When a team is rebounding from a tough season, it's nice to start by building around a handful of talented leaders the rest of the group can look up to and lean on for help.
As the University of Charleston football team moves on from last year's three-win season, the Golden Eagles have that luxury on defense with ends James King and John Cominsky.
"In those two guys, I think we have two of the best defensive ends in all of Division II football," UC coach Pat Kirkland said. "Players follow the people who they respect and those two, not only by their actions off the field but the way they play too, have commanded that respect from their peers.
"When they say something, it matters [to their teammates]."
This spring the two have been among the unit's top leaders, using their experience to push the team forward after a rough 2016 campaign in which the Golden Eagles struggled to keep opponents in check thanks to several injuries.
King was among one of those players forced to watch from the sidelines, playing in just two games.
"It was really tough, and it's pushed me now that I'm healthy, because I know no one wants to go through that kind of year again," King said. "Our season went downhill, but the way we played wasn't us. That's not the way we've been taught to play, so our goal is to work hard and show people what we're made of."
One of the biggest assets that leaders like King bring to the table for this UC team, Kirkland said, is that attitude and the drive with which he's entered this offseason.
As the defense enters 2017 with a renewed sense of purpose and energy, players like that become more important than ever.
"Defense starts with an attitude, it starts with a mentality more than any scheme or anything like that," Kirkland said. "We've really established that with the leaders we have. To couple James' attitude and how he carries himself with John and [linebacker] Luke Sears and the other guys we have is a good mix. They just practice hard, they lead by example, and when you do that the young guys take note. That helps quite a bit."
Spring practice can be a crucial developmental stretch for the young players throughout the roster. They get these 15 practices to better learn the scheme, show they belong on the field and learn from some of those older players.
It's something that, if you put in as much effort as possible, can really pay off by the time the fall rolls around.
"It helps a lot, especially for the younger guys in the spring, because they can just kind of watch us older guys and see the technique and learn from things we've seen in games," King said. "That's how I learned as a young player - I watched and learned as much as I could from the upperclassmen so that I would be ready to jump in when I was called on."
Now that he's one of those seniors and is leading the charge for the team to get back to where it is used to be, King has embraced that leadership role.
He understands that it's something that is expected of him and that the group is depending on him to be that positive example for people to follow.
"It's part of what comes with the territory as someone who has been around. I think everybody expects you to take on that kind of role," King said. "I'm a senior and so I need to be someone guys can look up to and follow my example. If you come out and are lackadaisical then others will follow. That's not how we're going to get better as a team, so we have to get to work."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.