Bill Peebles likes a lot about the 2024 Cathedral High School football team. The 2024 Irish are a good team, a talented team with potential. They’re also a team in transition facing a typically difficult schedule. “There are a lot of unknowns in this group,” he said. Peebles as of early August said he is trying to get perspective on the exact nature and identity of the Irish entering his seventh season as the program’s head coach. “We have some question marks,” he said. The Irish are a largely different team than the ’23 version, with multiple seniors gone from the program – including Danny O’Neil, a three-year starter now playing for San Diego State who quarterbacked the Irish to a 32-7 record the past three seasons. The Irish, after winning Class 5A state titles in 2020 and 2021, lost 33-10 in the Class 6A state semifinal to Center Grove in 2022 and to Ben Davis 27-24 in the Class 6A regional championship game to Ben Davis in 2023. “We've made some adjustment adjustments to our offense,” Peebles said. “Having Danny for three years, we actually may have gotten a little stagnant. We shook things up a little bit this year offensively.” Junior Cameron Koers is expected to start the season at quarterback for the Irish in 2024. “He’s won the job this summer,” Peebles said. “The backup quarterback right now is more of a runner and the starter (Koers) is more of a passer. So we kind of have manipulated our offense that way. So that's one of the reasons we're work in progress. “We settled on the quarterback. Now we have to get really good at making him successful.” The Irish in 2024 will be led by what Peebles said can be a very good defense, and he said the team could particularly depend on the unit early. Peebles said he expects the defensive line to overall be strong. “Right now our defense is definitely ahead of our offense, and they have a little bit more experience,” Peebles said. “I think there are some darn good players on our defense. Early in the season, we’re going to have to be a defensive-oriented team or we’re going to have a rough start to the year.” Key defensively: Senior linebacker/defensive ends Aidan Hughes and Jack Gause, and safety Jack Lockhart – who Peebles called “an absolute stud.” “Defensively, we’re young, but I think we’re really pretty darned good,” Peebles said. “I like the guys in their spots. We’re not as big up front defensively, but I think we move really well.” An early issue for an offense Peebles called “a work in progress:” A preseason knee injury sustained by offensive lineman Manny Egan that will cost the three-year starter his senior season. “That's going to hurt us,” Peebles said. “We're going to have to replace him with somebody who's a good football player, but who's going to be younger and less experienced.” Key offensively will be senior running back Jalen Bonds, who rushed for 1,194 yards and eight touchdowns on 189 carries as a junior. Junior running back Jimmy Pappas rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries as a sophomore and running back sophomore Xavier Dangerfield rushed for six yards on one carry as a freshman. “We have three running backs who are varsity level,” Peebles said. “Those three guys, I would feel comfortable right now putting in a varsity game and them having success as long as the offensive line's doing well.” Also key offensively: Senior offensive tackle Eli Gigerich and senior wide receivers Albren Johnson and Devaughn Slaughter. The Irish as is their tradition play one of the state’s toughest schedules in 2024. They open the season on August 23 at Ben Davis (No. 1 in Class 6A in Indiana in 2023) before playing host to Brownsburg (No. 3 6A in ’23) August 30. They then visit Cincinnati (Ohio) St. Xavier September 6 before visiting rival Chatard (No. 1 Class 3A in ‘23) on September 13. They also play host to No. 2 6A Center Grove on October 4 and No. 9 6A North Central September 20 and visit No. 15 6A Warren Central October 18. “You’re talking about three of the Top 10 programs in the Midwest in our first three games, and then we have Chatard,” Peebles said. “It's a tough start to the season for us. We're going to have to get better to have a chance to compete. We're not quite there yet. We have a lot of work to do here to get that part of our team up and running at the level that we need them to.” “You don't really know what's going to happen. Hopefully, I'm more worried than I should be. I know what our schedule is.”