By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer

New Harmony football coach Jerrad Butler wants to go back in time. He hopes that he can convince Longhorns fans that 2007 isn't that long ago.

That's the last — and only — time the school made the football playoffs. Harmony made a deep run to the Class 3A regional finals, and Butler had a heavy hand in that success as the Longhorns’ defensive coordinator.

Fast forward to this spring, and Butler, one of the county's two new-but-not-so-new head football coaches (former offensive coordinator Mike Short at St. Cloud is the other) hopes to lead the Longhorns to the top of 7A District 6, stocked with all the county schools minus Poinciana.

After nearly four weeks of practice, the Longhorns will finally hit someone wearing a different color on Friday when they travel to Mount Dora for their spring game. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Butler won't be the only thing new around the program, although he was the head freshman coach the last two seasons.

There will be many new faces in the backfield this year, after quarterback Adam Harvey and running backs C.J. Clayton and Christian Acevedo, the top three rushers in the triple-option attack, graduated. On defense, the top five tacklers from a year ago moved on.

Harmony (4-6) last season saw its first losing record since 2004, the school’s first year, but, in its defense, the starting lineup was marred by injuries, including to Harvey and most of the offensive line.

Rising sophomore Alex Britton saw snaps last year at quarterback, and he's working with Sterling Hicks, another rising sophomore, under center this spring.

Austin Ocasio (320 yards, 4 TDs) is the top returning rusher, and Michael Santiago and Forrest Osborne also got a few carries last year.

Butler said the offensive schemes will change a bit to reflect new talent and different coaching philosophies.

“We're going to have more balance and be more multiple,” he said. “We'd like to throw it more often than we have the last couple of seasons, like we did when we were most successful.”

Butler's fingerprints will be all over the defense, but it won't be too complex.

“I just want us to be fundamentally sound, run to the football and tackle,” he said. “You hear all coaches talk about wanting to be opportunistic and creating more turnovers, but I want to make the offense's job easier.”

Butler said depth won't be a problem.

“The kids who will be seniors have been showing the leadership we need,” he said. “We've got over 120 kids out and that's just the JV and varsity, so (former) Coach (Dayne) Brown didn't leave the program in disarray.”

If the culture is changing under Butler, then Ocasio said the Longhorns have already started buying into it.

“It's a different environment and atmosphere. I feel really good about this team. We're working hard to come together like a family, and I can see more of it this spring. We feel like we can overcome adversity.”

Offensive tackle Terry Akers said the changes are making practices exciting, and therefore bearable.

“The tempo has been up more in practice. I'm having a blast,” he said. “You can see that everybody's paying the price now for the wins we want next season. This is a redemption year for us. We've heard all about the '07 team and we want to be better than them.”

With so many players on the practice field, many won't be able to play Friday. Butler plans a scrimmage just for the junior varsity.

“We'd love to have more preparation. We're just aiming to get a lot of young kids some reps,” he said. “They don't know what their strengths are yet.”

Note: There is a change for the spring jamboree at St. Cloud High Friday. Evans High pulled out, so the Bulldogs will play a game against Olympia High beginning at 7 p.m. There will be three varsity periods and one JV quarter.

The other games are unchanged. Osceola will host Lake Gibson, Orange City University visits Poinciana and Celebration goes to Auburndale on Thursday.

Friday, Gateway will host Lake Nona. All games start at 7 p.m.