Mattie T. Blount, Vigor hope to get back in playoff chase in 2023
Markus Cook didn’t give his Vigor football team a break following last year’s 5-4 season – one that ended short of a playoff berth.
“We didn’t earn a reason to take a break, so we kept working,” Cook said at Mobile County Media Days last week. “We are going to run every day, going to work every day. The standard is the standard. Every day we want to get better at something.”
The attitude is not much different at Blount where Ray Nelson takes over a Leopards team that has missed the Class 6A playoffs each of the last two seasons. However, Nelson and company aren’t using the term “rebuilding.”
“We are rebranding,” the former Theodore quarterback and Satsuma head coach said. “Rebranding is what you do when you come into a program with high expectations. Rebuilding is when you come into a program and say it’s going to take a while to get turned around. There is no way we are looking to rebuild. If we don’t rebrand at Blount, I’ll be looking to be rehired in a few years.”
The two traditional powers – with nine state championships between them – look to get back in title contention in 2023. They face off in the annual “Battle of Prichard” at 7 p.m. on Aug. 26 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile. A lot of attention has been given this summer to the fact that the game won’t be played at Vigor’s new on-campus stadium, but Cook said he can’t focus on that.
“We’ve got to go play football,” he said. “If the game was in Mississippi, we would have to go play in Mississippi. I know a lot of people are mad about logistics or whatever, but we can’t control that. We have to go to work every single day to get ready for a football game.”
Vigor, coming off its 2021 Class 4A state title, won 7-0 at Blount a year ago but 5A, Region 1 losses to B.C. Rain, UMS-Wright, Faith Academy and Gulf Shores kept them out of the postseason in Cook’s first year as head coach.
“I think a lot of people grew up in the offseason,” he said. “Coaches, players – we went back and re-evaluated. We didn’t make the playoffs, so it was a disappointing season. We know that. We had to go back to square one.”
The Wolves return plenty of experience – 18 starters in fact (eight on defense, 10 on offense). That group includes South Alabama commit Jerrian Graham, who likely will play all over the field for Vigor, along with Georgia 2025 OL commit Micah DeBose and Mississippi Valley defensive back commit Brandon Purifoy.
The Wolves beat Class 6A McGill-Toolen 20-0 in a spring game at the new stadium.
“It was a decent showing, but it was a spring game,” Cook said. “There was really no ‘W’ or no ‘L.’ I saw some strengths, but I saw some things we need to work on as well.”
Meanwhile at Blount, Nelson is all in on the rebranding.
He would like the school to be known by it’s official and full name – Mattie T. Blount. New helmets feature the “M.T.B.” letters.
Mattie T. Blount coach Ray Nelson along with players Chase Howard and Colby Wells preview the 2023 season. (Ben Thomas | [email protected])
“It’s just a mindset of putting respect on the name,” he said. “I found some of our old gold jerseys. We are going back to that gold standard of being Mattie T. Blount High School.”
The Leopards won state titles in 1990, 1992, 1996, 1997 and 1998, but the past several seasons have been dotted with new coaches and not enough victories. Nelson is the team’s fourth coach since 2020. The last two coaches – interim coach Dedrick Sumpter and Josh Harris – each went 3-7 in their only seasons.
The Leopards haven’t missed the playoffs in three straight seasons since the mid-1980s (1983-1985).
“Anytime you bring in a new coach and have a new color scheme and new uniforms, the kids are intrigued and bought in,” Nelson said. “We are a traditional power that has had two straight losing seasons. Everyone wants to get back into the winning ways. It hasn’t taken much to corral the team and the community.
“This is one of the best programs in the South with a ton of tradition and school spirit.”
Nelson spent four years as head coach at Satsuma before stepping down and spending the 2022 season as an assistant under Eric Collier at Theodore. He said he is refreshed and ready for the challenge of a Class 6A, Region 1 schedule that includes reigning state champion Saraland, semifinalist and reigning region champ Theodore and perennial power Spanish Fort.
“I know it’s tough, but we were in a tough region in my previous job,” Nelson said. “We had No. 1 St. Paul’s, No. 2 UMS-Wright and No. 3 Faith Academy, and I can assure you my lockerroom then didn’t look like what it does now. I know we have three top 10 programs in our region, but we want to be there as well by the end of the year.”
Vigor undoubtedly would like to be in the same place in the Class 5A race.
The season starts for both teams at Ladd on Aug. 26.
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