H.S. FOOTBALL: Liberty has new leader, players in 2015

The football team at Liberty Tech was already set to have a different look in 2015.

The 2014 senior class graduated and took nearly 20 kids with it, including nearly every playmaker that helped win the Crusaders the District 15-AA championship.

Then head coach Steve Hookfin announced in February he was leaving to take the open job at Haywood, and Tyler Turner returned to West Tennessee from Arkansas to help keep the Crusaders’ program rolling with more big victories and possible long playoff runs.

“Liberty has become a great football tradition around here, and trying to keep that tradition going and building on what Coach Hookfin and the players that have come there have done is a challenge,” said Turner, who is a 2004 graduate of Obion County. “But it’s a challenge I look forward to, and I like the players we have to answer that challenge.”

Turner was hired in April and had three weeks between his hiring and the start of spring practice. Since then, he’s hit the ground running learning players and giving the players a chance to learn him and his objectives for the team.

“It’s been a process, but the kids have really bought in,” Turner said. “They’re working hard and doing everything we’ve asked them to do.”

Evidence of the Crusaders buying in was exhibited this week when the team won the 7-on-7 competition and lineman challenge Wednesday night at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ annual camp at University School of Jackson.

Turner said success at a camp in July doesn’t necessarily translate into wins in September and October, but it was good to see his players compete and succeed against players from other teams.

The Crusaders will certainly be tested early when the season arrives. They have their annual season-opener with Henry County followed by a matchup with North Side. Region play opens with Milan before Liberty plays Wooddale from Memphis. A game with Dyersburg, which eliminated Liberty in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs last year, will finish the first half of the season.

“The kids know we have a tough schedule, and I think we like it like that,” Turner said. “We want to play the best, and we definitely play some of the best around here on this schedule.”

Brandon Shields, 425-9751