This is the 24th of The Athlete's Connection's 30 football previews in 30 days leading up to the season-opening games Aug. 28. Today, Dave Purpura visits with Stratford coach Eliot Allen and several players to discuss the upcoming season.

Terrance Lloyd will be the first to admit much of what he learned as a defensive lineman came from former teammate Jimmy Burge.

That’s not to mention the now-senior at Stratford got his first offer from recruiters visiting to see Burge, and Burge’s current home – Missouri – is very interested in snagging Lloyd.

Lloyd, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound defensive end, got his first college offer as a sophomore when University of Houston coaches present to see Burge, who is a year older, were impressed with Lloyd but couldn’t even speak to him because he wasn’t old enough.

“I was excited but I didn’t really show it. I just stayed mellow,” said Lloyd, who is of that demeanor almost habitually but not on the field.

Lloyd made 90 tackles last year, 13 for loss and eight for sacks, in 13 games. The defensive spotlight will be on him as Stratford moves on without all-American quarterback Andrew Luck into the realigned District 18-5A.

“There wasn’t a lot of pressure on him to perform but he did (beside Burge). Now, he has the experience to step into a leadership role and he’s done it nicely,” Spartans coach Eliot Allen said. “Those guys feel like they need to win a ball game. Jimmy had that attitude and that spread to the guys around him. Terrance carries that with him now, the attitude that the defensive line controls the football game.

“He’s just long. That’s what the college coaches like about him. He doesn’t have to bend to scratch his knees.”

Lloyd and the rest of the defense, which has only one other returning starter in safety Jackie Simmons, will be counted on – especially early – to pace a team that returns only three offensive starters. The Spartans allowed 23.2 points a game in 2007, 30 or more three times in their last five games.

But the offense isn’t yet up to the level of that which averaged 31.5 points a year ago.

Not that Allen is worried, even though Stratford lost 61 letterwinners and 16 starters from last year’s 9-4 team.

“Right now I think we’re where we are every year,” he said before a practice earlier this week. “Offensively you struggle a little bit to get some consistency and routine to what we’re doing. I’ve seen some bright spots in the run game; it’s probably better than what we were at this point last year. We’re throwing our short game well; we just haven’t gotten into it enough to really know where we’re gonna be when the bullets start coming at us. We’ll know on Friday.”

That’s when Stratford will participate in a three-game scrimmage at Cinco Ranch with Cy-Fair and the Cougars. The regular-season opener is against MacArthur Aug. 29 at Tully Stadium, then the Spartans have an open week before non-district games against Spring and at Cypress Woods. The 18-5A opener is Sept. 27 at Tully against Alief Taylor.

“It’s two pretty good teams, so it’ll be a good measuring stick. The score doesn’t go in the newspaper, so we can mix and match with personnel and schemes and see what works for us. We’re looking forward to it.”In addition to Lloyd, the defensive line will feature junior nose guard Richard Burge – Jimmy’s younger brother – and tackle Corbin Harrell.

The secondary, featuring Simmons and 6-1, 210-pound senior safety Jerry Young among other, is as deep as it’s been in Allen’s seven-year tenure.

The offensive line, with Kevin McAndrews converted to center from converted linebacker, is wizened in front of whoever the starting quarterback will be, either Andrew Mitchell or Mark Benninger. Running back Rodney Anderson will thrive across the field; he rushed for 1,042 yards and 12 scores last year in addition to catching four touchdowns and amassing nearly 600 return yards.

“Last year I was just coming in and getting a few minutes here and there,” Anderson said. “I ended up doing a lot better than I expected. Then this year, I’m looking forward to being all over the field – maybe getting in on defense and playing a couple plays at quarterback.”

EXTRA POINTS
Allen touched on a few other topics, including Friday night’s scrimmage and the season-opening game:

On a three-team scrimmage: “It’s the first one I’ve ever done. It (having three teams) will lengthen it a little bit, but the unique thing is you’ll get to see two different teams play. Especially when you’re limited to one scrimmage (because they) play in Zero Week, it’s kind of nice. We’ll see two defensive fronts … and two styles offensively. It’s basically like having a second scrimmage.”

On playing in Zero Week: “This is our third year doing it. If it’s a younger team like we have this year, there can be some disadvantages. We like getting our kids out and getting them ready.”

STRATFORD 2008 SCHEDULE
Aug. 29: MacArthur, 7 p.m. (at Tully Stadium)
Sept. 13: Spring, 6 p.m. (at Tully Stadium)
Sept. 19: at Cypress Woods, 7:30 (at Pridgeon Stadium)
+Sept. 27: Alief Taylor, 6 p.m. (at Tully Stadium)
+Oct. 3: Memorial, 7 p.m. (at Tully Stadium, as home team)
+Oct. 10: at Hastings , 7 p.m. (at Crump Stadium)

+Oct. 17: Northbrook, 7 p.m. (at Tully Stadium, as visiting team)
+Oct. 24: Spring Woods, 7 p.m. (at Tully Stadium, as visiting team)
+Nov. 1: at Elsik, 6 p.m. (at Crump Stadium)

+Nov. 7: at Strake Jesuit, 7 p.m.

+ District 18-5A game

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