By Steve Carpenter
Hutchinson CC Sports Information Director

When Hutchinson Community College football coach Drew Dallas accepted the 2021 Gene Stephenson Coach of the Year award presented by the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission in July, the Hall of Fame Wichita State baseball coach had some advice for the Blue Dragon head coach.

Stephenson offered this advice after Dallas led the Hutchinson Blue Dragons to an undefeated season and a NJCAA national championship in his first season as head coach.

Stephenson's words of wisdom? ... Retire!

Needless to say, Dallas is still the head coach of the Blue Dragons as the 2021 season opener has arrived. Also, needless to say that the Blue Dragons will be on everybody's radar this season.

National championships tend to do that to a team.

Year No. 2 of the Dallas era begins Saturday against the Coffeyville Red Ravens in a 7 p.m. kickoff at Veterans' Memorial Stadium in Coffeyville.

While it took 471 days for Dallas to finally coach his first game after being hired. The length of time between Year 1 and Year 2 will be only 71 days. The Blue Dragons defeated Snow College 29-27 in the NJCAA Championship Game in Little Rock on June 5. Hutchinson's 2021 season opener is September 4 at Coffeyville.

So how are the Blue Dragons going to handle 2021 with such a short turnaround?

"From a physical standpoint and a learning standpoint with Xs and Os, the players are a lot further ahead because they haven't had a whole lot of time off," Dallas said. "They've had some time to rest and recover. But the biggest challenge will be the mental aspect of the grind you go throughout the course of the season. Our challenge is how do we stay fresh mentally."

The 2020-21 Blue Dragons made history by becoming only the third undefeated team in Hutchinson football history, going 8-0 during a Coronavirus-affected season. Hutchinson won its eighth conference championship, the first since 2014. The Dragons went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the NJCAA rankings, earning a first preseason No. 1 ranking in team history. The Dragons capped off the storybook season, rallying from 14-0 and 21-10 down to defeat No. 2 Snow College 29-27.

Dallas was named the Jayhawk Conference and NJCAA National Coach of the Year. Cornerback Roterius Torrence was named the KJCCC and NJCAA National Defensive Player of the Year.

The 2020-21 Blue Dragons garnered 30 All-KJCCC selections, 15 named to the first time. Hutchinson also had 10 NJCAA All-Americans, including six first-team selections.

While Dallas lost a lot of talent from his championship team, plenty of players who played significant roles return.

The Blue Dragons bring back 15 total starters (8 Offense, 5 Defense, 2 Special Teams) and 22 total letter winners (10 Offense, 10 Defense, 2 Special Teams.

Hutchinson is the preseason pick to repeat both of its KJCCC Championship and national championship. The Dragons, who ride a 10-game winning streak into the new season, are the preseason No. 1 team in the NJCAA rankings for the second-straight year.

One big change the entire Jayhawk Conference will adjust to is going back to the postseason playoff format as the scheduling alliance with the Iowa schools has been ended for how.

All eight KJCCC teams will play over the first three Sunday's in November to defeat the Region VI champion. The last playoffs for the KJCCC were in 2013.

"More than anything, the last half of the schedule is TBD on who you are playing," Dallas said. "They are all possibly win-or-go-home games. That's going to take some mental toughness."

Then if the Blue Dragons survive the rugged KJCCC season and playoffs, the NJCAA will have a four-team playoff to decide its 2021 national champion.

2020-21 OFFENSE
Hutchinson's offense the past two seasons under Dallas - he was Hutch's offensive coordinator in 2019 - has been dynamic.

Last season, the Blue Dragons were second in the nation in rushing with school-records of 273.5 yards per game and 6.4 yards per carry.

The Blue Dragons rushed for 279 yards against Snow College - the Badgers were No. 1 in the nation against the rush last season, allowing 37.8 yards per game.

The Dragons were also No. 2 in the NJCAA in scoring offense at 45.4 yards per game.

Through the air, the Blue Dragons averaged 199.2 yards per game on 58.3 percent completions.

The 2020-21 Blue Dragons finished drives. Hutchinson was 23 of 27 (85.2 percent) when in the red zone, scoring 17 total touchdowns.

2020-21 DEFENSE
The Blue Dragons' front seven was dominant as Hutchinson ranked No. 6 in rushing defense (76.6 yards per game and 2.3 yards per carry).

