When Porters Chapel Academy coach Randy Wright evaluated his roster for this season, he saw the Eagles were spread thin at running back.

To compensate, he’ll spread the whole team even more.

Wright plans to tinker with a pass-happy spread offense in training camp, taking advantage of an athletic roster that is heavy on quarterbacks and receivers but light on running backs.

The Eagles started working on the spread in practice this week and will use it as an offensive package in certain situations, rather than as a full-time offensive system.

&#8220We have the quarterbacks and receivers to run it, and linemen that can pull a little bit,” Wright said. &#8220We’re going to try and develop it as the season goes along. We’re not going to put it in all at once.”

Over the last two seasons, Wright’s Eagles have had a very balanced – and very prolific – offense. The top two rushers from last season, Chris Mixon and Kenny Simms, graduated, however. That left only Moose Carney and Spencer Pell as experienced running backs.

Carney ran for 326 yards and five touchdowns last year but is a good blocker and more suited to play fullback. Pell was fourth on the depth chart and got most of his carries in mop-up situations.

The passing game was a different story.

Quarterback Hayden Hales threw 12 touchdown passes and only three interceptions last season, and is back for his senior year. So is receiver Cole Smith, who caught eight touchdown passes and needs just three more to set the school’s career record. Add in Michael Busby, a speedster who played quarterback in 2004 and sat out most of last season with an elbow injury, and all of the ingredients are there for a dangerous passing attack.

Wright said the experience on the offensive side of the ball was also a valuable asset.

&#8220One thing with all of our skill players, they’re three-year starters. We were running the old stuff, the basic stuff in practice last week and they were real smooth,” Wright said. &#8220We’ve got a great many skill players, and they’re going to be smart enough to do what we want to do.”

Another factor in Wright’s decision to experiment with the spread was PCA’s playoff failures the last two seasons. Since Wright took over as coach in 2004, the Eagles have lost only three games – two of them in the playoffs to Lee, Ark., which runs the spread to perfection.

Never shy about borrowing a good idea from an opponent’s playbook, Wright took more than one from the Cougars. On his desk sits a legal pad filled with Lee’s offensive plays, gleaned from hours of watching game film. Wright is using it as a blueprint for his own spread package.

&#8220We’ve definitely seen it run well against us the last two years. We’ve seen it work and be successful,” he said. &#8220We’ve had one of the best defenses in the MPSA the last two years, and that was the only type of offense that we struggled with.”