COAHULLA CREEK COLTS
Head coach: Caleb Bagley (0-10 in one season here and overall)
Returning starters: 9 offensive, 9 defensive
Key players: OL/DL Coda Blackwell (6-0, 227), TE/LB Matt Jenkins (5-8, 180), WR/DB Michael King (5-10, 170), OL/DL Parker Teasley (6-0, 225), WR/DB Tim Underwood (5-11, 173).
Team strengths: For the first time in a while, the program has some experience returning. The offensive line has seven candidates for the five starting spots, giving the Colts some rare depth there.
Team concerns: Quarterback was an unsettled position heading into summer, but Cade Bates has emerged as the favorite. How quickly he gets up to speed will be a key to the season. Bagley and his staff hope leadership emerges early.
Newcomers to watch: First-year player Robert Brito, a junior, will play some at linebacker, as will sophomore Titus Underwood. Another 10th-grader, Wright Nelson, will be in the receiver rotation, while Austin Martin is set to make plays at receiver and in the secondary.
Season outlook: Any football coach knows the sport can be awfully cruel at times. Last year was one of those times for Bagley. As the first-year Colts coach, he knew he was inheriting a program with a steep hill to climb to be competitive in Class AAA.
What he got was a team with just two seniors that produced an 0-10 record and was outscored 525-85.
Bagley and his staff are ready for round two, but the outlook is quite a bit different.
"It's a night-and-day difference," Bagley said. "We're not where we want to be, obviously, but thank God we're not where we were last year. Being our second season, keeping our coaching staff together, it's made a world of difference."
There are now eight seniors and more than 80 players on the roster. After a year of weight training and with nearly every starter returning, there's reason for optimism. However, Bagley understands his team is physically not ready to match up with Calhoun, North Murray or Ringgold, but the groundwork has been laid.
"We still have a lot of young kids, and I don't know how things will shake out, but we will be vastly improved," he said. "The biggest area of improvement, to me, is just our team maturity - not just their age, but their mental maturity.
"I think they are very hungry. To be honest, we've gotten tired of people talking negative about Coahulla Creek football. The players have a chip on their shoulders, and we are trying to feed that a bit."