BOUNTIFUL — The Viking ship has embarked on a new journey with a new leader.

New head coach Brad Lloyd is excited about his crew and as the Vikings prepare for the 2009 season, Lloyd anticipates a successful trip.

“These guys have been great,” Lloyd said. “They are enthusiastic, they have a great work ethic, and they are hungry to get going and to win.”

The Vikings have a boatload of returning talent and in many cases players are battling for positions. First and foremost, seniors Jeremy Leiber and Brennan Flannery remain neck and neck for the quarterback job.

“They are both very competitive and look good,” Lloyd said. “I couldn’t tell you who has the lead for the starting position. We may have to use the Bingham game (Viewmont’s Friday opener) to make that final decision.

“We have a lot of people battling for positions and I think that is good. It helps keep people sharp.

“We’re a smaller 5A school and we have guys who are going to be playing on both offense and defense so we’ve conditioned their butts off and they have responded great.”

A great deal of the success of Viewmont will be in the hands of its linemen. TJ Johnson, Zac Hudson, Nick Gale, Cole Jones, J.R. Nemelka, Tate Wangsgaard and Ian Cooper earned high marks from Lloyd.

“Our linemen are quick, smart and aggressive,” he said. “They get after it and we will definitely surprise some people.”

The backfield and receivers corp will line up as needed for different formations. Lloyd has a talented pool including Garret Bushman, Sam Jensen, Austin Cheney, Anthony Tuli and Tyler Worsley.

“We have players that can move around and be in different places depending on what we need and that is great,”Lloyd said.

Defensively, Lloyd sees Viewmont’s team speed and overall nose for the ball as its biggest asset.

“All of these guys hit and like to mix it up,” Lloyd said. “They have a good feel for the game of football and they are real aggressive.

“We’re going to have a very active defense.”

Lloyd is still getting his feet wet as a head coach, but has more than 25 years of coaching experience with Bountiful and West and a fist full of state championship rings to boot.

“It’s still change and anytime there’s change we feel a sense of apprehension and nerves, but I have been accepted so well here by everyone. And most of all the players make me feel comfortable,” Lloyd said.

“My assistants have been great. They have been so helpful because they know the team. They have done anything I could have asked for.”

Lloyd wants to bring a sense of exacting to Viewmont football.

“We want to be exacting in our assignments and execution,”Lloyd said.

“And we as coaches want to make sure we are treating everyone with the respect they deserve as young men.”

The Vikings open at high powered Bingham Friday night.

sschulte@davisclipper.com