Although Whitney High football will not have the services of quarterback Hunter Rodrigues and one of the Capital Valley Conference’s best offensive lines, the program is looking ahead, not back.

In his second year, Wildcats head coach Paul Doherty said that although his new system is sophisticated and complex his players are rapidly picking it up.

“I think its greatest sophistication and complexity is its simplicity. So we have these kids committed and dialed in … to pick up the system and learn all of its nuances, and they’ve done a great job,” Doherty said. “And certainly the system can adapt around different talents and different players.”

Although Rodrigues and wide receiver Devin Brocchini have departed, Doherty feels the offense is malleable enough to compensate for annual personnel changes. The second-year coach said he has up to a dozen players who can fill the skill positions of his offense.

“(We’ll) try to do our best to spread the ball amongst all those guys,” Doherty said. “And once we find something that’s working week to week we’ll kind of stick with that and try to ride it out for as long as we can.”

Former Whitney player Tyrik Ceasar is back after spending his junior year at Roseville High. He was a solid backup quarterback for the Tigers in 2015, but Doherty said he has four candidates battling for the under-center job.

In his first year, Doherty’s ‘Cats were 6-5 and made the playoffs. His junior varsity program finished 8-1-1 and tied Del Campo for the CVC championship.

“That (JV) staff did a great job of picking up everything I was trying to install, to at least at that level, and using the same terminology and same language,” Doherty said. “We’ll hook up with that group and we’re right where we left off.”

Whitney’s gold-star group this season could well be its defense. Where last year it was surrendering 27 points a game, Doherty anticipates it will be considerably stingier this year.

Last year was a bit of a learning curve for the ‘Cats on defense, but it appears that curve has been straightened out this season.

“If you can get your kids to not only play in space, but play well in space, and play comfortably they have more success,” Doherty said. “We have a lot of guys back on defense, a lot of seniors, and it certainly will be the strength of the team this year.”

The offensive output may come down a notch without Hunter and the gang, but as the saying goes – offense wins games and defense wins championships.

Oak Ridge will visit Aug. 20 for a scrimmage with the varsity beginning at 9 a.m. with the JV and freshmen to follow.