There will certainly be new faces on the field for Norwalk this fall, but the biggest change in store for Warrior Football isn’t necessarily the personnel, but how it will be utilized.

For the first time since 2010, according to Coach Paul Patterson, Norwalk will be starting players on both sides of the ball. And it’s not just a few. As many as six Warriors may start both ways during next Friday’s 2023 season opener at Carlisle. A few others will start on one side of the ball and contribute on the other.

The reason for the philosophical change is simple. Norwalk wants to have its best athletes on the field for as many snaps as possible, looking to improve on last year’s 5-4 overall record. The list of Warriors slated for possible two-way duty includes, but is not limited to: Keilor Rodman, Eli Robbins, Tim Koerselman, Caleb Ochanpaugh, Will Clark, Isaac Sutcliffe, Kolton Borcherding-Johnson and Frank Glenn.

Coach Patterson tells KNIA-KRLS Sports that last fall’s end-of-year player meetings led to the move of having two-way players again. He calls it a learning process for both the players and the coaching staff as they adjust to getting the most out of practices when some players now require reps on both sides of the ball. Another challenge, Patterson says, will be balancing the increased number of total snaps for some kids while still maintaining depth and limiting injuries.

“Change is hard, but you still need to do it in order to get a different result than what you’ve had,” Patterson said. “The most important thing is to make sure that we embrace what it is that we’re doing. There’s going to be some bumps in the road and there’s going to be some frustrations and there’s going to be some failures. How we respond to those things is going to be key.”

Patterson says that Norwalk’s roster is smaller this year in terms of numbers. He says the players are working hard and believes that one of the team’s strengths will be the skill-position talent on both sides of the ball.

The Warriors scrimmaged Waukee Northwest on Friday night in preparation for the season.