Caldwell County feels like it’s going to be much improved over last season. How that shows up in the win-loss column, though, is unknown.
“It’s difficult to say right now because you never know what everybody else has coming back,” noted Tiger head coach Aaron McClung, who enters his second season as Caldwell skipper but is a longtime coach at CCHS.
“We don’t have lots of numbers, but we do have a really good bunch of kids who are reliable and hard-working. We feel pretty good that we’ve got lots of potential to win games.
“Even though the defending state champion (Mayfield) is in our district, we feel like we’ll be competitive in the district. Hopefully we can get a home playoff game. Our ultimate goal is to win playoff games.”
Caldwell returns much of last year’s squad. Even though that team went 1-10, valuable experience was gained in the process.
“We’re much farther along this season than we were last year,” said McClung. “All the things we are going to do offensively, we are putting those in from day one.
“We’ve got a solid running game, we can throw the ball, we’ve got a good corps of receivers. We feel like we’ve got some playmakers.
“Up front, we’ve got two seniors, a junior and two sophomores. We think we will be pretty good.”
After averaging just over 11 points a game last season, the Tigers know their offensive output has to increase this season for the year to be prosperous. McClung said some players have been moved around this year to better utilize their abilities.
Sophomore Daelyn Lander figures to take the lead role at quarterback this season, although senior Luke Parker and junior Jack Roach could also figure into the mix.
“We went into last season with three quarterbacks, and we wanted to let them all compete,” said McClung.
“But we never really resolved that situation all season.
“It was a difficult decision. And I wouldn’t say it’s completely resolved now. But in the long term, we feel like Daelyn is our best option at quarterback.
“And that allows us to move Luke to receiver, where I think he’s going to have a monster year. He’s not going to be on any preseason teams at receiver because he’s played quarterback, but I expect him to make teams at the end of the year. He can play college ball.
“Roach is really the quarterback of our defense at linebacker,” McClung added. “And he’s going to be playing some fullback too.
“This was a way to get them all on the field and give those kids a chance to shine.”
Caldwell will also be making some tweaks to the spread offense it has used for years.
“We’re still going to be a spread offense, but we are changing our style a little bit. I don’t see us throwing the ball 30 times a game like we have in the past. We may throw it 15-25 times, depending on what the defense is giving us. And I don’t think we will have one guy touching the ball 25 or 30 times a game. We may have four kids that have seven or eight carries a night.
“We just want to be a versatile offense,” he added. “If we find something that works against a team, we will keep doing it.”
Besides Parker moving to wide receiver, senior Gus Fox bumps over to a receiver spot as well. Another senior, Luke Maddox, gives the Tigers several options on offense.
Senior Eli Stevens is another sure-handed receiver.
Senior Kam Spikes came on toward the end of last season and looks to take over the fullback spot and could get the majority of the carries out of the backfield this season.
The offensive line returns senior Preston Birrell at center, senior Daniel Laurent at right guard and junior Landry Dunbar at left guard.
Sophomore Braden Springfield figures to play left tackle while sophomore Conner Forsythe is the right tackle.
“We’ve got about 12 linemen that we can play,” said McClung. “We try to platoon our linemen, but Daniel, Preston and Garner Stallins are probably going to see some time on both sides of the line.
“Forsythe and Springfield are two of our biggest offensive linemen. They’re both big kids and both like to be physical.
“Dunbar started some at tackle last year but we’ve moved him to guard. Laurent has started for three years.
“Alex Fox and and Carter Ennis, two sophomores, are going to play some for us. We’ve got confidence in both of those guys.”
On the defensive side of the football, the Tigers suffered some key losses up front, but return most of the linebacking corps and the secondary.
“We’re still going to play a 3-4 but we’ve got some new wrinkles,” said McClung. “We’ve got seven or eight kids that can play linebacker. We’ve really got a great linebacking group. And we return everybody in the secondary.
“We’re young up front, but we’ve got some hard-working, tough kids up there.”
Birrell gets the nod at noseguard while Laurent will play left end and Stallins right end.
“Duke Ward, a sophomore, and Layton Wall, a senior, are also going to play,” said McClung. “They’re not real big, but they’re fast kids and they can be disruptive up front.
“We’re a little young up front, but we’ve got some hard-working, tough kids.”
Roach led the team with 113 tackles last season and is back at an inside linebacker spot with Spikes taking over the other inside position.
The outside linebackers have good athleticism with sophomore Kam Wilson and junior Seth Trusty manning those positions.
Parker will start at free safety with Fox at strong safety.
Juniors Shane Fairrow and Zy Rollins will be on the corners.
Sophomore Drew Stevens could also see some time in the secondary. McClung noted that Lander is also a possibility if needed at that position.
Junior Sutton Ritchey will handle the place-kicking duties after sharing that responsibility last season. Parker will likely be the punter.
The 2024 slate is the same as last season, meaning a challenging schedule again this season. However, McClung believes his team is in better shape to be competitive this season.
“A lot of teams we played last year had a lot of seniors, and we return just about everybody,” he noted.
“I really feel like the key for us to be competitive is just eliminating the negative plays, just getting first downs on offense and giving ourselves a chance to win the game.”
McClung said, right now, the Tigers are just concentrating on the opener against Hopkins County Central.
“Hopkins Central is the biggest game because it’s the next one,” said the Caldwell coach. “We really felt like we should have won that game last year. So we want to get off to a good start this season by winning that first one.
“Obviously, we’d like to win every game,” said McClung. “But if we can win a playoff game, I’d say that would help make it a successful season.”
The Tigers will kick off the new season at home on Friday, Aug. 23, against the Storm.
