By Kendall Patterson
Staff Writer
Coach Steve Robinson and the Eagles football team start their 2020 season by traveling to Fayette-Ware to play the Wildcats.
Robinson is hopeful that this season will be better for the team with the effort the guys put into football during the off-season and having more experience.
He said the players have continued to show their dedication to the team since the last season ended in November.
“They got bigger and a lot of them worked hard. They still had never stopped working. They kept going with it, even while we were out of school, working out on their own and doing drills; just trying to improve themselves,” Robinson said. “That’s a tribute to the type of kids we got here and their work ethic.”
He mentioned how the team made the needed corrections from last season’s errors.
“Experience is a great, great teacher. You do it right. You do it wrong. We did some things wrong last year, and I think we know those mistakes. We’re not making them. We’re not seeing the same mistakes that we made last year,” he said.
In addition to added experience, the team has some new players that can help them during Friday nights. The Eagles have a junior quarterback, Tony Washington, that transferred from Fayette that can help the team in the passing game. The team already was good running with Ellis Patterson but Robinson is excited that the team can now switch from passing and running when they want.
“People have to honor the fact that we can throw the ball some. If they want to condense down to stop the run, then, we have the ability now to attack through the air,” he said.
Eagles football even have a kicker that can help them out, Josh Kuykendall.
“We had him out here the other day in practice, and he was kicking it, you know, you know, five, six yards into the end zone, and I’ll take that every time. He has some range, so if we get pretty close, but he has it,” Robinson said. “He’s getting the accuracy and the range now.”
Freshmen Chad Barham and Jaleo Smith will also be playing for the varsity team at receiver and running back, respectively.
With the new players and added experience, the coach is hopeful for this year.
“It’s a ways to go, but we’re so far ahead right now than we were last year.”
