EMPORIA, Kansas (WIBW) – Emporia State football held its 2024 media day at Welch Stadium on Sunday morning.
The 2024 season starts in less than two weeks and the excitement for the Hornets is rising.
This year, they will switch things up and start with a rivalry game, hosting Washburn on August 29th.
“I don’t know who the team down the street really is,” senior defensive back Jaaron Joseph said with a laugh. “They’re just worried about us, I’m not worried about them, I’m just worried about us. Us against them. Us against the world, really.”
You’d think a turnpike tussle to start the season would add some extra excitement for the boys, but they say it’s just business as usual.
“I always think everyone is ready to play the first game. Because think about it, you’ve been in training camp for three weeks or a little more and you’ve been playing against each other. It’s nice to see a different opponent in a different colored jersey, no matter who it is, because it’s the first game,” said head coach Garin Higgins. “It’s going to be different when we face our rival in the first game, which I think will be exciting, especially on a Thursday night.”
However, the Hornets are not yet sure who will start as quarterback at the beginning of the game.
The competition for the starting quarterback job is still wide open and there are four different guys who all have strong arguments in their favor.
One could argue that too much talent in a quarterback room is a good problem to have, even if it means first-team players have to work with more than one quarterback during fall camp.
“It’s weird not just catching them from Braden (Gleason) or just catching them from a quarterback. It’s a little different, and they all have their own strengths, maybe some of their own weaknesses,” senior receiver Tyler Kahmann said. “But they got a ton of reps with us, a ton of reps with everybody, so it was good.”
Although the boys have no problem with it, Coach Higgins hopes to figure it out sooner rather than later to get more reps.
“We’re just trying to get a little more consistency,” coach Higgins said. “I think the biggest thing for us is getting our guys together that are going to be there for the first game. We’ve got so many different units mixed and matched, different guys in there when we’re doing live drills or when we’re doing slugfests. We need to start getting some consistency.”
The Turnpike Tussle begins on August 29th at 7:00 p.m. at Welch Stadium.
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