Seaman football's Coach Swafford and senior class share special connection

TOPEKA (KSNT) - Seaman football is looking to build off last year's playoff run, while leaning on its senior leadership in 2024.

The Vikings class of 2025 were freshmen when head coach Jared Swafford got the job four seasons ago. He says he has a special relationship with the current group of veteran players, meaning his expectations for them to step as leaders in the wake of last year's graduates are high.

"If we want to be the program we really want to be, we should graduate great kids, and we did just that," Swafford said. "Within that you fill in with more great kids. And we do have a lot of guys coming back, especially in some key spots."

One point of emphasis for the Vikings in 2024 is finishing the close games they weren't able to last season. The other, is using continuity and veteran presence to their advantage.

The wins and losses come and go, but Swafford says getting to watch his players develop both on and off the field is 'why we do what we do."

"Just the development from a mental standpoint, the maturity," Swafford said. "Taking ownership of a program, doing a good job of filling in when you're supposed to, but now it's your program. You're helping run this thing."

Though there's only two days of fall practice in the books, he says his seniors are doing a 'phenomenal job'. The seniors are making a point to go out with a bang in their last run with the Vikings, showing their teammates what it means to leave it all out on the field.

"Everybody that's not working as hard, I'm going to get on them, I'm going to tell them how it is," senior middle linebacker Hayden Cummings said. "They better start working hard, everybody should work the same amount. We're all working for the same reason."

That reason? It's a simple answer for senior quarterback Max Huston.

"This year... looking to win it all," Huston said of the team's goal. "We've got most of our guys back. We're ready to win, that's what we want to do. And I think this group here could most definitely go out and win a state championship."

Seaman opens its 2024 campaign on the road against KC Piper on Sept. 6.