The NKyTribune will be offering focused coverage of NKY high school football throughout the season, thanks to support from St. Elizabeth Healthcare Sports Medicine. See all our pre-season features on each of NKY’s 21 high school football teams and follow our coverage, including roundups each week at Northern Kentucky High School Football.
By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
When Ludlow head football coach Rick Hornsby decided to turn over the offensive play-calling duties to one of his assistants this season, he knew the perfect man for the job. Rob Keller, a member of the Panthers coaching staff even before Hornsby took charge of the program in 2008, was well qualified to take on the new role of offensive coordinator.
“He’s been my right-hand man around here and I just felt if he ever wanted to do it he deserved the opportunity,” Hornsby said. “It’s tough staying at a small school because of (limited) numbers and everything, so when you’ve got guys like that who are loyal to you you’ve got to try and reward them.”
Ludlow also has a new defensive coordinator this year. The coach who had that responsibility last season did not return so Greg Taphouse got the job. He played college football at Morehead State University and coached on the high school level in Georgia before joining the Ludlow staff last year.
This is the first time Keller or Taphouse has been in a coordinator position. They’re both fired up about the opportunity, even though Ludlow has only 26 players involved in its varsity football program.
“It’s fun working with the whole defense as one,” said Taphouse, a physical fitness coordinator for the Ludlow school system. “We only lost one starter off the defense so everybody else we need is back and we’re looking for big things.”
Keller, the team’s offensive line coach for the last 13 years, has a mixture of experienced veterans and talented newcomers to mold into an offensive unit. He already decided to move last year’s starting quarterback, Devlin Carter, to wide receiver and has two players vying for the vacant position. The new quarterback candidates are sophomore Justin Blackburn and senior Kalib Mitchell, the starting point guard on Ludlow’s basketball team who decided to give football a try this year.
“We’ve got those other kids competing for the quarterback spot, and competition is always a good thing,” said Keller, an art teacher at the high school. “So far, our skill positions look good and on the line we’ve got three returning varsity starters back. So it’s a good situation for me to walk into, but it’s still early. We’re not hitting yet and everybody looks good without the pads on.”
Last year, the Panthers lost in the first round of the Class 1A playoffs and finished with a 6-5 record. It was the program’s first winning season since 2004. There are fewer players on the roster this year so many of them will be seeing action on both sides of the ball.
The team’s lack of depth makes it harder for the new offensive and defensive coordinators to work with their units during practice. But that’s the way it’s always been for the small-school football program.
“The majority of our guys will go from offense to defense,” Taphouse said. “That will be our biggest struggle, but we’ve got the right guys for each position so we should be all right.”
The Panthers don’t have the size to dominate opponents. They’ll rely on speed more than anything else, especially on defense.
“We’ve got to be fundamentally sound and just beat people off the ball,” Taphouse said. “We do that, read our keys and know our responsibilities, I believe we can play with anybody. We’ve just got to be disciplined.”
On offense, the Panthers will likely use spread formations to offset their lack of size up front. That’s something that worked well against many of their opponents last season.
“We’re pretty similar (on offense) to what we were last year,” Keller said. “There’s really nothing new. Everybody would like to be balanced, but some games we’ll run more than we’ll pass. To me, it’s a weekly thing based on who we’re playing and what their strengths and weaknesses are.”
LUDLOW PANTHERS
COACH: Rick Hornsby (26-52 in seven seasons).
2014 SEASON: 6-5 record, lost in first round of Class 1A playoffs.
THIS SEASON: Class 1A, District 4 with Beechwood, Bellevue, Dayton.
2015 SCHEDULE
Aug. 21 – NEWPORT, 7 p.m.
Aug. 28 – at Bracken County, 7 p.m.
Sept. 4 – at Paris, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 11 – GALLATIN COUNTY, 7 p.m.
Sept. 18 – at Trimble County, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 25 – WILLIAMSBURG, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 2 – BROSSART, 7 p.m.
Oct. 8 – at Dayton, 7 p.m.
Oct. 16 – at Beechwood, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 23 – BELLEVUE, 7 p.m.
See the previous prep football stories here:
Campbell County High School
Highlands High School