Consistent effort is what Stanford wants from Tigers

One does not have to be a genius to understand Gerry Stanford's philosophy regarding high school football.

"You'll never hear me or my staff mention wins and loses; we're focused on work ethic, and that's it," said Texas High's first-year head coach Stanford, who replaced Barry Norton, who moved over to Arkansas High after 18 years without a losing season.

Sanford indicated he would never pick his team as a favorite, or anything else.

"I'm not ever going to think we'll be at the top going into a season," he said. "It's a day-to-day operation; it depends on our work ethic.

"You want to build on a storied tradition, and that's what I want to do at Texas High. Here I have an established tradition, which is better than no tradition at all. We want to keep moving forward and build on what is here. You don't want to be stagnant and stale at what you're doing."

Stanford inherits a team that returns nine starters on defense, but only four on offense. The coaching staff has has a big turnover, and they only have three weeks to get ready for the Tigers' season opener at home with Bishop Lynch.

Texas High's defensive coordinator this season is veteran Gregg Miller, who was Lewisville's (Texas) head coach last fall. Stanford also brought in Mike Ludlow, who was Marshall's offensive coordinator last year. Ludlow and Clint Toon will be co-offensive coordinators, with Ludlow working with the quarterbacks, and Toon with the running backs.

Jay Pond came to THS from Trinity Valley Community College and will coach the offensive linemen, while A.J. Wilson will be the special teams coordinator and work with the safties. Wilson was at Cypress Ridge last season. The final newcomer on staff is Stan Kimbell, who was at Denton Ryan. He will coach outside linebackers.

The remaining staff members are Kyle Dickerson (wide receivers), Lane Elliott (wide receivers), Todd Elliott (h-backs, tight ends), James Hawkins (defensive line), Justin Coats (cornerbacks) and Ernie Rhone (defensive line).

"You want a staff that's built around high character and all the coaches listed here are of high character," Stanford said. "They care tremendously about the kids, and want the kids to be successful. They're the people (assistant coaches) who run this thing."

Make no mistake, defense will be the Tigers' strength going into the 2017 season.

"I think we had a great spring on defense; there was some consistency developed in the spring," Stanford said. "I think we'll have to continue to learn on what came out of spring ball. That learning curve is going to be steep, and we've got to be ready for what we've got to do."

Leading tackler Xzavier Hopkins graduated, but the Tigers have linebacker Davon Williams (6-0, 190) and lineman Leonard Parks (6-4, 230) back. Those two combined for 154 tackles last season.

The defensive line should be solid with Parks, Jaylin Franklin (6-0, 275), Diedrick Reeves (6-2, 215) and Dejonte Harper (6-4, 220) back.

Linebacker Tim Noble (5-10, 165) is back after piling up 44 tackles a year ago.

The secondary lost Eric Sutton (4 interceptions) to graduation, but returns Darrell Webster (5-11, 155), Vonderic Stanley (5-8, 145) and Jaqualin Brown (6-1, 175). Lettermen Jaylon Matlock (5-11, 175) and Chris Arnold (6-0, 185) are expected to contribute at linebacker.

"I really liked what I saw on defense in the spring, but all of us are newcomers to some degree," Stanford said. "We may not have new people on defense, but some players are at new positions. We have a senior-led defense, which excites me.

"We've got depth in some spots, but at any level you're trying to develop depth at every spot. Right now we feel better about some spots than others."

Some newcomers who could see playing time include safety Davarian Malone, defensive backs Seth Willis and Kaveone Ragland; and linebackers Darryl Maxwell and Demarquis Vaughn.

Graduation hit the Tigers hard on the offensive side of the ball.

Gone is a three-year starting quarterback (Cade Pearson), who threw for 2,399 yards and 24 touchdowns last year. His favorite target, Quan Hampton, is now at Kansas University after catching a school-record 71 passes for 1,229 yards and nine TDs in 2016. Pearson is now playing at the University of North Texas.

The Tigers top three runners (Pearson, Devuntay Walker and Markese Martin) graduated.

The good news for Texas High is the return of linemen Elian Bustos (6-2, 270) and Ladd Preston (5-11, 255). They're joined by lettermen Tevailance Hunt (6-2, 180) and Chris Lyles (5-10, 165) at wide receiver.

"Hunt is committed to TCU and I think he's pretty firm on that," Stanford said. "He had a whole lot of interest from a lot of major schools. I think we'll have a lot of kids attracting college attention. Parks was pretty comfortable after visiting SMU this summer.

