CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Kyle Knock has a lot of bounce and even some dance in his step this year.
Knock, in his second season as the head football coach at Prairie, is feeling much better about things this year after finishing 5-5 in his first season.
“We didn’t know what we were doing at this point last year. The kids didn’t have a plan. The offense was new, the defense was new,” Knock said. “I told him the other night I said ‘every time at this point last year, I was like are they ever going to understand this?’”
Right now we are light years ahead of where we were. They run the offense for a year. They run the defense and expectations to go with that.
Knock lost a lot of seniors from last year, but they still have a lot of talent, like state hurdles champ Quinton Alexander – who is lighting fast at defensive end – and state long jump champ T.Y. Pour, who will go both ways.”
“At DB, I like to go get the ball, but an offense I like to have the ball,” said Pour. “I just like playing ball and being around the ball. (Next year) 24 feet, another state championship.”
The Hawks will be extremely young this season, but those young guns can play.
“We are going to be young. We might be the youngest team I’ve ever seen in 5A football,” Knock said. “We have a lot of sophomores that are going to help us, but I do feel like we’ve made some strides at each position.”
“I’ve seen the difference in the atmosphere with our younger classmen coming up. It’s been a complete shift from what it was last year,” said senior lineman Roby Swartzendruber. “We just have a lot more energy.”
Once again, Prairie will play one of the top schedules in the state taking on powers like Southeast Polk, Ankeny, Pleasant Valley and Bettendorf.
“Our schedule is pretty hard,” said Pour. “We have one of the hardest in the state, Southeast Polk, Ankeny. They’re just people like we’re people. They’re Iowan, we’re Iowans. We live on different sides of the state, we’re going to go out and compete just like they will.”
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