It has one NCAA Division I prospect, another who should be next year and three others who could play at the next level.
Those aren’t bad defensive prospects for a Class 1A high school football team that also has the luxury of playing mostly two-platoon football.
While its offense continues to attract most of the attention despite a 7-6 win over Boyd-Buchanan last week, South Pittsburg has a sturdy defense that actually rivals the offense.
“We couldn’t have played a better defensive football game (than last week),” South Pittsburg coach Vic Grider said.
Four of the Pirates’ seven wins have been by at least 49 points. At the same time, the defending state champions have given up six or fewer points in five of the victories, including three shutouts.
“We’re a better defensive football team — improved over last year — and offensively I’m not so sure,” Grider said.
At the heart of the defensive improvement are five linebackers: David Jones, the Division I prospect as a running back; Jijuan Fennell, who Grider thinks will be a D-I signee next year; Montrell Mitchell, Bubba Ramsey and Shane Boles. Add Ty Robinson, who also plays safety, as a sixth man and the group is very versatile.
Mitchell and Jones play the middle, and the Pirates often use Fennell as an end who can rush or drop off in coverage despite standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 215 pounds.
“Our front makes them better, but we basically have five guys stacked in there (at linebacker) because we’re trying to use our speed to our advantage,” defensive coordinator Allen Pratt said. “We put three big guys down that can anchor the front, but we may have one (linebacker) going every time on a pass. We’re big on playing zone, so we ask them to cover the pass as well as the run.”
This group is special although Pratt refused to single out any one of the bunch or compare them to any other linebackers who have come through South Pittsburg.
“They’re as good as people we’ve had here,” he said. “I don’t know that they’re the best we’ve had. I’ll let the people on ‘Coach T’ decide that. I’m just glad we have them, and I’m happy they’re on our side.”
The Pirates keep tackles and other defensive stats but don’t total them until season’s end.
“You just about have to keep offensive stats, but on defense we have always taken pride in playing as a team,” Grider said.
Ward Gossett is an assistant sports editor and writer for the Times Free Press. Ward has a long history in Chattanooga journalism. He actually wrote a bylined story for the Chattanooga News-Free Press as a third-grader. He Began working part-time there in 1968 and was hired full time in 1970. Ward now covers high school athletics, primarily football, wrestling and baseball and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling. Over a 40-year career, he has covered ...
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