Football's in the air at Alumni Field

It is a summer jammed full with football for Mount Anthony Union High School graduate Gavin Johnson.

The Assumption College sophomore is at Rutland High School’s Alumni Field this week on the staff of the Vermont All-Star Football Camp. Next week, he will be at South Burlington when the camp shifts to that location.

When he is not busy working at the camp. he is driving back and forth from Bennington to Worcester, Massachusetts where he works out with other members of the Assumption football team.

When Johnson is home, Vermont All-Star Football Camp owner Chris Redding is training him, putting him through his paces for a season where he hopes to be on the field more often for the Greyhounds this fall.

“I am moving up the depth chart. Hopefully, I will be in the rotation. There is a senior receiver ahead of me,” Johnson said.

Johnson said that St. Johnsbury Academy graduate Jake Cady will be the starting quarterback for Assumption this season so there is the possibility the Vermont connection will hook up for some completions.

“We have gotten in some good work together,” Johnson said of Cady and himself.

Johnson said he had a good spring game and is hopeful that and his work this summer will translate into some appreciable minutes on the field this season which kicks off with a home game against Kutztown University on Sept. 3.

That will be a big test. Kutztown made it all the way to the NCAA Division II quarterfinals where it lost 30-28 on a Hail Mary pass by Shepherd University.

The Greyhounds also play Merrimack, an FCS program, this season.

“We are all very excited to play against a Division I opponent,” Johnson said.

Johnson and the Greyhounds begin camp on Aug. 7.

SHORTLE AT MRRutland’s Jim Shortle is on the Vermont-All-Star Football Camp staff this week, his 21st season with the camp.

He will be on new Mill River Union High School head coach Phil Hall’s staff working with the quarterbacks, receivers and defensive backs.

Part of the agreement with Hall is that Shortle will be able to serve as Jack Healey’s analyst on Little East TV for Castleton University home football games. He will only miss two Mill River games and, of course, the TV gig will not impact practices at all.

NOTES: Rutland High will have a couple of scrimmages before its season opener at Alumni Field against Essex. The Raiders will travel to New Hampshire for a three-way session with Exeter and Nashua South. The other scrimmage will be against Brattleboro with the site to be determined. ... Lindy’s preseason football magazine has ranked Lake Forest of Illinois No. 25 in its national poll. Middlebury Union High graduate Bode Rubright is a tight end for Lake Forest. ... Mill River’s Hall and Otter Valley’s J.T. Tolar are both on the staff this week. The new coaches will meet in Week 2 when Mill River hosts Otter Valley on Sept. 10. Both coaches make their debut on the road on Sept. 3. Otter Valley is at Rice and Mill River at Oxbow.

tom.haley

@rutlandherald.com