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SOUTH PITTSBURG PIRATES
Head coach: Wes Stone (10-2 right here and general)
Returning starters: 3 offensive; 4 defensive
Final yr’s document: 11-2 general, gained Class 1A state championship
Key gamers: Jayden Mount (5-9, 165) Sr. QB/RB/WR, Racash Kelly (5-9, 155) Jr. WR/RB/QB, Kamden Wellington (6-0, 190) Jr. QB/RB, Dez McNeil (5-9, 155) Sr. LB, Jamarion Farrior (6-0, 175) Jr. LB, Logan Hargis (6-1, 175) Jr. DB, Braden Sherrill (6-0, 215) Sr. OL
Season outlook: A whirlwind season that started with uncertainty when head coach Chris Jones abruptly resigned after only one sport and included a tough early stretch because the group labored to search out its footing ended with an sudden state championship.
Stone, who took over as co-head coach final season, now has sole management of this system. He and his employees might want to develop some youthful gamers for the Pirates to make one other deep playoff run.
However there’s a good nucleus as Mount, Kelly and Wellington will all see time at quarterback, working again and receiver, relying on totally different offensive packages, and so they give the Pirates a particularly athletic backfield. Taja Robinson (5-10, 180) is one other bodily runner who has waited his flip, and Jacob Bivens has proven stable ball expertise at receiver.
As is often the case, the Pirates will not lack for playmakers. The important thing to their season will come on the offensive line, the place senior Yogi Garman is the one starter again. Braden Sherrill (6-0, 215) returns after not taking part in final season, nevertheless, and will assist strengthen the entrance, which will likely be undersized as an entire.
Stone stated the linebacker group, which incorporates McNeil and Farrior — final season’s main tacklers — in addition to Wellington, is not going to solely anchor the protection however may very well be the power of the entire group. The secondary is quick and bodily, together with Hargis, the state runner-up in each the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, Mount — a two-sport all-state athlete — and Kelly, who is anticipated to have a breakout season on either side of the ball.