Ever since Farmington High opened in 2018, Viewmont has struggled for participation in football and had numbers between 60-70 in the program the past couple years (COVID-19 also didn’t help).

After eight seasons in charge, Scott Ditty resigned as head coach over the winter and Jones, a Northridge alumnus who previously coached Layton Christian’s team, was hired from Tooele.

“A lot of people would say we’re coming in with these X’s and O’s. Ours was, I’ll be honest, was just strictly numbers. Let’s get the numbers up and then we’ll worry about X’s and O’s,” Jones said.

His goal was to get 100 kids in the program. In mid-July, he said he had 110.

After that was done, the new head coach could get down to what has amounted to a rebrand of the Vikings’ football program.

There’s a mostly new coaching staff, new uniforms, new logos and all of that for a program that’s gone 7-21 the last three years. What that translates into this season is unknown.

Viewmont certainly has some winnable games early against four non-region foes who had a combined record of 14-26, but those same teams are probably looking at the Vikings (3-6 last year) as a winnable game, too.

Offensively, the Vikings return their skill players and one offensive lineman who will play in a multiple formation/spread offense. Defensively, they’ll run a 4-2-5 defense and bring back every player in the secondary plus two linemen — but Viewmont lost linebacker and leading tackler Kaden Mertz, who transferred to Bountiful.

One returner on offense is dual-threat senior quarterback, Luke Jacobs, who is opposing teams’ No. 1 defensive priority and who averaged more than 200 total yards per game last year before a collarbone injury in the seventh game ended his season.

Jacobs, who also just batted .507 with 10 triples for the baseball team, has been offered a college football scholarship by Navy.

Scott Noel, a 6-foot-5 receiver who averaged 10.3 points per game in basketball and who didn’t play football last year, was offered a football scholarship by UNLV.

Jones didn’t just recruit the hallway, but he recruited the basketball, wrestling, soccer and lacrosse teams as well.

Just to name a few: “all my starters play two or three sports right now. Our receivers are basketball kids and they’re 6-5, 6-4 and 6-3. Our running back was a track kid,” Jones said.

Jones guessed that 90% of the kids in the program play multiple sports. As such, the Vikings didn’t have spring football or anything to get a jump on installing the new schemes and were a little behind the curve in that respect.

So far, Jones said he and the coaches have been trying to keep things simple and use the team’s athleticism to its advantage.

If observations over the summer are any indication, the Vikings are a pretty athletic team, but also an intense and chippy bunch. They’ve celebrated every victory, no matter how small and no matter if they rubbed other teams and coaches the wrong way in scrimmages.

“We felt like don’t let people bully us and take us around. Let’s be the more aggressor and take what’s ours. We’ve been trying to change their mindset: lets go, get after it a little bit harder,” Jones said.

WHAT’S NEW

About 70% of the coaching staff is new. Jones is calling the offense and Jared Barnes, who coached at Ben Lomond, is the defensive coordinator.

The team has new uniforms as well, which are similar to Stanford’s color combination (white helmet, red jersey, white pants at home).

QUOTABLE

When there are new schemes being installed, does the offense or defense learn the new stuff faster?

“Defense usually picks up it seems faster, anyway, because ‘see ball, tackle ball,’ type of thing,” Jones said.

FACTS and FIGURES

2021 season: 3-6, 1-4 Region 5. Viewmont started 2-1, lost a close game to Provo, lost quarterback Luke Jacobs to a season-ending collarbone injury in September and didn’t win another game until the season-ender against Woods Cross. The late win wasn’t enough to secure Viewmont a playoff spot, which broke the program’s six-year streak of going to the playoffs.

2022 strength of schedule: 46-59 (.438). There are some winnable games early on, six of the 10 games are at home and the optimism and energy around the team are apparent. The hardest games will be the five Region 5 games plus a fall-break game against Green Canyon.

Players to watch: Luke Jacobs (QB), Elias Uesele (RB), Degan LeRoy (RB/DB), Cole Mudrow (TE/DE), Miles McGrath (RB/LB), Presley Gubler (DB), Kingston Mickens (WR/CB)

Returning starters: 6 offense, 6 defense

Strength/Weakness: Athleticism/Depth

NOTES

Viewmont has won four straight season-opening games played in an even year.

In years that end with the number ‘2,’ Viewmont averages 4.6 wins and 5.6 losses.

Quarterback Luke Jacobs totaled 752 passing yards and 751 rushing yards last season before his injury. He also averaged 7.4 yards per carry and 7.3 yards per pass attempt.

The Vikings have a three-game win streak against Hillcrest and a three-game losing streak against Bonneville.

SCHEDULE

All games 7 p.m.

Aug. 12: at Logan

Aug. 19: Hillcrest

Aug. 26: Copper Hills

Sept. 2: at Provo

Sept. 9: Bonneville*

Sept. 16: at Box Elder*

Sept. 23: Northridge*

Sept. 30: Bountiful*

Oct. 7: at Woods Cross*

Wed., Oct. 12: Green Canyon

* — Denotes Region 5 game