Countdown to kickoff: Bigger roster, stout line give Wolves confidence to chase playoff dreams

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PLEASANT HILL, Ill. — Numbers are up, and so is Mike Giles’ confidence.

The Pleasant Hill/Western veteran football coach expects the Wolves to immerse themselves in the playoff hunt.

“You hate to jinx it, but I think we’ll be right up there,” Giles said. “This isn’t the same team as last year, that’s for sure.”

After six straight seasons with one or zero wins, what has Giles so optimistic? The answer to that question begins up front where the Wolves’ offensive line features four seniors, three of which have started since their sophomore season.

“They are the real deal,” Giles said.

Those seniors — right tackle Rowdy Rodhouse, right guard Bradly Smith, left guard Carter Jones and left tackle Beckett Peebles — have helped sophomore center Bing Lowe assimilate to the offensive line after playing running back as a freshman.

“We’re trying to work him up to speed,” Smith said of Lowe. “He’s got the ability to do everything. He’s fast, he’s quick, he’s strong. He just needs to get used to playing up on the line.”

At 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, Lowe is by far the Wolves’ smallest starting offensive lineman. Jones is the next smallest at 5-foot-11 and 215 pounds. Rodhouse, Smith and Peebles all tip the scales at 250 pounds or more, with Smith the largest at 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds.

As Giles made clear, that’s mostly muscle weight.

“These guys aren’t pulling around a lot of fat,” Giles said. “There aren’t any fatties on that line.”

Advanced PE class helps Wolves build strength

A key contributor to that added muscle has been Pleasant Hill’s advanced physical education class, taught by Pleasant Hill graduate and former Quincy University linebacker Grant Peebles.

“I’ve been really pleased with the work the kids did with him in the class,” Giles said. “We had a really good turnout.”

For Smith, this class has been instrumental in his return from a knee injury he suffered in Week Two of last season.

“That PE class has really helped me recover and get stronger from it,” Smith said. “My squat went up 40 pounds last year even after having the knee injury. I wasn’t able to lift then until probably December.”

The work in this class carried over into the Wolves’ team weight lifting sessions over the summer. Giles said they averaged about 85 percent participation, a number that has been difficult to achieve in seasons past with smaller rosters of around 22 players compared to this year’s roster, which has 28.

“It wasn’t always like that,” Giles said. “It used to be that kids wouldn’t do as much because they knew they were going to play no matter what. When you’ve got 22 kids, you don’t necessarily have to (put in that extra work). These kids want a little more. In that way, I’m excited for them.”

Dolbeare brings toughness, leadership to QB position

The phrase “tough as nails” can sometimes get thrown around loosely, but with Wolves senior quarterback Brody Dolbeare, those three words describe Dolbeare perfectly in Giles’ eyes.

“He’s almost like having a fullback at quarterback,” Giles said. “He’s not as fast as some of the quarterbacks I’ve had, but he’s hard to tackle.”

Add fine-tuned passing skills to that toughness, and Dolbeare may have something special brewing in his final act with the Wolves.

“My throwing is getting a lot better. It’s starting to shape up,” Dolbeare said.

Smith has a front row seat to Dolbeare’s willingness to take — and more often than not deliver — hits to any defender who crosses his path.

“He’s not scared of contact at all,” Smith said. “Even if it’s somebody coming off the edge, he’ll hit him.”

Some extra weight helped take Dolbeare’s phsyicality to a different level last season, but he’s dropped about 15 pounds since then. Dolbeare feels like he’s close to that sweet spot in combining quickness and strength.

“Last season, I put on 30 pounds. I got up to like 200 pounds. I was big, strong and tough, but I got too big and got real slow,” Dolbeare said. “This year I’m down to like 185, and I’m feeling a lot better, a little bit quicker.”

As much as Dolbeare leads by example with his attention to detail, his vocal leadership stands out to Smith.

“Through the summer, he was helping right along with the coaches trying to keep everybody motivated and keep everybody going,” Smith said. “Even with things that didn’t involve the coaches, he would get us out, like we would all do team things just with the players, and the whole time, he was keeping us going and making sure we were giving it our all.”

Dolbeare won’t have to do it all himself, though. Jax Fesler, a 6-foot-3 freshman, and 5-foot-6 senior Rye Utterback will serve as Dolbeare’s top two receiving targets.

“(Fesler) is our tall guy on the outside, that deep threat,” Dolbeare said. “(Utterback) is shorter, but he’s quick. He’s got good hands, so those hitches, those outs, those quick routes, he’s going to really help us on those.”

If those two receivers are covered, Dolbeare can dump the ball to junior fullback Rydor Rodhouse with confidence.

“(Rodhouse) has been looking really good for us coming out of the backfield and hitting those quick outs and those flat plays,” Dolbeare said.

Many of those offensive weapons will also play defense, and while Giles expects his squad to stay true to the Wolves’ tradition of physicality, the sum of this year’s parts is greater than Giles has seen in most of his 19 years at the helm.

“Teams will tell you, even in our down years, we’re going to come out and hit. Teams know that,” Giles said. “Whenever you play us, you know you’re going to take some hits.

“We still have that chip on our shoulder. Now we just have a little more to back it up.”