By Justin Graves

justin@athensnews-courier.com

SALEM – Hard work hasn’t been a stranger to West Limestone’s football players this off-season. Wildcats’ coach Jeff Prince has been so impressed with the work he has gotten from his players, he finds it hard to believe anyone else could be working any harder.

“These guys have put a lot of hard work in this summer to make sure they are better,” Prince said. “The biggest thing that has gotten accomplished is everybody has gotten a lot stronger. That’s key when you’re rebuilding a program.”

Since West Limestone only has two seniors this year, Prince is looking to his younger players to step up and take larger leadership roles. But with a junior class of 15 players, and the majority of those guys with varsity experience, Prince thinks his underclassmen are more than capable of getting the job done.

“That’s a lot of experience coming back,” Prince said. “We’ve had 35 guys who have been dedicated to getting bigger and stronger in the weight room all summer. Take that with all the experience we return, and we should be a lot better.”

Prince doesn’t believe West Limestone’s talent is only confined to its junior class. He is also expecting some sophomores to play big roles for the Wildcats this season.

“Now that we’ve got our weight program established, and we’ve had a whole year to work with these kids, you can see the difference its made,” Prince said.



Raising the bar

The first thing about last season that Prince wanted to address was the Wildcats’ play on defense. He knows that in order for West Limestone to be competitive they have to play good defense.

“We were terrible on defense last year,” Prince said. “This year we are going to do a lot better job in that area.”

Prince said that he is looking to defensive lineman Austin Gillam and free safety Tyler McClung to be among West Limestone’s leaders on defense.

“We’ve got some guys who’ll hit you,” Prince said. “There are a lot of young guys like Austin (Gillam) who look like they’re going to be pretty good football players.



Turning the corner

Even though work ethic and desire have been in place at West Limestone, there is still one thing Prince has been waiting on his Wildcats to do.

“You can tell these kids are getting more confident,” Prince said. “We’re just waiting on them to turn the corner. Hopefully that will happen this year.”

Something West Limestone needs to do to make the next step is get more consistent on offense. Like on the defensive side of the ball, Prince is approaching his offense with the same physical mentality.

He said that West Limestone’s goal on offense is to establish its running game early in games to help control tempo.

“Our goal on offense is to control time of possession,” Prince said. “If we can run the ball effectively, get first downs and hang on to the ball, then we will be O.K.

“We know we can’t get in track meets with teams like Colbert County and Sheffield. We have to keep those type of games close, and try to win them with defense.”

The biggest thing Prince is glad to see is team leaders are starting to emerge. He sees this as a sign that players are buying into their philosophy, and things are going in the right direction.

“We have several players who are starting to emerge as team leaders, and that is a great sign,” Prince said. “We’re seeing a lot of positive stuff happen.

“These guys have worked hard to get better, and it should show up on the football field.”



Region of doom

Last year West Limestone got off to a slow start, and was never able to rebound. Prince believes when Clements’ came back and won the season opener in the second half, it hurt his players’ confidence.

“Getting off to a good start is huge,” Prince said. “It gives the team a confidence boost, and hopefully a good start can help us turn the corner.”

One thing playing against West Limestone is its schedule. The Wildcats open the season at Holy Pond – a physical team that was in the Class 2A playoffs a year ago. The following week the Wildcats host perennial Class 3A powerhouse Colbert County – possibly their toughest game of the season.

After traveling to Region 8 newcomer Colbert Heights in the third week, West Limestone plays host to its two biggest rivals – Elkmont and Ardmore.

The sixth week is where West Limestone’s schedule gets brutal, with the last five games against Sheffield, Lexington, Lauderdale County, Clements and Good Hope – all playoff contenders.

“Our region is as tough as they come,” Prince said. “From top to bottom, it has to be one of the toughest, if not the toughest, region in the state.

“With us playing teams of that caliber every week, it means we are going to need our younger guys to grow up real quick.”