There’s positives and negatives to being a high school at any class and at any level.

For those schools and football programs who are smaller respectively, a unique situation arises. The smaller schools often have smaller rosters which could mean better chemistry and team unity, but on the other side of the coin, it may mean double duty for various athletes playing both offense and defense. While some may look at the ladder as a negative, the ADM football coaching staff views the two way player as a positive and it is clearly expressed through new defensive coordinator Chris Rupe.

“You can look at it as a draw back, but you can also look at it as a huge huge benefit to the players as well. If they’re playing the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side of the ball, they’re creating a better overall knowledge of the game. As a linebacker, if you play linebacker and receiver, you’re going to have a good understanding of how to defend the routs but also how to run those routs into space and how to get open and that’s just one example of how playing both sides of the ball can really create that holistic player,” spoke a confident coach Rupe.

Now while having two way players doesn’t change the overall goal of a football program or what they want to improve on, there is a slight difference vs schools with just one way players as coach Rupe mentioned to Raccoon Valley Radio.

“Really whenever it comes to that (smaller schools vs. larger schools) it’s just a little bit about structuring practice on how you’re going to delegate offense vs defense with the coaching staff and how you’re going to ear mark the different times of practice, offense and defense with that,” spoke coach Rupe.

Coach Rupe and the ADM Tiger football team begins their second full official week of practice starting today.