Maize South wide receiver Stratten Ebers said the excitement for the upcoming football season is rooted in Friday night lights and the bond with his teammates.
“In this upcoming season I’m most excited to be playing back under the lights with my boys and the atmosphere of a Friday night football game,” Ebers said.
Ebers is coming off a productive junior campaign in which he emerged as one of the team’s top targets, finishing with 87 receptions for 850 yards and 12 touchdowns in nine games.
This offseason, he said his focus has been on improving his overall athleticism and expanding his role as a receiver.
“This offseason I have been training pretty much every day doing our high school summer workouts with wide receiver trainings, getting bigger, faster and stronger,” Ebers said.
While he already established himself as a reliable short and intermediate route runner last season, Ebers said his emphasis now is becoming a deeper threat on the outside.
“This year I feel like I need to work on being a deep-ball threat,” he said. “Last year I was running shorter routes. This season I have been moved to outside, so everything I train and work on is for being a more deep-threat type of receiver, as my short game is already there from last year.”
Ebers is not shy about his individual goals heading into the season, including another statistical milestone after leading the state in receptions a year ago.
“This season I want to lead the state in a statistic,” he said. “Last year I did with most receptions. I’m gonna try to go for a different one this year.”
Still, he said team success remains the top priority.
“For a team goal, obviously a state championship,” Ebers said. “I want our team to go on a big run because I’m saying this now that our team is underlooked and we will be showing that we shouldn’t be.”
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