By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

New coach.

New offense.

It will be a season of change for the Thomas More Prep-Marian football team.

Jon Borer was named the 15th coach in school history at TMP, replacing Gene Flax, who led the Monarchs to a 44-88 record in 14 seasons, including 1-8 last year.

"Everything I've heard has been positive," Borer said during preseason camp. "The administration, the teachers, the faculty, the staff, the parents.

"It seems like there's a little growing excitement," he added. "People want to come out and see what's going on."

What fans saw in preseason was the spread offense. The Monarchs will look to throw the ball more than in recent years.

Borer said his players are adjusting to the new offense.

"Something that's totally brand new, you can't expect anybody to pick up right away," Borer said. "They're working hard. They want to learn. They want to get better. It's been solid, steady progression."

In the spread, the quarterback lines up in the shotgun with a single back and as many as four wide receivers. During camp, the starting job was a two-player battle between senior Nathan Zimmerman and junior Nick Hammeke.

Last year, Zimmerman was a running back, while Hammeke took over as the starting QB in the third game of the season. Hammeke finished the year completing 45 percent of his passes, throwing for more than 600 yards with four touchdowns and six interceptions.

The third option at QB is sophomore Shane Zimmerman, who likely will start at wideout. The loser in the QB competition could start as a slot receiver.

"All three of them are great assets to the team," Borer said. "The great thing about those three guys is that they're willing to do whatever helps the team."

Borer said Zimmerman and Hammeke were similar in their skills, adding Zimmerman is a good runner while Hammeke has a good passing touch.

"Nathan Zimmerman, he was a running back last year. He's got those running skills, shiftiness to him, he's got some speed, he's got a strong arm ..." Borer said. "Nick has that experience of starting last year ... He has a real quick release, which is great for our passing game."

Borer had three players -- senior Spencer Staab, junior Joe Roth and sophomore Luke Brull -- rotating at running back in camp.

"We feel really comfortable putting any one of the three in there," Borer said.

The spread often uses two wideouts and two slot receivers. The wideouts are junior Jacob Fouts and Shane Zimmerman. In the slot could be Nathan Zimmerman or Hammeke, as well as juniors Dylan Schumacher, Dylan Lang and Cade Gerhard. Junior Taylor Pfeifer returns at tight end.

Senior Brandon Gottschalk is the center. Borer wants the players on the rest of the line to be able to play both guard and tackle on either side of the ball. In the mix at those positions are juniors Kelton Schuckman, Scott Heimann, Brady Rohr and Austin Werth, sophomore Zach Schmidtberger and freshman Jared Gabel.

On defense, the Monarchs will go with a 3-5 scheme. The Monarchs will blitz often.

"We're going to be bringing at least one guy every time," Borer said. "The reason we like this defense is because you ... don't know where he's coming from."

Schmidtberger will start at nose tackle, with Pfeifer and Schuckman at end. Heimann and Gottschalk also are in the mix.

The three running backs -- Staab, Roth and Brull -- also start at linebacker. Others at linebacker include Austin Werth, Fouts and Lang.

The cornerbacks are Dylan Schumacher and Shane Zimmerman, while Nathan Zimmerman and Hammeke will both see time at free safety.