SMHS FOOTBALL
Football season is back for the Rattlers who hit the field this week for fall camp in preparation for the 2025 season.
Head Coach John Walsh and his team have been anticipating the start of fall camp since the end of the 2024 season.
“We’ve been waiting on this day for a while,” Walsh said. “Watching these guys work with the intent that they worked at since last November, you can just see a feeling of relief that we’re here. We know we have a lot to prove, and we’re really anxious to prove it.”
The expectations of the Rattlers going into the 2025 season are sky high despite San Marcos’ record the last two seasons. Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine predicted San Marcos to finish in second place for district play and compete for the district title along with Cibolo Steele, New Braunfels Canyon and Buda Johnson.
With the expectations for the season continuing to rise, Walsh and the Rattlers are trying to remain focused in the present.
“We’re taking on that motto of the here and now,” Walsh said. “All we can do is take care of day one today. That sounds cliche, but we have a lot of talent. There’s a lot of upside to us and a lot of expectations, but we have to put that aside and we just got to focus on today’s practice. Right now, after the practice, we have to focus on making sure we’re hydrating right and then repeat again tomorrow.”
One of the strengths for the Rattlers will be their diversity on offense. Anchored by a strong offensive line headed up by seniors Nick Henry, Shavien Anderson and Lazareth Pavia, San Marcos will look to lean on a punishing run game with multiple options at running back. On top of the Rattlers running attack, San Marcos will also be dangerous through the air with senior Buck Steyn in at quarterback in addition to having wide receivers in senior Henry Harris, junior Jordan Lampkin and senior Jah’Marien Nichols.
“It’s going to be extremely multiple,” Walsh said. “With that offensive line, we’re going to be able to run the ball and we got six running backs that can run it with [Justin] Tardy, Donovan [Garcia], Shi Izayah [Young], [Colson] Geesee and [Cameron] Bundage. That’s six guys that can really go.
The Rattler offense will have a litany of offensive weapons and will look to be diverse in both the running and passing game. Daily Record photo by Colton McWilliams
“But when you look outside, we got a Division one quarterback and Division 1 receivers, so we’re going to be able to throw that ball, too. We’re going to be a problem for people so we just have to really concentrate on ourselves and execute the right way.”
With the Rattlers ability to be diverse in the offense in both the passing and running game, Walsh believes San Marcos offensively will be very dangerous.
“I’ve had some really good offices in my career, and there’s not really many years where I’ve had this many receivers, running backs and offensive linemen,” Walsh said. “I had it in 2010 and 2019 [at Denton Guyer], but, most of the time, you’re leaning heavy one way or the other. So it makes it really fun to make it really easy to call [plays]. For our opponents, it really keeps them from getting tendencies because we can mix it up so much.”
The Rattlers on defense will have look to by multiple on defensively headed up by Young, who has committed to SMU and senior Darrius Davis, who has committed to Texas State.
“You have to stop the run first,” Walsh said. “ I tell [Defensive Coordinator Josh] Allen on that over and over again, but we’re going to be multiple there, too. We’re going to play two fronts. I know as a play caller myself, I don’t like calling an offense versus the team that runs two fronts effectively. I don’t want junk defense, but we want to run two efficient fronts and do it well. Right now, it looks like we’re fitting pretty well at it.”
San Marcos will scrimmage Laredo United South 7 p.m. Thursday Aug 21 at Jourdanton.
The Rattler defense is expected to be diverse with the unit using multiple defensive fronts. Daily Record photo by Colton McWilliams
