H.S. FOOTBALL: Bruceton has to build depth every year

BRUCETON – Jamie Williams and the football program at Hollow Rock-Bruceton Central have all the normal struggles someone might expect a team from one of the smallest schools in the state to have.

Depth is usually a key issue.

One would expect depth to have a big effect on the Tigers this season after losing players like Kaelin and Andrew Willis and Reese Broomfield to graduation last year.

Williams admits that probably will have an effect, but he said the key to an annually successful high school football program is to continue having guys out there to keep the program going.

“That’s the only way you can do it,” Williams said. “If you’re a bigger school, you usually can do that pretty easily. We have to try a little harder at that around here.”

The efforts of Williams and the coaching staff seem to be working as Bruceton has made the Class 1A playoffs three of the last four seasons, making it to the second round twice.

The Tigers appear to be in a similar situation this year.

Speedy players like the Willis cousins and Broomfield are gone, but Zayveon Johnson is back as a junior. He’s the fastest of a group of about six players Williams said he could see carrying the ball this season. Johnson has the physical ability to be successful as he’s been clocked with a 4.3-second 40-yard dash time at a couple camps this summer.

“Our problem right now is we’ve got to find guys that can carry the ball consistently, make good decisions when it’s in their hands and hold on to the ball,” Williams said. “We got a lot of young guys, including Zayveon, who can do a better job of that. And we need them to.”

Williams said if the young Tigers can put together plenty of improvement to do what they need to do on Friday nights to be successful early in the season against non-region opponents like West Carroll and South Fulton, then they’ll hopefully build up some game experience to help them succeed in their new Region 6-1A, in which they and Huntingdon play in a league that’s mainly in Middle Tennessee.

“There’s a lot of unknowns there right now, so the main thing we need to do is work on making us better and just being concerned with Bruceton,” Williams said.

Brandon Shields, 425-9751