Our first game day of 2024 is finally here! And that means it’s depth chart week, where players get opportunities to validate earned playing time. The ‘earning’ goes as far back as November, when the team began it’s off-season program. For most, the Lakes game will reveal strengths and areas for growth. Each week presents new challenges.
On paper, the varsity roster is veteran — of 70 total players, 40 are seniors. A significant number are three-year varsity guys. They’ve seen a lot of reps in competitive varsity games. This is overall the most experienced group of players the Scouts have had since 2021, when they won 10 games and made it all the way to the Class 6A semis. But more game experience doesn’t automatically mean this Scouts team will surpass last season’s win total of six. The season has to play out and while this year’s group might have a lot of familiar faces, it’s a different team than 2023 or 2022.
Friday night will be the first test.
Here’s how Lake Forest’s positional depth chart stands out heading into tonight vs Lakes (embedded links are to a player’s football-specific social media feed):
Quarterback
Danny Van Camp — Senior
Karl Nagel — Senior
Braden Hoskins — Junior
Sufyan Hussain — Junior
Analysis: About as cut and dry a positional decision as it gets. Van Camp enters year three as a varsity quarterback, 2023 being his first full time season, starting all 11 games. Van Camp is lighter but more fit as an athlete (6-4, 225) heading into 2024 with another off-season under his belt. Rarified air for a Scouts program that hasn’t had a quarterback return after being the full time starter the previous season in nine years (Danny Carollo in ‘15). It’s Danny’s moment in Scouts history. Time to go lead his guys.
The back up role is in flux. Nagel held down that spot last year and is in the mix again. Hoskins and Hussain shared reps at the JV level. If Lake Forest is in a competitive position to remove Van Camp Friday night, any of those three could get reps.