By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

Neither player had been in a football uniform since middle school.

But Kelton Schuckman and Cade Gerhard -- both juniors at Thomas More Prep-Marian -- wanted to give it the ol' high school try this year.

Schuckman, an offensive and defensive lineman, was a quarterback in middle school at Larned. Gerhard, a receiver and defensive back, played running back and safety at Kennedy Middle School.

Neither player donned a helmet and pads again until this year, when Jon Borer took over as the Monarchs' coach.

"The new coaches and everything, I thought it would be a good time to give it a shot," said Schuckman, who transferred to TMP last year.

Gerhard figured he might as well be out on the field -- after some coaxing from his buddies.

"Just kind of (thought) I should be doing something," Gerhard said, adding his friends "told me I should come out."

Borer has seen the numbers go up in his first year at TMP. He has 39 players out -- enough for junior varsity games. Last year, TMP had about 30 players out, not enough for a JV team.

"It helps in a lot of ways," Borer said of the number of players on the roster.

"Number one, you get to play JV games; younger guys get to develop against other teams their age. In practice time, there are more, bigger bodies to give our first team a better look.

"Numbers help out in a number of different ways," he added.

Schuckman, at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, is one of the team's bigger players. Getting used to football again was an adjustment.

"I haven't really played football for a while, so it's all been pretty much a new experience," Schuckman said. "I really like it."

Schuckman, the team's center in basketball, is used to contact in the post. He thinks football will help him in basketball.

"Being on the line, where you have to be aggressive and stuff, it'll help me a lot when I play center," Schuckman said. "It'll help me with my aggression and physical strength down low.

"It'll help tremendously. I've had (basketball) coach (Joe) Hertel tell me it'll help a lot in my basketball career, too," he added.

Borer likes what he sees out of Schuckman.

"He's a kid coming in, obviously a bit of a wild card -- still is," Borer said. "But we really think he's definitely somebody who could help us, both sides of the ball."

Schuckman is in the mix at guard and tackle on offense, and is penciled in as a starter on the defensive line.

Borer wants to rest players on offense, so depth is critical. That's where the 5-10, 150-pound Gerhard could help out most, as one of four receivers in the Monarchs' spread offense.

"As a philosophy, we really want our defense to be our strongest part of our game," Borer said. "We're going to get kids rest, we'll try to give them rest on offense, not defense. (Gerhard) is a guy we can play as a slot ... somebody who can give us some minutes.

"Both Cade and Kelton will be able to contribute," he added.

Gerhard said he was looking forward to putting on his Monarch uniform for the first game.

"It's going to be fun," he said.

"I'm really looking forward to the start of the season."