For three years, Warren Central relied on a strong, talented group of players to form the core of the state’s best defense.

This spring, it’s learning the downside of having a veteran team. Eventually, you need to find their successors while still keeping the same high standards.

More than a dozen new starters will be in the lineup when the Vikings take the field for their spring game tonight against Brandon. It’s a wholesale makeover for a program that went 23-13 over the past three seasons and reached the playoffs each time.

“We lost a lot of key players that played a lot of football,” Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said. “On the defensive side, the biggest thing is inexperience. We feel good about the talent level, but you can’t replace the experience.”

Playing another team in a spring game, and thus getting a full gameday experience, was one way the WC coaching staff is helping to break in its younger players.

Last season, the team played in intrasquad scrimmage. Tonight, it’ll play a full four-quarter game against Brandon at home at 6 p.m. The junior varsity will also get about 10 plays on offense and defense in addition to the main game.

“We’re at a different place than we were last year,” Morgan said. “Last year we did an intrasquad scrimmage and knew what we had. This year we’re going to compete and get them under the lights and get a game under their belt.”

The most glaring holes for the Vikings are on defense. Linebacker DeArius Christmas, a three-time Vicksburg Post Defensive Player of the Year, is gone. So are eight other starters, including Mississippi State signee Chris Stamps at cornerback.

Defensive backs Byron Galvin and Jeremy Judge emerged as key players last season, but are among the few returning starters.

The good news for the Vikings is that a number of players did get playing time last season even if they weren’t in the starting lineup. That should ease the transition from one generation to the next.

“We’ve got a lot of people that, even if they weren’t starters, played a good bit,” Morgan said. “I feel confident that the cupboard is not bare. They’ve been in the system, the program has stayed the same, the coaches are the same, so it’s not back to the drawing board.”

Offensively, the Vikings also have some holes to plug. Last year’s quarterback, Alex Stevens is graduating. So are Stamps and Marcus Ragan, the two leading receivers.

Jesse Wilson is the heir apparent at quarterback, while rising seniors Larry Ferguson (23 receptions for 338 yards and one TD in 2014) and Miraculous Powers (six touchdown catches in 2014) will play a bigger role at receiver.

Like some of his defensive counterparts, Wilson will simply be stepping into a bigger role rather than a foreign one. He saw some spot duty as the backup quarterback last season, completing 7 of 13 passes for 66 yards.

A junior-to-be, Wilson is also a more mobile quarterback than the Vikings have had in recent years.

“He’s had a year under his belt to watch and learn,” Morgan said. “The terminology won’t change. We’re anxious to see him start a game off and see what he does from the get-go.”

The previous senior class raised the Vikings from the ashes of a 1-10 season in 2011 to respectability within three years. Morgan said he expects the next generation to keep that upward trend going.

“That’s the plan and our expectations,” he said. “We want to continue to climb. We’re hoping and counting on another successful year.”