Wright Says Cross Football Has Successful Spring

By David Shelton

Senior Writer

Cross – Under the direction of head coach Shaun Wright, the Cross High football program has become one of the top Class A programs in the state.

Cross is coming off a 2024 season that produced a 12-3 season which ended in an appearance in the Class A state championship game.

As is the case with every prep football team in the state, Cross recently went through spring drills in early preparation for the 2025 season. The coach says between 35-40 athletes participated in spring practice. It was a mix of returning players, players moving up to the junior varsity, and a handful of new players.

“It went well,” Wright said of the two weeks of drills. “We have a good number of returning players so they understand what we do and what is expected. They are able to work together in bringing the new players along. We just to try to bring them along as we look forward to the summer.”

Wright says another major objective during spring practices is to focus on fundamentals and techniques and improving in both.

“As we look at where we are, we knew that we had to improve in fundamentals and techniques,” the coach said. “We have some good players coming back but even they need to work on doing things better.”

Offensively, the Trojans return a key leader in junior quarterback Tyler Harris. Harris was a first-year starter last season and showed dramatic progress over the course of the season. His intangibles were even more important, according to Wright.

“He became a huge leader for us,” the coach said. “Our offense was good because of the way he played.”

Cross lost all-state running back Karmello Jones to graduation but the running back position is solid with the return of junior Mah’ky Green and William Grant. Green has seen extensive action over the last two years.

“We can’t replace Karmello with one guy but we feel like we will still be able to run the football as a group,” Wright said.

Helping the running game will be three returning offensive linemen – Michael Bennett, Jalen Broughton and Kerji Polite. Bennett will be a third-year starter.

Those linemen will be key starters on the defensive line as well. Grant is a returner as a linebacker and the secondary is led by two-time all-stater Caden Ramsey, who led the state with 14 interceptions last season. Ramsey, a 6-4 receiver and safety, is getting a lot of recruiting interest from college programs.