City schools football media day notebook: What Manning, Breeze, Harris said

Dozens of people crowded The Hangout on Friday morning before the restaurant opened for the Oklahoma Sports Network’s southwest Oklahoma media day.

Players and coaches answered questions between bites of pizza to preview the upcoming football season.

Lawton MacArthur

The grass has always been a place for exhausted players to collapse after an arduous summer workout.

Now, because of a city project installing turf fields for different sports at each of the three Lawton high schools, MacArthur football players have turf to rest on.

“It’s just a game-changer,” Lawton MacArthur coach Brett Manning said. “So thankful for our administration to give us these kinds of facilities. They are not done. They’ve got a lot more that they’re planning to do. A few years ago I would’ve laughed at you if I told you that some of these things are in the plans. But so cool.”

Now Mac practices can be held rain or shine, instead of a middle school field or gymnasium if it rains. Lightning and tornadoes are about the only weather events that will keep Lawton Mac off its turf field.

Manning jokes his players like the turf field for now, but that their opinion could change when the sun heats up the rubber turf during practice on a sweltering August afternoon.

The Highlanders players have been undergoing a transformation this summer too. Manning said his team’s dedication to offseason workouts is apparent.

“I’m always impressed with the kids,” Manning said. “Not necessarily surprised. But just impressed with the stuff that they can do physically. The amount of sled pushes, squats and burnouts and running that we do. They get after it. They work hard, knowing it’s going to hurt them. It’s not uncommon to have a whole bunch of guys laying on the field when we’re done.”

MacArthur is replacing Gage Graham, its longtime starting quarterback. Manning said the competition is between two players for the starting job next season.

While Graham’s graduation robs the Mac offense of some experience, Manning is confident the offense will be OK.

“The nature of high school football is you’re going to lose a senior class every year,” Manning said. “There’s some of them that you feel like you’ll be able to replace pretty easily and some others that you feel will be pretty hard to replace. But somebody always steps up that’s been waiting, that’s been working.”

Lawton High

Lawton High football coach Ryan Breeze said there are some big shoes to fill around campus.

The Wolverines lost 10 seniors who signed to play college football including Davarius Hardy, their quarterback for the past two years.

But Breeze has a next-man-up mentality and 10 teams at a camp got a preview of the next generation.

“We were able to go to team camp at Noble,” Breeze said. “Got to see 10 other programs. It was a really good deal. Got 200 snaps for two days. I believe (wide receiver) Tyrone Dean finished with six receiving touchdowns the first day.”

Breeze said Dean will slot into Tyron Amacker’s role. Amacker, a talented wide receiver among the players Lawton will miss in 2023, was a factor on offense, defense and special teams for the Wolverines. Breeze said one player will not be able to replace what Amacker did, but Dean has potential to be a difference maker in his absence.

“It’s going to have to take a group of individuals (to replace Amacker) but people don’t know just how talented Tyrone Dean is yet,” Breeze said. “He had a really good camp.”

But sometimes offensive and defensive lineman are the toughest players to replace.

The Wolverines are shaping up well in that department.

“Should be a little bit different team in a sense that I think we’ve got half the O-line back and pretty much the entire defensive line is back,” Breeze said. “Once the young secondary comes around I think we could be a really good defensive unit.”

Nate Jones, a returning 1,000-yard rusher, will help facilitate Lawton’s offense. The search for Hardy’s replacement is on. Breeze is considering three players for the starting quarterback role. Don’t expect a decision until practice has been underway for a few weeks.

“We’ve got a pretty good battle there,” Breeze said. “Once the quarterback position gets game ready I think we’ve got a chance to be a pretty good offense again.”

Lawton Eisenhower

Javon Harris sees the signs each day when he walks into the Lawton Eisenhower field house.

Players are starting to buy in to the process of resurrecting the once-mighty Eagles program.

Coming off a 2-8 season, Harris is entering his second season as Ike’s head football coach. He has made it a point to reinvigorate players and fans.

“One of the things that I first wanted to do when I took over this job was bring back Eisenhower pride,” Harris said.

Harris did some fun things to galvanize team spirit, such as organize a 7-on-7 alumni football game for past players. It afforded the community a chance to come around the program, and for current players to be around past great Ike players such as those from the 1990 state championship team.

“I thought it was very important for not only the newer guys but also the older guy that have been in the program to feel that same sense of pride,” Harris said.

The Eagles of today are buying into Harris’ message that dedication pays off. Harris said he is excited about the upcoming season and is proud of his players’ performances in summer pride workouts.

“They’ve embraced the hard work,” Harris said. “You’ll hear it, you’ll see it and you’ll feel it. And every day when I walk into that field house I feel it.”

The sounds of a dedicated football team are easy to pick up on. It can be heard in weights clinking between sets and players speaking up and taking responsibility.

Harris said he also feels his players are bought in because of their work ethic and attentiveness.

“One of the things about the guys I have now, and especially with a bunch of returning starters from the previous season, a lot of times I can’t run them out of the field house,” Harris said. “And now they are starting to ask a bunch of the right questions. What exactly they are supposed to be looking at, what they are supposed to be doing. Reads. We talk about assignment, alignment, keys and reads.”

Harris said his team will emphasize the run game this season, and overall team depth — a weakness in 2022 — is improved. With a culture shift underway at Eisenhower, it will help on-field changes fall into place.

“Continuing to see the buy in from the players, I think that’s the most important thing,” Harris said. “It’s all about them and getting them to understand that success isn’t easy. It takes hard work.”