Football Preview: Senior Rutherford Looking To Excel At Linebacker And Running Back Once Again

Posted: August 28, 2014

By KEVIN TRUDGEON

The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Landon Rutherford never expected to play both linebacker and running back last season.

In fact, the James Wood senior thought his main position was going to be at strong safety during summer practice.

But as it turned out, as valuable as Rutherford was in the defensive backfield, he was needed even more so in the front-7. And his role as the backup running back quickly became that of shared starting duties as the season went along.

The end result was Rutherford playing both ways extensively for the Colonels, and excelling in both roles.

The 2013 season may not have been much to write home about for the James Wood team as a whole — a second straight 1-9 year and lack of a playoff berth will do that — but Rutherford was one of the few silver linings.

Not only did he finish with a team-best 54 tackles from his inside linebacker position, but the Energizer Bunny in the No. 40 jersey also led the Colonels in rushing with 475 yards on 118 carries.

“He isn’t a selfish player, because he did whatever we asked of him last year,” said James Wood coach Mark McHale. “He never said he couldn’t learn this or he couldn’t learn that. He’s very coachable and he’s not selfish, which speaks a lot about his character. He was a big, big factor for us last year.”

Now the question is, can Rutherford do it all again?

The lone returning All-Northwestern District first team selection for James Wood — punter Willi Spears graduated — Rutherford will once again be asked to carry the load both on offense and on defense for the Colonels.

“It was tough sometimes last year because you’d get tired, by the end of the game your tongue was dragging,” Rutherford said. “But I like playing both ways and doing whatever I can to help the team win.”

Rutherford can have an even bigger impact this season if he manages to take better care of himself. After weighing in at 190 pounds at the start of last year, Rutherford wore down as the season went along.

Between his two-way starting duties and a virus he contracted midway through the season, Rutherford said he finished the season tipping the scales at less than 170 pounds.

“Last year I got sick halfway through the season and that didn’t help, and I lost a lot of weight just from playing a lot,” said the 5-foot-11 Rutherford. “I’m going to try and get up to 195 before the season starts if I can, and I’m going to lift more throughout the season to help maintain my weight better.”

A bigger, stronger Rutherford from start to finish should definitely boost a James Wood offense that managed just over 10 points a game and a Colonel defense that surrendered nearly 30 points a game.

The return of fellow starters Tyler Bishop, who also plays running back and linebacker, and Brady Hepner, who lines up at quarterback and defensive back, will give James Wood plenty of experience on both sides of the ball, but there’s no questioning the importance of Rutherford to the Colonels’ success.

“He takes great pride in being the captain out there of the defense and he works every day to get better,” said James Wood assistant coach Mark Weir. “He’s worked his tail off in the offseason to get ready [to play both ways] again and he’s definitely gotten bigger and stronger, he’s proven that in the weight room. He’s one of those kids you don’t have to worry about his effort, he’s going to give it every time.”

That all-out effort may not have resulted in many wins in the standings, but it certainly allowed Rutherford to fill out the stat sheet last season.

He scored the team’s first touchdown of the year and finished with 86 rushing yards on 14 carries in the season opener against Heritage, accounted for both scores and 80 yards on 13 carries in James Wood’s only win of the season — a 13-6 victory over Millbrook that snapped a 17-game losing streak — and had a team-high 18 tackles on the road against Broadway.

And then there were the things he did that didn’t show up in the box score.

“He really took on a leadership role for us and made all the pre-snap adjustments [for the linebackers and defensive linemen],” Weir said. “If the offense shifted to one formation or another, he was good at recognizing it and making the right call to get everyone where they needed to be.”

Rutherford will resume that role this season, and McHale stressed the importance of him having a full year of experience under his belt making the calls on the field.

After a season in which, according to Rutherford, the Colonels didn’t all get along and mesh together as well as they should have, teamwork and leadership has been a big focus this offseason for the entire James Wood team, but especially for their two-way standout.

“I’ve seen a big improvement from him. He’s a special player, a special person, and I expect him to be one of our top leaders and somebody the players will follow,” McHale said. “He influences other players because he’s shown them all the characteristics a leader should have.

“He’s always on time, he’s always doing it right in drills and going hard every play, he knows his assignment and where he’s supposed to be. And he does a great job out on the practice field of encouraging guys and picking them up verbally and motivating them.”

Being a team leader his senior year is important to Rutherford, but he knows that talking only goes so far and that eventually he will have to once again lead by example on the field.

A self-described “north-south” running back who doesn’t dance around in the backfield and a linebacker who “likes hitting people,” Rutherford said he focused a lot this offseason both on his conditioning and his open-field tackling to be an even bigger threat in his final year as a Colonel.

It’s unclear yet how far James Wood has come from its struggles of the past two seasons — the first test will come on the road at Heritage on Friday — but Rutherford has liked what he’s seen so far from his teammates and hopes to be a part of a few more wins this season.

“I think we’ve looked good in practice, we’re all definitely a lot stronger than we were last year and we’re a lot closer,” Rutherford said. “I think we’re going to be better, we just have to go out and give it our all on every play.”

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