"Offensively, we're breaking in a new quarterback and other positions. I thought we were able to establish an identity in the spring as to who we'll be on offense, and what we'll be capable of from the base offense.

"Our returning starters are doing a great job of bringing along the new guys. You can't ever trade the experience you get under Friday night lights; there's no trade-off for that experience, or way to create it."

Stanford did start fall workouts knowing junior Coltin Clack (6-3, 215) would be his quarterback, and that he had solid backups in Riley Russell (6-1, 185) and several others moving up from the freshman and junior varsity teams.

"I think colleges are seeing Clack as a potential prospect; he's a goal-oriented kid and I believe his expectations involve playing college ball," Stanford said. "He's got great academic skill sets right now, which makes him a good candidate. His athletic ability is going to carry him as far as he wants to go. He did a great job in the spring."

Clark saw limited action with the varsity last year, completing 9 of 19 passes for 142 yards with one interception. Clack rushed for 12 yards and one touchdown on six carries.

Other lettermen in position to see a lot of playing time on offense include linemen Carl Oliver (6-0, 290) and Mason Shoalmire (6-4, 265); Elias thurman (6-1, 175) could start at receiver, and Solomon Davis (6-0, 200) was impressive in the spring.

Walker and Martin's departure leaves junior Chris Sutton (5-9, 165) as the only experienced running back. He ran for 127 yards and a touchdown, averaging 4.7 yards per carry.

"We were glad to see Sutton having success in baseball last spring," Stanford said. "It enabled us to bring along some of our young guys. Those young guys got a lot of reps in the spring, and we were able to see what they can do. The competition at running back will continue through our fall camp."

Sophomore Trakeci Cooper (6-0, 185) was among the young players exciting the coaching staff. Others included Collius Zachery, Kameron Burns, Keith Williams, Braylon Chatman and Gabriel Ochoa.

Stanford is counting on his athletic squad to be a difference-maker on special teams.

"We start our day, every day working on special teams; that is a key component to what we've got to do to win football games," Stanford said. "Special teams are going to win big games more often than not. We also end our day working on special teams. It's kind of bookends to what we do."

Senior Logan Snell (6-4, 180) is the front-runner to replace Isidro Hernandez and Kyle Choate.

"We'll continue to look at our kickers, but Logan came out of spring doing a good job. We'll find out this fall where that all falls."

So this is what it all adds up to for the fans: THS will be different on defense, and similar on offense as far as X's and O's.

Stanford has expectations of excellency in his program from top to bottom. Still, it depends on the players' hard work and execution on Friday nights.

"We had a great summer so far, with a high number of kids showing up each day; the key thing is not how many, but how many who are going to be consistent," Stanford said. "I like where we're starting. I tell the kids you want to start off in August ready instead of having to get ready in August. We're ready from a conditioning standpoint.

"We'll be starting out in a different style defense, and somewhat a different style of offense."

The big question remains unanswered. Can Texas High improve on last year's 10-1 campaign and defend its District 16-5A championship?

"I think you've got a bunch of new coaches in district who have come in and done tremendous jobs in developing a culture of excellency," Stanford said. "Coach (Kerry) Lane has done an excellent job at Pine Tree.

"We don't talk about who we're playing, or what we're going up against. We focus on what our work ethic is like, and the rest will take care of itself. We're in a deep district with a lot of parallels."

 

QUICK FACTS

 

SCHOOL: Texas High

2016 RECORD: 10-1

HEAD COACH: Gerry Stanford

YEARS AT SCHOOL: First

COACHING STAFF: Clint Toon, co-OC; Gregg Miller, DC; Mike Ludlow, co-OC; A.J. Wilson, STC; Kyle Dickerson, WR; Lane Elliott, WR; Todd Elliott, TE; Jay Pond, OL; James Hawkins, DL; Justin Coats, CB; Ernie Rhone, DL; Stan Kimbell, OLB.

LETTERMEN LOST/BACK: 21/26

STARTERS BACK: 4 offense, 9 defense

PLAYERS TO WATCH: WR Tevailance Hunt, QB Coltin Clack, WR Chris Lyles, DL Leonard Parks, LB Davon Williams, RB Chris Sutton, QB/TE Riley Russell

TOP NEWCOMERS: WR Mason Jones, RB Trakeci Cooper, FS Davarian Malone, LB Darryl Maxwell, DB Seth Willis, DB Kaveone Ragland, LB Demarquis Vaughn

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