Members of the Legacy High football team pose for a photo at the Las Vegas Sun’s high school football media day July 20, 2016 at the South Point. They include, from left, Jamal Britt, A.J. Culpepper, and Marcellus McCoy.
Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016 | 12:16 p.m.
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The Legacy Longhorns enter the 2016 with plenty of young talent and speed, but find themselves smack dab in the middle of the toughest division in the city.
After finishing 3-7 last year, and suffering a 41-7 first round playoff defeat at the hands of Centennial, Legacy will struggle to make it back to the postseason in the newly aligned Northwest League.
Centennial and Arbor View are expected to be two of the best teams in the city. Cimarron-Memorial and Palo Verde are historical powers, and newcomer Faith Lutheran is no slouch.
“We have high expectations,” Legacy coach John Isola said. “I don’t know what anybody else is saying about us but we know what we’re saying about ourselves. Our goal is 1-0 every week.”
That will start with the Longhorns’ opener against Mojave this Friday. Legacy then hosts Moapa Valley and travels to Coronado before starting the gauntlet of league play.
The most pressing task for the Longhorns this year will be replacing star running back Naim “Tiger” Geeslin, who ran for 1,366 yards and 16 touchdowns last year.
“We are pretty deep at our skilled positions. Probably as deep as I’ve been in all the years I’ve been coaching,” Isola said. “We have some skilled athletes at Legacy.”
Junior running back Isaiah Whitehead is the likely replacement, and will need to carry a running game that will be heavily relied upon with a new quarterback in place after Tanoa Alapati’s graduation.
“It starts with a good run game,” Isola said. “If you can run the ball well then that helps the pass, but my receiving core has three returning starters.”
A.J. Culpepper, who led the Longhorns with 233 receiving yards and a pair of touchdown catches, will lead an experienced receiving core.
“Our explosiveness and the way that we work as a team,” Culpepper said about the team’s strengths.
Jamaal Britt and Marquell Evans will also be back at receiver after combining for 224 yards and four touchdowns in 2015.
“Between the speed of our team and our explosiveness I’m looking for some exciting stuff,” Isola said.
The Longhorns have focused this offseason on improving their explosiveness as a unit.
“This year we’ve revamped our workout program,” Isola said. “What we need to be at Legacy is more explosive. We’ve always been a very strong team. There’s always been a great weight program even before I was there. If I want them to be explosive then I have to train them to be explosive. I think it’s going to pay dividends.”
The players have enjoyed the new workouts this summer.
“Everything is quick and fast paced,” said senior cornerback Marcellus McCoy. “We are doing more lifts that we’ve never done before. It’s a great workout.”
McCoy makes up a defense that returns six starters, including Culpepper who also starts at safety.
“Our defensive line is very strong, and there won’t be very much passing going on against us,” Culpepper said. “We are strong all around.”
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