Wright City football Head Coach Jeff Sargent is preparing for something this fall that he hasn’t had in the past.

Depth at the quarterback position.

Senior Sean McDonald returns after completing 83 of 200 passes for 1,123 yards last fall, but Sargent isn’t shying away from a potential quarterback battle in August.

“Sean is the guy right now, but we have a lot of depth right now, and we’ve never had depth,” Sargent said.

McDonald averaged 20 attempts per game last season in a pass-happy offense that scored 14.9 points.

The offense was sporadic throughout the season, scoring seven points or less five times but scoring at least 23 points four times.

Sargent hopes a heightened focus on preparation will help his offense this year.

Tuesday, Sargent was reminded of last season’s struggles early in a joint practice with Warrenton.

“We were a little sloppy and came out a little slow, but it seems like we always come out a little hesitant at first and then start doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” he said. “We want to start quick and that’s one of the things we want to focus on this year. We want to get in the right mindset and be ready right off the bus. You can’t wait and see what happens, because when you do that the competition will run right past you. When we step off the bus, we better be the ones to take the fight to them.”

To Sargent, everything is tied together, starting with depth.

Backup quarterback Trevon Holmes received reps at quarterback Tuesday, and he is expected to play alongside McDonald this fall.

Last season Holmes completed two of seven passes for 53 yards.

“Trevon helps us out a lot, and he’s going to get reps at quarterback in games because he’s a different type of player than Sean is,” Sargent said. “He’s a little shiftier, and Sean is like a running back playing quarterback. When he’s on, he’s on. When he drops his elbow and things get a little inaccurate, then we have a lot of issues. We’re just trying to figure out ways to make sure he’s always on, and  that goes back to starting fast and getting off the bus ready to play. I think that philosophy is going to help him.”

Sophomore Brendan Logan and freshman Matthew Dunning have always impressed Sargent.

“Dunning’s throwing ability is great,” he said. “He needs to work on his footwork and he needs a lot of studying with the playbook to understand what the reads are. But looking at everything, we’ve got four guys I trust.”

Sargent hopes the depth at quarterback will help make everyone a little better heading into the fall.

“Depth creates competition, competition creates a winning culture, a winning culture creates winning in the classroom and winning in the community,” he said, “and that’s what we want.”