By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– Kellen Bowman went through his bumps and bruises as a sophomore last season. But it’s made him better now entering his junior season.
There’s more confidence with the playbook, working on his reads and understanding the protections he needs against what defenses may be throwing his way. And this Summer, with the 7-on’s like they had on Tuesday against North Salem, West Albany and Sherwood plus with the Oregon Camp, it’s just giving Bowman those important reps that will hopefully bridge 2024 into 2025.
“It’s more reps. Reps, reps, and reps. 7-on-7, it’s just reps to get better to learn the plays more and seeing someone else more than your own team, I think it’ll be good for us. We got a lot of young guys to get some good reps, too. I won’t be surprised if we got some young guys stepping up this year,” said Bowman. “I feel a lot more confident coming into this season, especially having one year of Varsity experience under my belt. It really helped me (prepare to) help this team for my next two years here.”
Bowman wasn’t the only young player to get some reps last Fall as the Saxons were overall a young squad in 2024 under first year Head Coach Josh Vanlue. South Salem went 2-7 last season and two of those seven games by one point.
For Ben Greer, one of those sophomores who had to step up, there were some nerves stepping into the Varsity lineup at Receiver and Linebacker, but he knew it was a good foundation year for him to build from for this year.
“I was definitely a little timid last year because it was my first year on Varsity, I was one of the younger guys out there. But it for sure helped me get more experience,” said Greer.”It was a big year, we had a lot of young guys and we had some guys graduate, but I think it was just a prep year…it was a learning year for sure I’d say.”
With July wrapping up and August on the horizoning, meaning that the season is slowly approaching, time is closing in on the 2025 season for South Salem, and what they are hoping is for another strong season.
“We just need to hone in on our fundamentals and learn our plays because we have a tough offense for sure,” said Greer.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
