Since winning the Class 6A state championship in 2021, the St. Xavier High School football program has struggled to find the same kind of success in the playoffs.
Tigers coach Kevin Wallace believed he had the state’s best team in 2022, but the season ended with a 10-2 record after a 22-21 overtime loss to Male in the second round of the playoffs.
Last season, St. Xavier struggled defensively against the stronger opponents on its schedule — allowing 31 or more points on five occasions (including all four losses) — and finished 8-4 after falling to Trinity 38-14 in the second round of the playoffs.
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As kickoff of the 2024 season approaches, Wallace’s main concern is up front, where only three starters return on the lines (two on offense, one on defense).
“We don’t have a whole lot of quality depth in either group,” Wallace said. “We have some guys with size who are capable, but it’s going to be a work in progress for a while.”
Still, the Tigers have plenty of experience and speed at other positions and expect to be dangerous come playoff time in November.
Here are three keys to the season:
Choosing a quarterback for St. Xavier football
The Tigers will face Floyd Central (Indiana) in their season opener Aug. 23, and Wallace said he likely won’t announce a starting quarterback until after his squad scrimmages Frederick Douglass on Aug. 16.
“We’re doing our due diligence in terms of recording everything and making our decision data-driven in terms of analyzing everything we can analyze going through summer practice,” Wallace said. “I think we have a leader, but we need to let it play out through our scrimmage.”
The contenders are senior Thomas Andriole (6-foot-4, 180 pounds) and junior Mason Trimble (6-1, 181).
Andriole was the No. 2 quarterback last year behind Trevor Havill and completed 26 of 35 passes for 381 yards and five touchdowns. Trimble completed 7 of 16 passes for 96 yards in varsity play, but his season was cut short in October because of an injury.
Wallace said Andriole and Trimble are dual-threat quarterbacks with solid arms. Andriole missed spring practice while playing lacrosse, allowing Trimble to get the majority of snaps.
“We were real comfortable with how (Trimble) played in the spring,” Wallace said.
Getting Marlon Harbin more involved for St. Xavier football
Junior Marlon Harbin is the Tigers’ top playmaker, and Wallace is reorganizing the offense in an attempt to get his star more touches.
“I don’t think we put the ball in his hands enough last year,” Wallace said. “We were moving him around in our sets, played him outside, and it allowed people to bracket coverage him. Everybody knew where he was at. I think we’ve done a better job of putting him in different spots that make him more difficult for people to dictate how to cover him.”
Primarily playing wide receiver, Harbin (5-10, 184) had a team-high 60 catches for 703 yards and six touchdowns last season. Wallace said Harbin will see more time at running back — “a little Deebo Samuel-like,” he said — this season.
“Going off what we’ve seen so far, it has a chance of being pretty productive for us,” Wallace said. “He can do so many different things.”
Harbin is expected to share carries with senior running back Manny Gray, who rushed for 575 yards and two touchdowns last season.
A second-team All-Louisville pick last season, Harbin has scholarship offers from Kentucky, Louisville, Miami (Ohio), Missouri State, North Alabama, Tennessee-Martin and Toledo.
Leadership on St. Xavier defense from Karsten Busch
The Tigers lost seven of their top nine tacklers to graduation but return one of the state’s top junior recruits in linebacker Karsten Busch (6-2, 221).
Busch posted 25 solo tackles, four tackles for loss, three sacks and one interception (returned for touchdown) as a sophomore and has offers from Bucknell, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Louisville, Purdue and Wake Forest.
Busch had been expected to play tight end last season before Wallace suggested a move, partially to help him with college opportunities.
“That’s just part of the recruiting world,” said Wallace, whose son, Ryan, is the tight ends coach at the University of Louisville. “If he’s a 6-2 tight end, he’s a dime a dozen.”
Busch gives St. X plenty of athleticism at linebacker, having been timed at 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash and qualifying for the Class 3A state track and field meet in the triple jump and long jump.
“He’s the type of young man that will do whatever you ask him to do,” Wallace said. “It took him a while making reads and figuring out how to get through traffic … but he picked up on it pretty quick. I think he’s going to be a much better player this year than he was last year.”
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Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Follow on X @kyhighs.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KHSAA football: Three keys for St. Xavier during 2024 season
