It’s still a couple months from official August football practice at Madras High School, but the start of the season occurred before the current school year ended during a spring football camp.
And in many ways it’s a new start. The MHS football program is now under the leadership of first-year head coach Neil Elshire. The former Oregon Duck and Minnesota Viking, Elshire brings a big presence to the program, both physically, emotionally and through expectations.
The camp — held the last week of May and the first week of June — started with 52 players out, but due to various competing commitments, dwindled to 28 players at the last practice. The new coach said he wasn’t happy with the numbers, but understood why many of the players couldn’t attend every day.
“My hope for our program is that come August 19th, all of our players are ready to get to work on football,” said the coach. “The work they do between now and that point will be a big determining factor in our success this fall.”
Work, noted the coach, was the key element of the spring sessions. The goals for the camp were to focus on “smart work, hard work, fast work, efficient work.”
“I love this game and I want our players to grow to love it as well,” said Elshire. “Fun is what football is all about, and there is no fun without work.”
The coach said the team “has a long way to go” to reach the competitive goals he has for them, but those kids who made it through camp “made incredible progress.” He has also been impressed by some of the athletes who have shown early potential to be effective team leaders, noting Gavin Williams, Orion Reynoso, Matthew Suppah-Scott, Reed Simmelink and Nakomis Rivera.
It’s also a new beginning for the program in that 2024 will mark a drop to 3A level competition, down from competing in the 4A special district where the Buffs had not won a game on the field in two seasons, and most defeats in blowout losses.
But Elshire said he does not look backwards. He’s all about preparing for what’s ahead.
“I will put in hundreds of hours between now and the beginning of the season to see that our athletes will be the best prepared, best conditioned athletes on the field every Friday night.”
Offensively, the Buffs will look to protect the football and establish the run as Elshire said “this opens up all kinds of fun in the passing game.”
A defensive end at Oregon and in the NFL, Elshire said his style on that side of the ball is to be offensive on defense. “We will attack, and never be locked into a particular front or coverage. It’s fun to play and watch,” said the coach.
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