C.R. Kennedy determined not to have a repeat of 2024 season

CEDAR RAPIDS — When you have an uncharacteristically down season, everything is on the table.

There’s a lot of evaluating and reflection, self reflection. The possibility of major change becomes real.

Anything to avoid a repeat of a 3-6 record.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy football coach Brian White came to the conclusion that the biggest reason for the Cougars’ first losing season since 2014 was entitlement. Just because you almost always have success doesn’t mean you ALWAYS have success.

You’ve got to put in the work, do the little things properly on the field. All those sports-ish cliches.

“I tell you what, it’s different this year,” White said at a recent practice. “It’s a different mindset, it’s a different gear, it’s a different everything.

“It’s kids that want to excel, kids that want to play hard, kids that have a great attitude. Kids that last year, yes, we played a tough schedule, but you’ve got to win football games. You’ve still got to win, and we didn’t. So we want to flip that script.

“They had a great summer. We had great attendance all summer, a great camp (before official practice began). Kind of excited.”

This is the 12th season for White leading the Kennedy program. He is four wins from tying the school record for career coaching victories and five from breaking it.

For the first time in his tenure at the school, he brought in every incoming senior in the offseason for a one-on-one chat. He asked them about their goals for their final high school football go around and how they were going to go about attaining them every day in practice.

He demanded them to be 100-percent invested.

“We put a lot of responsibility on them, and they wanted it,” White said. “They asked for it. And so far they have been spot on with it.”

“I take last season super personal,” said senior safety Jackson Goslin. “We have a standard of excellence here. Going 3-6 and missing the playoffs, I took that really personal. It’s all I thought about our whole offeseason, whether I was training or playing other sports ... I’ve taken it upon myself to make sure this team is not the same team as last year. Just return to that standard of excellence and hopefully make a deep playoff run and compete for a state championship.”

Kennedy graduated its leading passer, rusher, receiver and tackler, but White insists there is no talent dropoff. New quarterback Will Woodring brings a rushing element to the position, and the Cougars have senior Dawson Dougherty at receiver, among others, who placed third in the 100-meter dash at this past season’s state track and field meet.

Senior tight end Deacon Kucera will be used as a Shaun Beyer type, White said, referencing the former Kennedy all-stater who caught passes, rushed and even threw the football at times. The Cougars should be strong up front offensively and might start a freshman there, believe it or not.

Kennedy gave up more than 25 points per game last season, another uncharacteristic statistic, though White feels confident in a return to form there with returnees such as Goslin and linebacker Henry Wilkes and the addition of transfer cornerback Jekhi Johnson, who moved in from Crete-Monee High School in the Chicago suburbs.

“I think the biggest thing is just to realize that (last season) was the past, that’s not our group anymore,” Woodring said. “Those were whole different players with whole different talents. Erase that. Learn from it, though. Keep it in the back of our minds, know it’s there, and use it to fuel us.”

Kennedy had the toughest schedule in Class 5A in 2024, and it’s daunting again this season, with top-10 teams West Des Moines Dowling, Waukee and Cedar Rapids Prairie on it. The opener Friday night at Dubuque Hempstead is very significant, as the Cougars lost last year’s to Dowling and never really recovered.

“I think as a team we are clicking way better than last year,” Goslin said. “I’m really excited to be in more of a leadership position. Senior year, I feel like our team is more under our control, and I really like that. I feel like last year, I love all those senior guys, but I feel like they could’ve done a better job of guiding the team and making sure we didn’t crumble from the inside.”

AT A GLANCE

Coach: Brian White (12th season; 73-40 at school and overall)

Top returners: S-Hybrid Jack Goslin, TE-LB Deacon Kucera, LB Henry Wilkes, L Lincoln Oltmann; WR Dawson Dougherty, RB Louis Smith, RB Damarian Orr.

Key games: Cedar Rapids Prairie, Sept. 5; Waukee, Sept. 12; West Des Moines Dowling, Oct. 3.

Keys to success: Improve defensively and replace skill guys offensively that graduted. Use last season’s disappointing record as motivation.

Comments: jeff.johnson@thegazette.com