Staff photo / Brian Yauger. Brookfield’s Christian Davis carries the ball during the Warriors’ practice on Friday.

BROOKFIELD — Sometimes you have to stop and turn on a dime.

That’s exactly what Brookfield has had to do this past week.

Planning to enter the season with the one-two punch of Aiden Jones and Christian Davis, Jones unexpectedly departed the program, putting the Warriors in a position where they had to think fast.

The solution is Brett Carsone.

Having never played the quarterback position before, there’s obviously been a steep learning curve, but the rising senior has taken to the position well in such a short time.

“He’s the type of kid that won’t let the last play dictate what he’s going to do next,” head coach Randy Clark said. “He’s got a short memory. He’s very competitive. He’s going to be fine. He’s going to get the ball a lot. Whatever the defense gives us, we’re taking, so he’s going to be a good runner for us too.

“He scrimmaged (Thursday) after only two practices. He’s never played quarterback before, so my best bet is that he can only get better.”

That change has led the Warriors to alter the offense from years past.

Luckily, Davis is still in the mix, providing both continuity and explosiveness to the Brookfield offense.

“We’re installing a new offense and a new defense. You work with the personnel you have,” Clark said. “We want to highlight Christian (Davis) and get him the ball, running plays and stuff like that. We want to take away what the defense does best and make it happen on offense. We’ve got some new guys that have big shoes to fill from last year’s guys, but they’re working hard. The offseason is going well, a lot of mental stuff. We’re still working on the mental stuff and still working through it. Overall, the first two scrimmages didn’t go very well, but we’re going to work through it.”

Things aren’t changing much for Davis, who was going to take a large amount of ball carrying duties this season anyways.

As a rising junior, Davis is shifting into more of a leadership role in addition to everything he adds to the team on the field.

He’s just excited to get going.

“It is very exciting,” Davis said about being a top weapon on this team. “As well as being a team leader as a junior coming up. It’s really exciting. It’s been a really big step for the team.”

As an individual, Davis is hoping to get his name out there this season and garner some college interest.

His other individual goal? Rush for 2,000 yards.

Other weapons to watch for this year are Kaiden Kirila, who moved off the offensive line to a tight end role, and freshman Rico Smith.

Collin Heater, Japer Malufau and Brady Hiner all return to the offensive line.

While things have been rocky this offseason, spirits are high within the program. It’s a fun group that enjoys being around each other.

“All these guys are excited and are fun to coach. That’s why we were inside watching film for the last hour and a half,” Clark said. “Constructive criticism, we’re not afraid to take it. We just get better from it.”

Brookfield’s new offense gets its first challenge of the season with a road contest against Creston Norwayne on Friday.

“I don’t know what they’ve got right now. They scrimmage tonight. We’ll get the film and stuff but I haven’t played them since 2012 in the regional finals,” Clark said. “Back then we were both pretty good but I don’t know a whole lot about them. I know they have a good program. Good coaching staff.

“When we talked in the offseason they’re kind of similar to us, with losing a lot of guys from last year, but it should make for a good game.”

byauger@tribtoday.com