By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
Spring football is for fresh starts, and no team needed a fresh start quite as much as the Jacksonville Red Devils.
Picked to finish third in the 6A East a season ago, the Red Devils instead wound up as the only team to lose to Searcy and one of only two teams from the East to miss the playoffs. This after two straight seasons in the postseason, including a conference co-championship in 2006.
“We didn’t meet our goals or expectations at all last year,” said Jacksonville head coach Mark Whatley, who will begin his fourth season at the Red Devil helm in August. “I have my ideas of why, but I’m still in the kid business. Hopefully, we’ve learned the importance of working hard and preparing each and every week.”
The Red Devils, who began their two-week spring football camp on Monday, opened the 2007 campaign with a 42-0 walloping at the hands of Cabot and things never really picked up from that point on. Though they appeared to have the season righted after a 47-7 win over Jonesboro in Week 5 that improved them to 2-0 in league play, they lost their final five games to finish 3-7.
The low point came in a 10-7 loss to Searcy two weeks after that Jonesboro win.
“I thought that could be a lesson to our kids,” Whatley said. “You look at what Searcy went through (2-28 over the past three seasons) and how they stayedcommitted to what they were trying to do. It paid off for them. My hat was off to their perseverance and persistence.
“I hope we learned from that and the guys will remember.”
A lot of those Red Devils have graduated, including quarterback and Arkansas Tech signee Cameron Hood, All-State defensive end Brayden Murray, receiver Terrell L’Herise and cornerback Marquise Simpkins, as well as most of the offensive line.
But the 7-loss season didn’t keep down the turnout for spring football. Sixty-five are out, a number Whatley said is among the highest he’s had at Jacksonville. More than half — 35 — are sophomores. That’s never a particularly hopeful thing where the rugged 6A East is concerned.
“It’s always a tough time for sophomores,” Whatley said. “You go from being the big fish to the little fish. You have to try to take care of them, keep them happy. Hopefully, get past our instant, microwave society and look down the road and say, ‘I’m going to see this thing through.’”
Whatley is high on a number of those sophomores, as well as a talented corps of players who saw significant action last fall. Two of those sophomores-to-be — Logan Perry and Noah Sanders — will be vying for the quarterback spot with senior-to-be Terrell Brown. Brown not only possesses speed, but much-needed leadership potential for a young squad.
“Brown started at corner last year and he’s just a superb athlete,” Whatley said. “He’s a very intelligent kid with great work habits. We’ll try to have several different packages to meet what he’s capable of doing on the field and to take some heat off the young guys.”
Once again, the Red Devils will be running out of the spread, but with an emphasis on the running game. Whatley said he is hoping for better balance in the attack this year, and will have a couple of speedsters to shore up the ground game.
Cory Bester and Patrick Geans are returning tailbacks with exceptional speed, vision and balance, Whatley said. For straight ahead running, fullback Jeffrey Tillman returns fully recovered from an early-season injury. He and Caleb Mitchell will split time at the position, and Tillman will anchor the linebacking corps as well.
The Red Devils will have back speedy receiver Stanley Appleby, a player Whatley says he “couldn’t tackle in a phone booth.” Appleby is another high-character player, Whatley added.
“He’s very quick and very athletic,” he said. “And he’s one of those kids who you can call on to run six go routes in a row and he’ll just keep blowing them out. He’s very unselfish. He does what you ask him to do and he does it full speed.”
Defensively, the Red Devils should be anchored by Cordero Shelton on the defensive end. Whatley was happy with his team’s defensive effort a year ago.
“We played well enough defensively last year to win more games than we did,” he insisted. “Week in and week out the defense played above their heads, and we put them in some tough situations. They responded time and again.”
More than anything, though, Whatley is looking for a rededication from his team in 2008. He won’t offer any predictions, only to say that no players work hard all year without a burning desire to win a championship.
“We have to have a more mature, business-like approach,” he said. “Our seniors this year I think will provide leadership. But I’ve never seen a law where there’s an age limit on who’s going to lead. The Good Lord puts leaders on this earth and the Good Lord puts followers on this earth and it’s up to both to make the right decisions.
“I’ve been a part of (championship teams),” he added. “It takes a lot of commitment, determination and luck.”
