Fan's guide to this year's Central Purple Pounders

Central Purple Pounders

Coach: John Allen (second year, 3-7 here and 64-47 in 13 years overall) Stadium: Central Memorial Stadium Address: 5728 Highway 58, Harrison, TN 37341

Three strengths

1) The 16 seniors still on the team survived the training and conditioning gauntlets. "They have done the right things and there are too many good things among our seniors who remain on the team, and they're being overshadowed by the guys who are no longer on the team," Allen said. "These are kids who want to be here, who are leaders in the school and who love the Purple. They've played four years, they've been through three head coaches and now it's time for them to have fun and enjoy this year." Running back TaQuan Johnson is a 4.4-40 type guy who will turn some heads, and it's likely that Dominique Dawson, best known for his baseball play, will split time at quarterback if not start there.

2) The Pounders are stronger and faster this year. Just one player a year ago could get 1,000 pounds in three lifts - bench, squat and power-clean - and now there are seven, including defensive tackle Demonte Bibbs. The tallest player is 6-foot-1, but most range from 200 to 220 pounds and all can move. Allen says they're beginning to learn that football games are won in the offseason.

3) Pride from facilities renovations, including a locker room, the weight room and the stadium, which has refurbished concession stands, bathrooms, pressbox and upstairs coaches' booth and a new scoreboard.

Three concerns

1) The kicking game was one of the first issues Allen addressed last spring, finding soccer player Tareq Faleh, who had never kicked a football until May. The Pounders lost at least two games due to kicking-game shortcomings. Faleh is close to getting his kickoffs into the end zone in addition to nailing extra points and field goals.

2) Last year's secondary gave up 22 passing touchdowns. There is promise, though, including TaQuan Johnson, who'll play both ways; Ja'Quarius Cole, a transfer from Meridian, Miss.; and Terry Tiller, who's missed some time with a tender knee but is expected back before the season opener.

3) Personnel changes are causing the coaches to rethink their original plan of going to some type of spread offense and Allen is considering returning to a wing-T, which has been his teams' bread-and-butter wherever he has been, or possibly an "I" formation.

Andrew Vicars

Three questions with ...

ANDREW VICARS

(Senior tackle)

Q: After going 3-7 last season, what are Central's goals this year?

A: The first priority is to win all of our district games. We're looking to go to the playoffs, and we'd like to go at least a couple of rounds in the playoffs.

Q: What do you think of Coach Allen?

A: You learn to love him. He conditions us hard. He has a strong faith in God and he loves his family.

Q: Your favorite video game?

A: I like Madden and NCAA Football, but Skyrim is my favorite.

BY THE NUMBERS

2 - Years before last winter without an offseason weight program, because of back-to-back seasons of coaching changes.

5 - Central head coaches since 2004, including Curt Jones, Bo Campbell, David Barger and Sam Montgomery.

16 - Seniors remaining after Allen dismissed 14 before the start of two-a-days, including at least four 2011 starters. The coach said he decided to pare his team to those who really wanted to be there, which meant following his rules and taking part in all team activities from the offseason program through conditioning and summer drills. In all, 25 players are now former players. But Central has had strong freshman groups in back-to-back years and the roster still exceeds 70.

2011 stats leaders

RUSHING Att Yards Avg TD

Robert Cobb 133 755 5.7 6

Nikolay Timoshchuk 51 222 4.4 6

*Dominique Dawson 44 115 2.6 4

PASSING Comp-Att Yards Int TD

LaDarrius Jackson 29-82 433 7 2

RECEIVING Att Yards Avg TD

Robert Cobb 13 257 19.8 1

Donte Bibbs 10 234 23.4 2

*Darius Hixson 5 79 15.8 0

*Dominique Dawson 5 68 12.6 0

TACKLES Solo Assists Total

Josh Tisdale 67 12 73

Sam Sledge 51 17 59.5

Nikolay Timoshchuk 36 20 46

Dionta Humphrey 39 8 43

• returning player

Recent history

It was a year for getting acquainted - a new coach and the players - and Allen says he let some things slide in self- and team discipline. He gave, in his words, "everybody the benefit of the doubt." There were distractions within the team, surrounding the team and even away from the game field on Friday nights. The result was a 3-7 record, but two of the three wins were over playoff participants Polk County and Brainerd.

Here's a look at the regular-season win total for the last five years:

Season

2011---(3)

2010------(6)

2009-----(5)

2008-(1)

2007---(3)

Schedule

Aug. 24 at Polk County

Aug. 31 East Hamilton*

Sept. 7 Cleveland

Sept. 14 Howard*

Sept. 21 at Soddy-Daisy

Sept. 28 Red Bank*

Oct. 5 at Tyner*

Oct. 12 at Brainerd*

Oct. 19 at East Ridge*

Oct. 26 at Hixson*

*District 6-AA game

All games start at 7:30 p.m.

Roster

1 Jaylan Hobbs Senior

2 TaQuan Johnson Senior

3 Dominique Dawson Senior

4 Brian Billingsley Sophomore

5 Christopher Franklin Senior

6 Darius Hixson Senior

7 Terry Tiller Junior

8 Michael Ray Senior

9 Kevin McKenzie Sophomore

10 Thomas Crownover Freshman

12 David Pollard Sophomore

13 Traviunta Trammell Senior

14 Tyler Lowe Sophomore

15 Scout Morgan Sophomore

16 Jacob Delorenzeo Sophomore

17 Anthony Bryant Junior

18 Wyatt Green Freshman

19 Jeffrey Gaines Freshman

20 Chandler Capehart Junior

21 Sean Montgomery Junior

22 Isaiah Houston Sophomore

23 Brett Parrott Junior

24 Daylan Pearson Sophomore

25 Tyler Sorenson Senior

26 Nathan Dover Freshman

27 Ja'Quarius Cole Junior

28 Kendall Colston Junior

30 Devin Swafford Freshman

31 Tracy Penson Sophomore

34 Bo Evans Senior

36 Noah Peyton Freshman

37 Deonta Taylor Sophomore

38 DaQuan Witcher Freshman

39 Isaiah Funk Freshman

41 Brian Sledge Freshman

42 Spencer Bayless Freshman

44 Joshua Cooper Junior

44 Jacob Gray Freshman

46 Matthew Booth Freshman

50 Patrick McGee Freshman

51 Jacob Beavers Senior

52 Eddie Gillett Freshman

54 Demonte Bibbs Senior

55 Jamel Metcalf Sophomore

56 William Vargas Senior

57 Dillion Baggett Freshman

58 Walter Bradley Senior

59 Ethan Sanders Freshman

60 Joshua Griffin Freshman

62 Ramon Sampson Senior

63 Jakobi Johnson Senior

64 Brandon Bain Freshman

65 Robert Dix Senior

66 Alexander Lloyd Junior

67 Curtis Noiseaus Freshman

68 Andrew Vicars Senior

69 Matthew Gines Freshman

70 Caleb Morgan Sophomore

71 Hayden Forgey Sophomore

72 Andrew Wilson Freshman

74 H. Kirk Freshman

75 Nicholas Martin Freshman

76 Ashby Wilson freshman

77 Bradley Carson Junior

78 Jordan Guidry Sophomore

79 Jordan Long Freshman

80 James Walker Freshman

81 Jamichael Poole Freshman

82 Dylan Neely Sophomore

83 Philip Bonnington Sophomore

84 Jaymne Ervin Freshman

85 Tareq Faleh Sophomore

86 Adarrius Ray Sophomore

87 Brandon Lewis Sophomore

88 John Boyd Freshman

89 Jerry Reese Freshman