LOOKOUT VALLEY YELLOW JACKETS
Head coach: Josh Payne (0-10 here and overall)
Returning starters: 9 offensive; 8 defensive
Key players: RB/DB Corey Talley (5-11, 165); OL/DL Jack Brewster (5-9, 220); OL/DL Ricardo Cruz (5-9, 230); OL/LB Aiden Fitzgerald (5-8, 210); OL/DL Jessee Addison (5-10, 235); OL/LB Richard Canales (5-11, 205); QB/DB Blake Fergusen (5-11, 185); RB/LB Jaxon Quails (5-9, 180); RB/LB Jacob Winchester (5-8, 215); WR/DB Mason Randolph (5-8, 165); RB/DB Evan Fergusen (5-9, 170).
Team strengths: The experience level – all but two starters are back – will certainly help build some consistency because those players should have a good grasp of the schemes on both sides.
Staff photo by Robin Rudd / Lookout Valley football coach Josh Payne shouts instructions to players from the sideline during a Sequatchie Valley jamboree matchup on Aug. 16, 2019, at Grundy County.Team concerns: There is still youth at some pivotal positions as three sophomores – Fergusen, Quails and Winchester – will be counted on to compete against teams with older rosters.
Breakout candidate: Quails has benefited from another year in the weight room and has the athleticism to play a key role in the offensive backfield as well as on defense.
Season outlook: Rebuilding projects never go as quickly as those who are enduring them would like. The number of inexperienced underclassmen the Yellow Jackets had to put on the field last year was not ideal, and those undersized players took their lumps.
Another year of workouts and conditioning, though, should have the team more competitive this season. The previously mentioned trio of sophomore starters all have the talent to develop into solid contributors, and there is better size up front as well.
It won’t be easy, considering three of the team’s first four games are on the road and the home opener is against perennial state power South Pittsburg, but finding a way to notch an early win would do wonders to lift the young team’s confidence for the latter half of the season, when the Yellow Jackets have three region foes among their final four games.
In a five-team region, just one league win is needed to reach the playoffs, and Lookout Valley hosts two of those final three region opponents.