Bobby Wehrli is finding success as a walk-on at Dayton.
Dave Sobolewski is a senior captain at Northwestern.
One of the big guys, Sean O’Mara, is getting acclimated to the college game at Xavier.
And the really big guy, Frank Kaminsky, is gracing magazine covers as he enjoys the time of his life as a senior at Wisconsin.
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You probably know a great deal about the heralded recent players to come through the Benet program than you do about this year’s team, which makes sense since the Redwings feature new faces.
Juniors James Dockery and Jason Malonga and seniors Jeff Conrad, Sean Gerken, Cameron Graves, Sean Liszka and Pat Ramatowski are all expected to battle for playing time as only senior Colin Bonnett and junior Dan Sobolewski return with much experience from last year’s Class 4A state runner-up team.
And Bonnett’s the only starter back.
“It’s exciting to see who will emerge here,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “It’s the first time we haven’t had a real idea who our starters are going to be. We really think there’s quite a few kids that can play minutes for us.”
Players that look great in practice may struggle when it comes to game time, and those who are struggling in practice now may be significant contributors in a few weeks.
Basically, there are a lot of questions with this year’s squad, which will be a work in progress.
“With so little game experience you really have some uncertainty right now which is a little nerve-wracking,” Heidkamp said. “There will plenty of opportunities and we’ll try to keep it in perspective that every team is different. You can’t measure the success of past teams if you want to meet their full potential.”
The Redwings will certainly need to find ways to score. They don’t have the luxury of having big guys inside that will allow them to spread teams out either.
“We’ve had to change our style of play because of no inside presence, and for the last five years we’ve had that,” Heidkamp said.
“So we’re definitely a work in progress and a different type of team. We’ll need to make up for some of the deficiencies by being scrappy and tough.”
Bonnett will certainly emphasize defense to his teammates. He saw how the Redwings transformed into a state championship contender by firing up the defense last season after a sluggish start.
“Last year we had some games where we tried to outscore some teams and it didn’t work,” he said. “It comes down to listening to our coaches, trusting each other and doing what we need to do. I can’t emphasize how important defense is.”