Mullins – After losing a slew of talented seniors from a team that won the SCISA AAA state championship last season, Pee Dee Academy football coach Jonathan King knew he and his coaching staff would have some work to do with this edition of Golden Eagles.
So after opening the season with a 55-7 loss to Cardinal Newman on August 25, King has no trepidation in regards to the rest of the season.
“Not a bit,” was King’s response when asked if the loss changed his perspective. “I’m still very excited about this group of guys we have and what we can grow into as the season progresses. I’ve said all summer we’re a work in progress, and that’s OK. We just have to continue to working to improve daily in practice and getting live reps in game situations.
“Cardinal Newman has an incredibly talents football, and Coach (Corey) Helms and his staff do a great job with them,” he added. “They are going to have lots of success this season in AAAA. I hate that we had to run into that buzzsaw right off the bat, but we’ll learn from facing a team that good and be better because of it. We’re not going to let that game define our season.”
The quarterback is junior Colby Richardson, who was the favorite receiving target for departed QB Hunter Spivey with 52 catches for 743 yards and eight touchdowns. Richardson will have two returning starters to throw to in senior Landon Nobles (38-558-5) and junior Miles Trussell (26-557-7). The other wideout is senior Noah Cox with junior Bennett Causey at tight end.
Junior Hayden Spivey is the only returner on the offensive line, but he’s at a new position, moving from center to right tackle. Freshman Judson Martin is the right guard and junior Storm Garris is the center. The left side has junior Keeton Cribbs at tackle and sophomore Cole Pursley at guard.
Like on offense, Pee Dee returns just three starters on defense. They are Trussell at linebacker and seniors Hughes Elvington and Cutter Miller at cornerback,
The safeties are a pair of sophomores in Ryan Small and Tristan Heckman. The other two linebackers are seniors Will Bass and Slate Lewis.
Spivey and Cox will be starting on the defensive line along with sophomore Chandler James and senior Darren Yang.
Trussell will be handling the kicking and punting duties.
Avoiding injuries will be a big key to the Eagles improving moving forward.
“Staying healthy is a big part of that,” King said. “We were banged up going into Week 1 and we still are.”
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