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Thoughts on high returning OL for MHSAA soccer season
Free Press Jared Ramsey shares a number of ideas on a few of the high returning offensive linemen getting into the 2026 Michigan highschool soccer season.
The fiercest intrasquad competitors for the Brighton soccer staff this summer time hassn’t been on the sector or within the weight room.
Instead, inside coach Brian Lemons’ classroom at Brighton High, gamers have waged hotly contested battles on the foosball desk. Whether it’s earlier than or after morning lifting periods or a observe, Bulldogs gamers have been squeezing in video games of tabletop soccer wherever it suits.
“He has a foosball table in his class,” junior quarterback Dominic D’Agosta stated Thursday, Aug. 6, on the Kensington Lakes Activities Association. “He doesn’t like it when we play foosball, but we are playing it like no other. It is awesome. And it is a bunch of stuff. We are playing video games. I know as an athlete you aren’t supposed to be on your butt, but while recovering, it is fun. The video games are fun, the foosball is fun. This stuff gets heated.”
The tight-knit Bulldogs locker room has spent most of their summer time hours collectively in preparation for an anticipated MHSAA soccer marketing campaign. The friendships within the locker room make it simple for the gamers to proceed forming these bonds at any and each hour exterior of soccer.
Combine the elements, and you’ve got a gifted soccer staff transferring in lockstep that believes within the an identical messages and targets instilled by Lemons, who was elected into the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in February, and his workers.
“We go out and do stuff together all the time,” stated senior offensive sort out/defensive lineman Jack Carlson, a Michigan State commit. “It could be as small as getting breakfast after a morning lift, to playing foosball and hanging out in Lemons’ room after school. Being around this team is what I really enjoy.”
The Bulldogs have numerous returning expertise from the 2025 staff that went 7-4. Brighton skilled some highs with a comparatively younger group, however misplaced out on the declare as Livingston County’s high staff in a Week 8 loss to Howell, narrowly misplaced to Dearborn Fordson in Week 9 and was blown out by eventual Division 1 champion Novi Detroit Catholic Central in district finals.
Lucas Mayo, Brighton’s director of energy and conditioning, reminds the gamers of the 2025 losses day-after-day within the weight room.
“It is always in our ear,” D’Agosta stated. “It is always fuel for getting up that extra rep, an extra set. It is like a fire in the gut. You’ve got to push through and do it for your team, not yourself.”
They have key items returning in any respect three ranges on each side of the ball, headlined by Carlson as a two-way pressure up entrance. D’Agosta shall be within the backfield for a second straight yr alongside top-of-the-line working backs within the state, junior Dominic Nauss, and has high returning targets Jayden Ciponaer and Jamo Parsell out huge.
Ciponaer and Jaeden Byrd (Army) lead the secondary. Outside linebacker Brody Shannon is the highest returner on the second stage whereas junior defensive sort out Graydon Tomblin could have a key function up entrance as a three-year varsity contributor.
Overall, the Bulldogs return a half-dozen starters on each side of the ball and have a lot extra on the roster with enjoying expertise.
“We are excited,” Lemons stated. “We have some really gifted athletes. You put all of those guys together in one room and you should be pretty good. The question is, how much of a gap is there between them and that brotherhood that you have to have? Our season will be based on how bad they want it as a whole.”
They need to construct to some extent the place they can’t solely cling round with the CC’s of the state if one other playoff matchup pops up, however show they’re the bar for different groups to clear. They must show it on the sector after being picked second (behind Howell) of their newly formed divisions within the KLAA preseason coaches ballot.
“We want to get to the point where we can clear that bar with flying colors,” Carlson stated. “We want to be one of the best teams in the state and we are willing to work that hard for it. Seeing that level last year was something new for a lot of guys who hadn’t been smacked in the mouth like that. Having that humbling experience helps us stay level-headed and work hard.”
The two Dominics, D’Agosta and Nauss, could have a big say in the place Brighton’s bar finally ends up. D’Agosta has added between 35 and 40 kilos between his sophomore and junior yr, counting on a strict food plan of 8-10 eggs plus toast for breakfast and a protein shake earlier than mattress day-after-day.
Nauss completed second within the state at 190 kilos as a wrestler within the winter, following his 1,489-yard and 18-touchdown soccer season. Nauss has had the “greatest physical improvements” of anybody on the Brighton offseason this summer time, Lemons stated, setting him up for one more large season.
“It is going to be exciting to see where Dom Nauss ends up at the end of the season,” Lemons stated. “He’s a talented kid in the backfield. We’ve seen probably some of the greatest physical improvements from him.”
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Jared Ramsey covers highschool sports activities for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected].
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