Season Preview: Washburn football looks to build off young players' experience

TOPEKA, KS. (KSNT) - Riddled with injuries, Washburn football finished its 2023 season with a less-than ideal 2-9 record.

Despite the compiling losses, coaches and players never let that ruin their spirit. The team used a lot of last fall as a building block to play young athletes to get experience for the future.

"Trying to prove ourselves and just put on tape and prove to ourselves that we aren't a team that's 2-9," senior fullback Connor Searcy said. "That's not the Washburn way and that's not Washburn football."

Fellow senior Jordan Finnesy, who missed almost the entire 2023 season with an injury, says that being on the sideline made him realize what he wants the 2024 Ichabods to look like.

"The unity and all the guys coming together after those losses and just realizing the team that we want to be and what it's going to take to get there," Finnesy, a safety, said.

Head coach Craig Schurig took the blame when it came to playing younger, inexperienced players when his veterans went down with injury.

"One of the things we found out last year is if something happens, those guys got to be ready. And that's something on my part, I didn't do a very good job last year," Schurig said.

When starting quarterback Kellen Simoncic went down with a season-ending broken collar bone, true freshman Sam Van Dyne started the rest of the way.

Schurig says that if he had to name a starter today, Van Dyne would get the nod, but he considers it an open competition for the quarterback spot.