DesotoExplorer.com

On consecutive possessions for De Soto's football team during 7-on-7 action Monday night against Eudora, all three Wildcat quarterback candidates - Daniel Peterson, Jeff Bowen and Logan Clark - threw interceptions.

Some were a product of receivers not catching passes, while others resulted from miscommunication between the signal callers and receivers.

But whatever the cause for the turnovers, it lent even more credibility to the fact that it is somewhat unclear who will be under center for De Soto when the Wildcats open their 2008 season.

Recently graduated Erik Hill was the quarterback a year ago, and he took nearly every snap.

Clark was the backup behind Hill, while Peterson and Bowen have recently began to take snaps as well.

"Peterson throws the ball really well," coach Brad Scott said. "Then (Bowen) is very athletic and can really do some things with the football in his hands."

Whoever ends up taking the majority of the snaps for the Cats, there is plenty of time to experiment with players at different positions as the coaches begin to try to plug the right personnel into the right positions.

That's where offseason workouts enter into the picture, and Scott said he's been very happy with the participation and turnout for the workouts.

"It's going really well. This is by far the most kids we've ever had out for football, numbers-wise, so that's good," he said.

The team recently went to the Pittsburg State University team camp, which consisted of 12 teams running through practices and playing padded, controlled scrimmages between teams.

"It was a chance to see which kids are ready to step up for us and play some varsity football on Friday nights and really kind of test out where kids are from last year," Scott said. "It gets us a chance to rep our stuff, and anytime we can get competitive repetitions in what we're trying to do, we figure that's good for us."

De Soto will continue to get reps running offensive passing plays and defensive coverages for the next three weeks, when the 7-on-7 league ends. Scott said although different teams hold different philosophies on what to employ while competing in 7-on-7 leagues, his team would continue to run the packages it will use during the season.

So, for instance, whereas some teams were in a prevent defense Monday night, De Soto ran its base defense with the same position responsibilities as the defense it will use in the fall.

That may stake the Cats to a disadvantage in the league, but being familiar and comfortable with the Cats' packages is more important to Scott than winning meaningless 7-on-7 scrimmages.

"We want our kids to get good at what we do. We understand that puts our kids in a bind in some spots, but we also understand our ultimate goal is to make ourselves better for the fall," he said. "We're trying to get our kids comfortable with what we do and do it well."

De Soto tied Baldwin in the first scrimmage Monday and lost to Eudora in its second.

There is expected to be anywhere from 60 to 80 players out this year, and around 50 of those are between their sophomore and senior years. And with the work his team has gotten in so far this summer, Scott is feeling optimistic about the upcoming season.

"We feel like we're in a pretty good spot right now in the summer," he said. "But the kids also understand they have a lot of work to do to reach our goals next season."