By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

EDGARD – Last season’s West St. John Rams were the most inexperienced of football coach Robert Valdez’s four-year tenure at the school, but the 2011 edition of the team will bring back plenty of familiar faces.

Spring practice officially began Monday, and for 10 days the Rams and the rest of the state’s teams will get an early look at what will be on the field this fall.

Unlike last season, there figures to be few surprises in Edgard.

“We know what we have and we know what we are,” said Valdez. “We know we’re going to throw the ball to Jarius Moll and Lawrence Williams. We know we’re going to run Jeremy Jackson and Kylum Favorite. We’ll still be running a lot of spread, and we’re looking for a third wide receiver to emerge. This spring, we’re just trying to get acclimated again and install a few plays.”

That’s exactly what West St. John began to do Monday. Valdez said his team worked on a pair of running plays and three passing plays.

“We want to have four or five runs installed and perfected and five or six passing plays once this is done,” said Valdez. “We want to just start installing our base offense and defense, and increase the tempo at practice.”

West St. John will hold its spring game next Monday, an intrasquad scrimmage to be held in Edgard. As per LHSAA rules, teams can no longer scrimmage against other teams in the spring.

The offense will be triggered by sophomore Austin Howard, who got his feet wet a season ago and started a number of games at quarterback as a freshman. With the departure of senior Mark Wright, Howard will take over the lead. Moll again projects to be his top target after an All-Parish season, and will likely be utilized all around the field again as he was a year ago, returning, playing quarterback, wide receiver and defensive back.

Jackson emerged as a legitimate star in his eighth grade season, and could be in for even bigger returns as a freshman after an All-Parish season of his own. He and Favorite will run behind an offensive line anchored by junior Willie Youngblood.

“We’ve got a couple of new guys on the line, but we’ve got some nice size there right now,” said Valdez.

Defensively, Ronnie Feist leads the charge. Feist recently committed to LSU at its Junior Day and was one of the most dominant defensive players in the region last season, notching L’Observateur’s Parish Most Valuable Player honors on the defensive side of the ball.

The defensive end-linebacker won’t be alone, as juniors Dontre Turner and Steven Brignac come back at the linebacker and defensive line positions respectively. Linebacker Tristan Farnell and defensive back Justin Bethancourt are two other names Valdez said he’s counting on to play key roles.

Feist and Moll lead a group of 10 returning seniors.

“We need to solidify some things and fill some positions, but I have a lot of optimism,” said Valdez. “I expect us to do very well this season.”