Southeastern 7-on-7 Preview: Ryle Raiders

Published 8:45 pm Saturday, July 2, 2016

The Daily Citizen’s Southeastern 7-on-7 presented by AstroTurf has done well in bringing in talented schools from across the southeast, but has particularly developed a strong pipeline with the Bluegrass State. Kentucky powerhouses Bowling Green and Male have been mainstays in the tournament in recent years and Lexington Catholic had been part of the field.

This year, Ryle High School joins the mix as the latest Kentucky school to enter the field. The Raiders were 9-3 in 2015 and set school records averaging 38 points and 428 yards of offense per game.

Ryle coach Mike Engler said the tournament came highly recommended from the other Kentucky coaches.

“I know the coach at Male well and he speaks very highly of the tournament,” Engler said. “Bowling Green has done well there too and I used to coach at Lexington Catholic. I had left when they came before but all my buddies were still coaching there and they really enjoyed it.

“In Kentucky you can’t play in June so it’s hard to go to the qualifiers for the bigger tournaments. A lot of teams around here haven’t gone to a lot of seven-on-seven. But we are excited to take the team down south and see some team with some great athletes that can play.”

The season was a breakthrough campaign for Ryle, which had four losing seasons in the previous five years prior. The team was 2-9 in 2013 before hiring Engler. The Raiders improved to 5-7 in his first season before taking another leap forward last year.

Engler hopes the team is ready to take another step forward as he looks to create a championship mentality.

“The ultimate goal is to win a state championship,” Engler said. “Ten years ago Ryle played for a state title and lost to Louisville Trinity. It would be nice to get back to that and bring back that glory. But we believe the wins will come if you are running a program the right way, have disciplined players, have strong leadership, develop in the weight room and have fun.

“I walked into the weight room my first day and said we are preparing to play for a state championship. Some kids looked at me like ‘Do you think we can do that?’ I don’t want that. I want them to hear that and know they can do it. I don’t want them to be cocky, but I just want them to believe they are capable and that’s what we’re working towards.”

The Raiders are led by quarterback Tanner Morgan, who is one of the more highly touted signal callers in the Southeastern 7-on-7 field. Morgan has committed to Western Michigan, a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) school that competes in the Mid-American Conference. He didn’t have a shortage of options, however, as Morgan held offers from power conference schools in Louisville and Wake Forest.

“Tanner Morgan is an unbelievable quarterback,” Engler said. “He is a coach on and off the field and an unbelievable leader. He has free reign to check out into any play he wants. He committed to Western Michigan but turned down some big schools. He just fell in love with Western Michigan and (coach) P.J. Fleck.

“He finished in the top 4 in the Elite 11 quarterback camp in Atlanta and won the camp in Columbus against a kid going to Penn State and another going to Michigan. I hate to say it, but if he was taller than 6-1, Michigan and all the other schools would be after him. He has a big time arm and when you take that with his leadership and the ability to read defenses, you don’t have to do much coaching.”

The Raiders return several playmakers around Morgan as well, including wide receivers Bryce Ashley and Zach Cusik and running back Jack Chisholm. Ryle’s defense returns six starters as well from a unit that forced 24 turnovers in 2015.

RYLE RAIDERS

Ryle, Ky.

Coach: Michael Engler

Colors: Black and orange

2015 record: 9-3, lost to Simon Kenton 41-23 in Class 6A regional semi-finals

KEY PLAYERS: QB Tanner Morgan (Sr., 6-1, 205), WR Bryce Ashley (Sr., 5-11, 185), DB/WR Cooper Scherr (Sr., 6-3, 185), LB Collin Demetrakis (Sr., 6-0, 205), TE Jake Long (Sr., 6-1, 215)

WORTH KNOWING: Ryle is entering its third season under coach Michael Engler. The Raiders were 2-9 the year before Engler took over, improved to 5-7 in 2014 with wins in five of the last six games and finished 9-3 in 2015. Ryle began the 2015 season 6-0. … The Raiders finished as the state runner-up in 2006, losing the state championship to Louisville Trinity. … Ryle won the “Bombs Over Bluegrass” 7-on-7 tournament and finished in the top 5 in the University of Kentucky 7-on-7 tournament in 2015. … This is the Raiders’ first trip to Southeastern 7-on-7 and they become the fourth school from the Bluegrass state to travel to Dalton for the tournament, joining Lexington Catholic, Male and Bowling Green. … Ryle quarterback Tanner Morgan has committed to Western Michigan. He had 2,674 yards passing and 21 touchdowns in 2015 and ranks in the top 20 in both categories for his career in state history. … The Raiders return eight starters on offense and six starters on defense from 2015.