Hutchinson was third in the NJCAA in defensive scoring average at 13.4 points per game.

The Blue Dragons boasted the nation's individual sacks leader in Tre Pinkney (9.5 sacks) as well as the nation's defender in Torrence, who was hardly targeted through the final half of the season.

The Blue Dragons tallied 77 tackles for loss, 29 quarterback sacks and forced 20 takeaways.

QUARTERBACKS
Dylan Laible returns at quarterback after starting the national championship game last season.

Laible was pressed into duty in Game 5 at No. 7 Independence after an injury to Ogbonna. All Laible did was throw for 268 yards and three touchdowns.

He started the final three games - one of those starts was a five-touchdown game against Dodge City. Laible for the season completed 36 of 65 passes for 782 yards and 11 touchdowns with two interceptions.

"For Dylan, he hadn't played any college football and the fact that he came in and handled those pressure situations for us and stay composed. He handled it well."

Returning quarterback Daisean Cash is No. 2 on the Week 1 depth chart.

RUNNING BACKS
Hutchinson returns their top four running back from the national championship team.

Tye Edwards ranked for 710 yards and eight touchdowns in earning first-team All-America honors.

Game-breaker Anwar Lewis - second-team All-KJCCC had several long runs, including a 73-yarder against Butler. Lewis had 573 yards on 60 carries and seven touchdowns.

Dylan Kedzior and Corey McKnight round out the deep backfield. Kedzior rushed for 223 yards on 21 carries and McKnight had 121 yards on 26 carries.

"We have some explosive guys back there," Dallas said.

RECEIVERS/TIGHT END
Last season, the Dragon receivers were a question mark, but they became a deep and prolific group.

All-KJCCC receiver Cortez Braham returns for his third season. Last season, Braham started slow, but three touchdowns against Independence jump-started his season. Braham had 19 catches for 429 yards and five touchdowns.

"We really got Cortez going last season and Cam was solid all year," Dallas said. "We have some big shoes to fill, but we have guys like Rashawn Williams who will need to fill in."

The Blue Dragons will be looking for a new tight end to replace All-American Ivan Thomas and his 20 catches, 353 receiving yards and six touchdowns.

OFFENSIVE LINE
The Blue Dragon skilled positions will be an experienced offensive line to protect them with four starters returning.

Stevie Young in a three-year player who is a two-time All-KJCCC performer. Dennis Wilburn is a returning NJCAA All-American. All-KJCCC first-teamer Joe Stone started all 12 games and routinely graded out at or near the top of the offensive linemen last season and all-league player Brandon Hall saw plenty of playing time.

Where Dallas has his biggest question mark about the offensive line is who will replace Aric Harris at center?

"You have two starting guards back, two tackles back who started. How will we replace our production at center?" Dallas said. "We are going to try and find a way to get the best mixture of guys on the offensive line."

DEFENSIVE LINE
Three members of the front four return from last season with third-year tackle Demeco Roland, Jaylon Bass and defensive end Davion Westmoreland. Jaylon Moss also saw a lot of playing time.

"We have a good nucleus to build on and that's where it's going to start stopping the run," Dallas said.

Westmoreland was fourth on the team in tackles with 36. Bass had 29 tackles, Moss had 14 tackles. Roland had 12

LINEBACKER
Linebacker will be the biggest reload with the collective loss of All-Americans Tre Pinkney and Jurriente Davis, all-league Gereme Spraggins.

R.J. Evans, Quitman Kincaid and Albert Nunes all saw plenty of playing time last season, but this position group is the least-experienced entering the 2021 season for the Blue Dragons.

New players Caleb Burns, Martavious French, Terry Kirksey and Ja'Mez Drummer have all impressed the coaches entering the season opener.

DEFENSIVE BACKS
Marquise Gilbert came on strong last season with a team-high three interceptions, five passes broken up and 12 tackles. Emmanuel Mann moved to the defensive secondary in the middle of last season at cornerback. Fletcher Marshall and Jalik Thomas also saw time.

Daquan Wilson will also return after 12 tackles and three passes broken up.

SPECIAL TEAMS
All-KJCCC placekicker C.J. Moya was strong last season going 29 of 29 on extra points and 2 of 3 on field goals. He also had 21 touchdowns on 61 kickoffs.

The Dragons also return a top return specialist in Jalik Thomas.

Thomas averaged 28.9 league-high yards per return, including a record 100-yard return against Butler.