Daphne head coach Kenny King returns six starters on offense and five on defense in hopes of returning his program to the Class 7A playoffs.

The Trojans slipped to 4-6 overall last year and 3-3 in Region 1. It was just the second time in seven years at his alma mater that King’s team sat out the playoffs.

“I think our biggest question this year is how are we going to handle adversity,” he said at Baldwin County Media Day on Monday. “We want to make sure we are on top when the clock hits zero. We are creating things in practice to have them think about adversity. I am playing ref sometimes and making some unfair calls. At the end of the day, we have to stay composed.”

The Trojans return senior running back Nick Clark – whom King calls the “hometown hero” – to help lead the offense. He will be joined in the backfield by transfer quarterback Landen Snow.

“He’s the gunslinger,” King said of Snow. “He had a lot of confidence. He’s a true quarterback, very confident. I like that. I think the team likes that.”

Daphne opens the season at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Aug. 24 in a non-region game against Murphy.

“We are really determined this year,” Clark said.

Top players, top students

Fairhope coach Tim Carter said he has seven seniors on this year’s team who scored a 30 or higher on the ACT.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever had that many in that category,” he said. “We have a really good group of guys.”

One of those good seniors is tight end Sanders Daniell, who is committed to play college football at Harvard. Daniell, a two-year starter, broke his collar bone in the third game of the season as a junior and didn’t return until a Week 10 game against Briarwood.

“He may be the first guy we’ve ever had to go to Harvard,” Carter said.

Two-way Dolphins

Gulf Shores hasn’t made a habit of playing too many players on both sides of the football, but coach Mark Hudspeth can’t help but play seniors Ronnie Royal and Braden Jackson on offense and defense.

“It’s difficult and probably more difficult for those guys,” Hudspeth said on how he manages time for his stars. “We have to format our practice schedule for those guys to get the reps they need. Both coordinators (Kenny Edenfield on offense and Brian VanGorder on defense) want their 50 percent obviously. We have to be really smart, so we don’t wear them out.”

Both Royal and Jackson will play secondary on defense and wide receiver or running back on offense. Royal is committed to play college football at N.C. State and likely will specialize in the secondary at their level.

Closing the gap

Elberta coach Nathan McDaniel said he believes his team is closing the gap with the contenders in Class 5A, Region 1.

One area the Warriors need to improve to make that happen is on offense.

Elberta averaged just 10.9 points a game in 2022. In hopes of improving that, McDaniel hired AISA coaching legend Bobby Carr as offensive coordinator after Andrew Davis left to take a job at Spanish Fort.

“I felt like defensively we progressed the last few years,” McDaniel said. “Offensively, we’ve really struggled. Last year, we lost our quarterback to an ankle sprain and that obviously hurt us.

“Bobby has done a tremendous job accepting his role and installing his offense. I don’t know what it is about guys like Bobby and coach (Mark) Freeman (Thompson) and Jamey (DuBose, Orange Beach coach), but they know how to get players to go wide open every snap. Having Bobby here is an opportunity for me at age 39 to learn from him. I’m always looking for how I can get better.”

McDaniel said Carr is tailoring the Elberta offense to the strengths of the team.

“You can’t put a square peg in a round hole,” McDaniel said. “It’s been an evaluation process for Bobby in seeing what we have and adjusting to that. He’s going to find what we are capable of doing and focus on that.”

A first for Jamey DuBose

Veteran coach Jamey DuBose is experiencing a first in his second year at Orange Beach. The Makos have just three returning starters from last year’s Class 4A playoff team.

“First time ever,” he said. “It’s something brand new. We are taking on a little different identity.”

DuBose lost 21 seniors from last year’s 8-3 squad, but the said the players he has remaining keeps him going.

“Orange Beach football kids work extremely hard,” he said. “I’ve been around some really good programs with great talent, but you can make up for talent sometimes with hard work. We don’t have new facilities. We are just proud to have a lockerroom this year. Orange Beach football is about grit and hard work. This team is going to be a fun team.”

DuBose also was asked at Baldwin County media day about any staff changes in the offseason.

“We lost four coaches, didn’t replace any. We have what we have, and we are ready to roll,” he said. “Sometimes you need to get simpler. Last year, we had 70 players. This year, we have 60. I think having a smaller staff can make the knowledge of what we are doing and the words we are speaking a little clearer. I’m good with where we are.”

