Blue Valley had tremendous success in the first two football seasons under coach Eric Driskell.

The Tigers won the Kansas Class 5A state championship in 2010 and finished second last season.

At quarterback is junior Logan Brettell (6 feet and 170 pounds) as the replacement for Kyle Zimmerman, who passed for 4,667 yards in the two successful seasons and now is at Northwest Missouri State.

Although the Tigers lost 25 other seniors to graduation, Driskell has high hopes.

“We are excited about the season and we have high expectations,” he said. “We have a great group of seniors that provide us great leadership.”

The Tigers return three offensive starters in senior tackle Clay Rhodes (6-6, 265), wide receiver/tight end Andrew Reinkemeyer (6-4, 211) and senior center Austin Hickman (6-1, 246). Senior Ryan McNerlin (5-8, 181) started on defense last year, but now is a running back.

Also, junior wide receivers Mikey Henson (6-3, 184) and Tristan Perkins (6-3, 174) played significant minutes last fall.

Blue Valley has three starters back on defense in Rhodes at defensive end, senior free safety Coles Combes (6-2, 198) and senior defensive tackle Grady Brock (6-2, 247).

Five other seniors stepping into starting roles are offensive guard Jacob Franey (6-2, 245), cornerback Josh Chalker (6-1, 170), defensive lineman Johnny Middleton (6-1, 221), outside linebackers Jacob Wormington (5-10, 173) and Bryan Nugent (5-11, 184).

“We are very pleased with where we are currently and know that we need to improve each day to be where we want to be at the end of the season,”

Driskell said.