Caught up in offense

Levi Buckles has a lot of reasons to brag.

Just don’t waste your time waiting around to hear the Post Falls High standout wide receiver talk about himself. He would much rather let his play speak for himself.

A year ago, Buckles was the top offensive weapon on a team that finished 3-6. The fact that he only caught 22 passes might speak to why the Trojans didn’t enjoy much success.

It took Buckles three games this season to match last year’s totals. In the Trojans’ third game, Buckles caught 13 passes for 242 yards and three touchdowns.

Through five games, he has 36 catches for 663 yards and 10 TDs.

Post Falls junked its fly offense for a spread attack out of the shotgun in what Trojans coaches call a pistol formation – similar to a scheme used by the University of Nevada.

The Trojans started implementing the change at the University of Idaho camp in June. They passed 70 percent of the time during scrimmages.

Post Falls didn’t make the change to involve Buckles more in the offense. That, in itself, is more coincidental.

“After a couple of 3-6 seasons I think they just wanted to try something different,” Buckles said when asked if the change was made primarily to exploit his skills. “I think we had the personnel to do it.”

Post Falls coach Jeff Hinz flatly admits Buckles should have been involved more last year.

“He was underused,” Hinz said. “Basically, we tried to get the ball to him as much as we could. But we had difficulty getting him the ball and it was out of his control. It was no fault of his own.”

At 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds, Buckles presents a nice target on the outside. While he doesn’t have breakaway speed – he’s been timed in 40-yard sprints around 4.6 seconds – he has great hands and runs good routes.

Hinz could see Buckles as a tight end in college.

“His speed is probably why he’s not being heavily recruited,” Hinz said. “They want guys who run 4.4 to 4.5. But the thing about Levi is he’s just 17 and he hasn’t come close to reaching his full potential.”

Still, the recruiting interest seems to be picking up. An Idaho coach was at Post Falls’ game last week and Buckles went on an official visit last Saturday to watch the Vandals play Hawaii. Hinz said Idaho State has requested video.

Hinz can’t praise Buckles enough for the way he’s played.

“When we came into the season I thought 60 receptions was a possibility,” Hinz said. “He has exceeded my expectations.”

“There’s always room for improvement, but I think I’ve played really well,” Buckles said.

Post Falls won its first four games before falling to Rathdrum Prairie rival Lakeland 31-27 last week.

Buckles hopes the Trojans use the loss as a learning experience.

“I don’t think we’ve played our best football yet,” he said. “We’ve just done enough to win. We seem to play down to our competition’s level. We need to execute and play four quarters.”

The loss rekindled the bad feelings of the past two years.

“We need to remember that losing doesn’t feel good and we don’t want to lose again,” Buckles said.

Post Falls led 27-17 before Lakeland scored two TDs in the final quarter.

“It was our worst game this year mainly because we didn’t finish,” Buckles said. “Maybe we thought it was over when we were ahead.”

Post Falls plays host to the second-ranked 4A team from Oregon, Ontario (5-0), on Saturday. The Trojans want to play well with a league opener looming the following week against top-ranked Lake City.

“I think we’re getting close to where we should be,” Buckles said. “We haven’t clicked yet. It’s been mistakes here and there. Everybody just needs to do their job and we’ll be fine.”