Greyhounds returning only 12 players

Fort Scott Community College released its football roster Monday morning and new head coach Kale Pick will be working with a roster that has only 12 returning players from last season.

With new Jayhawk Conference rules in place that removed the limit on out-of-state players, the Greyhounds (1-6 conference, 4-7 overall last season) have only 10 Kansas high-school graduates — half of whom are sophomores — on their 64-player roster. Kicker Brody Southwell, a 2016 Fort Scott High graduate, is one of those returning Kansans. FSHS graduate Marcus Stepps, a freshman wide receiver, is one of the new players.

Highland was the first conference school to release its roster, doing so on Sunday. There are nine Kansas high-school graduates on the Scotties’ roster — three of whom are kickers or punters. Garden City has just four and Dodge City 10. Coffeyville has 20 Kansans while Butler has 30. Hutchinson and Independence had not released their rosters prior to press time.

Among the returning players is linebacker Dominic Cizauskas (6’ 2”, 240, Soph., Mukwonago, Wis.), who led the conference in tackles per game last season with 13.9. He also led in solo tackles with 75 and was second in assists with 78. He had 3 1/2 sacks and had one game with 34 tackles. He broke the school’s single-season record for tackles held by current Tampa Bay Buccaneer Lavonte David.

Also returning on defense are backs Elmore Hempstead (6’ 0”, 190, Soph., Smackover, Ark.), who intercepted 5 passes to lead the ’Hounds, Erskine Francis (6’ 1”, 180, Soph., Sidell, La.), and Trey Espy (6’ 2”, 185, Soph., Olathe), linebackers Lane Moran (6’ 1”, 210, Soph., Leon) and Micah Fryer (6’ 0”, 245, Soph., Kansas City, Kan.) and lineman Aaron Adams (6’ 4”, 330, Soph., Cordova, Ala.).

All of Fort Scott’s returning offensive players are receivers or linemen. Fred Daughtry (5’ 11”, 175, Soph., Tallahassee, Fla.) was second on the team last season with 44 catches for 465 yards and 3 touchdowns. Edward Aldred (6’ 3”, 185, Soph., Hollywood, Fla.) hauled in 26 passes for 437 yards and two scores. Tony Walker, Jr. (6’ 0”, 180, Soph., Gardner) caught 2 passes for 23 yards.

The only returning lineman is Dakota Chrichton (6’ 2”, 235, Soph., Council Grove).

Southwell (6’ 1”, 180, Soph.) returns as the team’s kicker and most likely will also punt. Southwell, who made a 52-yard field goal as a high-school senior, made 8 of 14 field goals last season and punted for a 37.6-yard average.

Fort Scott has two out-of-state quarterbacks on the roster, something made possible by the new out-of-state rule. In previous seasons, the starter would be an out-of-stater while the in-stater was slated to be the backup.

Dalton Sneed (6’ 1”, 200, Soph., Scottsdale, Ariz.) redshirted at Nevada-Las Vegas in 2015 and played significantly last season, winning two of the four games UNLV won. He had a 91-yard scramble, the longest run in UNLV history. Part-way through the season, he volunteered to move to wide receiver due to injuries in the Rebels’ receiving corps.

Garrett Sharp (6’ 1”, 205, Fr., Round Rock, Texas) is the other candidate at quarterback. The Raiders were 11-1 last season, going two rounds into the Texas public school playoffs.

The Greyhounds’ season begins Saturday night in El Dorado when they take on Jayhawk Conference rival Butler at 7 p.m.

2017 FSCC Schedule

Bold — Jayhawk Conference game.