CHARLES TOWN, W.Va – The 2023 season marked a year of transition for the Washington football program with Terry Rea taking over as head coach and implementing a style of play that clashed with what Patriot players and fans had grown accustomed to in recent years.
Now entering the second season of that transition, Rea is excited to see his team take the field not only with a better understanding of what it wants to do in the field but also increased roster numbers and a renewed commitment to offseason preparations.
“We have a lot of kids that have experience that didn’t have experience last year. We played a lot of underclassmen last year so we’re returning a lot of underclassmen that got a lot of playing time,” Rea said, “If you would have seen the offseason my first year, because I got hired that December, compared to this offseason, it was night and day.
After inheriting a team that had run the single wing offense under prior head coach Glen Simpson, Rea emphasized training his offensive line to develop the skills and conditioning needed to operate within his spread offense. He believes that group has turned a corner going into 2024.
“They had issues making calls all year trying to pick up blitzes because they weren’t used to the space. We’ve gone over all that all through our flex days in May, all through June. We’ve done it and talked about it in July. We’re going in now and going through it,” he said.
That line will be tasked with protecting a pair of quarterbacks that bring different abilities to the field and Rea is counting on to push one another as the season goes on. Senior Musselman transfer Michael Thompson is capable of being the true pocket passer Rea hopes can pick opposing defenses apart while sophomore Braylon Holmes has a tantalizing combination of athleticism and arm talent after playing substantial snaps in 2023.
“Bray (Holmes) is getting better. He was a freshman. We asked him to do a lot of stuff last year. He’s learning,” Rea said, “Having Michael Thompson transferring here is big for us because its helping Bray and he concepts the idea of reading the defense and he’s comfortable in our offense and the way we do stuff.”
Speed defines the rest of the Washington offense, led at the receiver position by Musselman transfer Isaah Beard and at running back by junior Tavon Jones.
On defense, new faces will dominate the front seven but the return of two-way standout Kojo Osafo-Mensah should help set the tone.
“Kojo coming back, he’s going to move over from the weak end to the strong end. We’re going to have a bunch of young guys proving their self. It’s a nose guard, defensive tackles and the other defensive ends,” Rea said.
The strongest group of returners on that side of the ball comes on the back end with safeties Cam Pritt, Camren Togans and Terry Rea III back in the fold along with a group of corners vying for playing time that are certainly not short on speed.
“We expect the kids to learn a lot. Last year, we had a lot of communication breakdowns. This year, we went through the summer and they did really well,” the elder Rea said.
Washington opens the 2024 season at home in Charles Town, facing Class AAAA foe Woodrow Wilson on August 20.
