and Hook have committed to Division 1 schools — King to Michigan State and Hook to Toledo — while Spegal has D1 offers. They garner the attention. That takes some of the spotlight away from the somewhat inexperienced New Palestine linebackers.
It also takes some of the pressure away.
“I think it definitely matters,” Clevenger said. “(Opponents) don’t really game plan for you making chaos in the game.”
It also creates more space for the linebackers to work, which is just fine with them. They don’t need the attention. They just want to be out there making plays.
“It just starts with everyone else on defense,” Clevenger said. “If the defensive line isn’t going as hard as they always are, I have no chance to get sacks or tackles for loss. It’s really just a team effort. It’s really exciting to be able to get in there and make plays.”
“I think we’re just as key as any other group,” Jones added. “Like Richie said, if the linemen aren’t doing our job, then we can’t do our job. If we aren’t doing our job, the DBs can’t do their job.”
A ‘quiet’ start
If there were growing pains at the linebacker position, the Red Rage defense didn’t show it.
In the season opener, the Dragons held Kokomo to negative-15 yards rushing on 18 attempts. They allowed 135 yards against Center Grove, but only at 3.2 yards per carry. Yorktown rushed 18 times for negative-8 yards, and Mt. Vernon managed just 12 yards on the ground against New Palestine on 12 attempts.
Burks, Clevenger and Jones combined for 69.5 tackles, 17.5 TFL and 7.5 sacks in the first month of the season.
“It’s kind of funny because they don’t get a lot of the headlines still despite the fact that they’ve made a ton of plays, because in front of them obviously you’ve got Kyle and you’ve got Matt (Brown), and Matt could probably be a Division 1 player if he keeps working hard and has a good season,” Ralph said. “Then behind them you’ve got all five DBs who are back for the third consecutive year, and a lot of talent in that group, so no one really pays attention to those linebackers. They’ve really quietly somehow had a tremendous start to our season.”
Aiding in their success is how well the three complement one another on the field.
“We all have different skills, each of us have different strengths, and we use that pretty well,” Burks said.
Burks has the speed and athleticism to help in pass coverage. Jones and Clevenger are bigger run stoppers who can get to the quarterback.
The Dragons pride themselves on their run defense, and without linebackers playing at a high level, they wouldn’t be able to have the kind of success they are having so far this season as they seek a repeat state title.
“When you play the 3-3 like we do, the linebackers are kind of the heart and soul of what you are. They have so many jobs in our scheme, whether it be to stop the run or defend the pass,” Ralph said. “It all starts with the guys up front, and we’ve got a really good group in front, but our linebacker play is critical to the success of our defense as a whole. That’s part of what’s made us so great around here — we’ve had really good, talented linebackers over the years that can fly around and play extremely physical football.”
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Eastern Hancock (6-1, 2-0) at Shenandoah (5-2, 1-0), 7 p.m.
Delta (6-1, 4-1) at Greenfield-Central (1-6, 1-4), 7:30 p.m.
Mt. Vernon (5-2, 3-2) at Shelbyville (0-7, 0-5), 7:30 p.m.
New Castle (2-5, 1-4) at New Palestine (7-0, 5-0), 7:30 p.m.
For a full breakdown of the four Week 8 matchups, jump inside to Page B2.
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