Camas Boys Basketball: What’s old is new against with players, Josephson as coach

Last February, Ryan Josephson jokingly told his Camas junior-varsity roster he hoped to never coach them again. Varsity likely was their next step, leaving Josephson with a new batch of Papermakers to groom for another season.

Turns out, the joke’s on him. “I have to eat those words,” he said.

That’s a good thing, though, for both the Papermakers and Josephson, who also made the leap and is now Camas’ first-year head varsity coach.

What’s old is new again, and by new meaning a brand-new Camas roster. Team captain Tre Carlisle and Isaiah Sampson, a second-team all-4A GSHL honoree, are the team’s returning full-time varsity players, but Josephson’s thoughts on whether his inexperienced squad was ready for varsity competition ended quickly.

“They can definitely do that, and I think we have stars in the bunch even though they’re unknowns,” he said.

In fact, they might surprise. The JV team that went 12-4 in 2016-17 has shown major growth in areas not seen previously, such as off-season workouts and summer shootarounds.

That is why Josephson likes the darkhorse label for his Camas squad in the 4A GSHL race.

“There’s a belief we can put something together that’s special,” he said.