The Lakeland football team is coming off a 9-2 season in 2013. The Dreadnaughts won nine straight games before losing to Kathleen in the Class 7A District 5 championship. They then loss to Kissimmee Osceola in the first round of the playoffs.
The Dreadnaughts, will once again be young, but are wiping the slate clean to begin the new season.
"This is a new day, a new season and new kids," said head coach Bill Castle. "We have a lot of young kids out here. We have something like 20 freshman that are going to be sophomores."
"So we are going to be young again. It's just trying to take it one practice at a time and get better each and every day."
One area where they will have some experience is at quarterback. They return senior Aaron Johnson under center. Johnson says fans will see a few new wrinkles in Lakeland's offense.
"This year we plan to put on a show," said Johnson. "Running the ball. Throwing the ball. Last year you didn't see that much passing, but this year expect something new."
Lakeland is especially young on defense. Nevertheless, they are hungry.
"Expect a real fast paced defense with real hard hitting and physical contact," said strong safety Carter Purcell.
Lakeland will play Venice on the road for their spring game next Friday.