Preseason matchup on the Hill

Class 4A St. Michael will travel to Class 6A Spanish Fort on Aug. 17 for a preseason jamboree game before both teams open the season officially the next week.

How did this particular matchup come about?

“Philip is a big fan of mine,” Toros coach Chase Smith joked of Cardinals coach and former NFL QB Philip Rivers. “He is always hounding me for autographs. Seriously, we wanted to play a practice game that week and wanted it to be someone local and it obviously had to be someone who didn’t have spring. I reached out to Philip. We are excited. It will be two great programs preparing for their first game.”

Rivers said his team is excited for the challenge as well.

“They are a heck of a team,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity. We will play a half varsity and a half junior varsity. I think that speed and environment will help us going into Week 1 at Gulf Shores. And the best thing is, when we leave that game, we are still 0-0. We are looking at that as another practice and a chance to get better against really good players.”

Both teams open the season a week later on another Thursday night – Spanish Fort hosting Class 7A Fairhope, while the Cardinals travel to the beach for a game with Mark Hudspeth and the Dolphins.

Can the Tigers bounce back?

After a breakthrough 8-4 season and a playoff berth in 2021, Baldwin County slumped mightily a year ago.

Scott Rials’ team lost their first nine games and were outscored 310-113 for the season. The Tigers’ only win came in the finale against Robertsdale (51-27).

“When that snowball starts going downhill, it’s really hard to stop,” Rials said. “We had as many as 30 guys out some days. It was really worse than the COVID year for us. I think some of it was because we were getting our butt whipped. Some people just don’t want to fight. We’ve been pushing through in the offseason, doing things to learn how to fight through adversity because I promise you it’s coming. I feel like we will be more ready this year.”

Rials is definitely hoping his team can exceed perceived low expectations this year.

“Sometimes, teams can prove everyone wrong,” he said. “We can be that team.”

A mystery offense at Bayside Academy

Former Auburn quarterback Barrett Trotter has taken over as head coach at Bayside Academy.

Trotter was hired earlier this year to replace Phil Lazenby. He likes what he has seen from his team so far.

“We’ve got great kids. They give great effort, and I don’t say that lightly,” he said. “They’ve shown up ready to work, and they’ve been learning. There are a lot of offensive and defensive schemes that might not have been in their background, but they’ve been picking it all up.”

Exactly what those schemes are, especially on offense, time will apparently tell.

“Anytime you have a quarterback who can run and throw the football (Sammy Dunn), your offense is going to change,” Trotter said. “I’ve come from so many different backgrounds under so many coaches. We just pull the good and leave the bad and find a way to work it into your system.”

Dunn, a sophomore, said the offense will be a lot faster than it was in 2022.

“We are opening up the playbook,” he said. “We are throwing it more.”

A different look for Foley running back

Foley senior running back/linebacker Kolton Nero looks like a different player this year. The once husky Lion dropped 28 pounds in 3.5 months during the offseason.

“It’s going to help me big time,” Nero said. “I played so much lighter in the spring game, and it felt way different from last season.”

Nero said he had to give up eating fast food among other things.

“McDonalds, Whataburger, whatever – I had to give it up,” he said.

Foley coach Deric Scott said Nero gained weight prior to his junior season when he was injured and couldn’t run.

“He got a little too big,” Scott said. “It happens. He wasn’t able to lift weights or run and he struggled with that. He didn’t play a lot of running back earlier last year because he had to get in better shape. He basically rushed for 1,200 yards in eight games, so we are excited to see him healthy for a full season.”

Small margin of error for Robertsdale

Kyle Stanford enters his fifth year at Robertsdale.

After two promising seasons in 2020 and 2021, the Golden Bears went 0-10 a year ago and gave up 426 points.

“Last year obviously didn’t go how we wanted,” he said. “Years 2 and 3, we had some success. The margin of error is just so small. There were a few seasons where we won three or four games and were right there with a chance to maybe win seven or eight and just didn’t make a play or two.

“We don’t play in a league where you can look at a schedule and say, ‘Hey, there are three wins here or there.’ But we can’t make that excuse. Everyone else plays in a tough region, too. We have to quit going in hoping we can compete and just win. We have to refuse to lose. If you don’t play to win each play, the end of the game won’t matter.”

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