HAMPTON

Taking advantage of a Bulldog oddity…

An abundance of linemen provides options for Hampton

BY IVAN SANDERS

STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

Coming into the 2020 season, Hampton Bulldog head coach Michael Lunsford has a situation that most coaches would love to have and that is the fact that he is very heavy in the line – literally.

Most of the time, teams will be blessed with an overabundance of skill players but will be short on linemen who can easily get worn down.

Not this season.

The line will be one of the strengths of the Hampton team in 2020.

“We have a second-year quarterback in junior Conor Jones,” said Lunsford. “We feel like he has gained a lot of valuable experience last year and is one of the more talented athletes in the area and in our division. We feel really good about him.

“We have some good size. I feel like we have nine kids that I can play in the line that is odd for a Hampton football team. It’s a good thing but it’s not the norm.

“We have some experience in the backfield but lost quite a bit of

Michael Lunsford Head Coach

key skill players that their junior quarterback doesn’t feel like he has to do more than is required for his team to win. Lunsford said that he is aware that Jones may feel like he has more pressure on him to execute to a higher level, but he must also realize that football is a team sport and that is why there are 10 others on the field with him to help the team win. “I think that he will feel some of that, but it’s on us and our job to calm him down and make sure he knows what his job is,” stated Lunsford. “His job is to not only be experience at the wide receiver,” a great player but to make others Lunsford explained. around him better by not trying to

“I kind of wished that we were do everything by himself but to use a little more experienced at the the weapons around him.” receiver since we have got a little bit Lunsford still believes that the more experience at the quarterback number one strength of his team is position. the lineman that fill the blue and

“It seems like the years that you white uniforms this season. have experience in one place, you Having this benefit, the coachlack experience somewhere else. ing staff will be looking to do a few

“I feel good about this team more things offensively utilizing with all the distractions going on, the fact they can set up several plays very few missed practices and very for different groups of linemen to few things that have affected them.” execute them.

One of the things that the “We have good size. That’s probBulldog coaching staff has to be ably the strength of our team. We aware of is with a loss of several have nine kids that can play in the

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2020 Hampton Schedule

September 4—HAPPY VALLEY* 11—at Cloudland 25—at Johnson County

October 2—SULLIVAN NORTH* 9—CLOUDLAND 16—at South Greene* 23—at Unaka 30—COSBY* ALL CAPS denotes home games * denotes region games

offensive line and on the defensive side too,” Lunsford said with a smile.

“Nobody should get tired and nobody should get worn out because we want to rotate and move a lot of those kids in and play them a lot of snaps.

“It will help our power packages and our spread packages because we have different combinations of linemen that can play.

“It does get a little harder because you have nine kids you have to get to understand what’s going on with a complex situation but we feel good about our line.”

The Bulldogs are known to have players that fill key roles that often are overlooked because they quietly do their job without a lot of acknowledgment.

Lunsford feels like he has one of those on this year’s squad that will have a chance to shine a little brighter as a senior.

“One kid that probably hasn’t gotten the praise that he’s deserved over the last two years is Aiden Vines,” Lunsford said. “Aiden has played fullback and linebacker for us the last couple of years and he has been undersized both years.

“He is going to be a senior this year and he is going to get his opportunity this year. He is not a newcomer but he has played hard for us and this year he will get his chance.”

Lunsford also touched on some other players for the Bulldog faithful to keep an eye for this season.

“Jonathan Greenwell, his brother Isaiah played for us last year, he is a little bit different type of kid,” said Lunsford. “He is a bigger body kid and is a 200-pound wide receiver who is a lot like Gage (Chambers) – he is a do-it-all type of kid.

“He is raw and just a sophomore and not as near experienced as Gage was but he is an athlete. If there was one person who could take his spot we feel like its Jonathan.

“Morgan Lyons is going to be a running back for us,” Lunsford continued. “He is going to play wide receiver and running back and will be asked to do a lot offensively.

“Freshman Dylan Trivett can do a lot of stuff. He’s going to play quarterback some and wide receiver. He is a freshman so you want to tamper expectations on him so it doesn’t overwhelm him. It puts a lot of pressure on a 14-year old kid.”

If there was a weakness, Lunsford pointed to the fact that team speed overall as a group would probably be the most glaring.

He said that last year’s team had a whole lot more team speed than this year.

When asked about how he saw the region playing out, Lunsford sees 2020 much like the last few years with Sullivan North, South Greene, Happy Valley, and Hampton battling it out in a four-way race.

He further said that Sullivan North is a wild card because one never knows what they will have coming in especially with this being their last season as a school before combining with Sullivan Central and Sullivan South in a new school next season.

StarPhoto/ Larry N. Souders

Bulldog quarterback Conor Jones (4) get passed Unicoi’s defense, steps out of Nolan Bennett’s (9) shoestring tackle attempt.

2020 Hampton Bulldogs Football Roster

No. Name Class HT WT Pos 1 Jonathan Greenwell 10 6’0” 190 WR/LB 2 Caleb Royston 11 5’9” 175 WR/FS 3 Michael Harrison 11 6’3” 175 K/WR 4 Conor Jones 11 6’0” 170 QB/FS 5 Austin Bentley 10 6’0” 200 FB/LB 6 Ashton McMahan 9 5’8” 140 HB/CB 7 Geno Carrico 9 5’10” 180 TE/LB 9 Levi Lunsford 10 5’8” 180 FB/TE 10 Ty McElyea 10 6’0” 200 FB/LB 11 Sawyer Guy 11 5’11” 130 WR/CB 12 Logan Whitehead 10 6’1” 160 WR/FS 13 Austin Hyder 10 5’8” 130 WR/DB 15 Blake Peavy 11 5’10” 150 WR/CB 16 Elijah McKinney 9 5’7” 130 WR/CB 18 Dylan Trivett 9 6’1” 160 QB/WR 20 Elex Moffit 11 5’3” 160 WR/CB 21 James Strickhorn 10 6’1” 150 WR/DB 22 Chanz Point 9 5’11” 145 QB/FS/WR 23 Aidan Vines 12 5’11” 190 RB/LB 24 Morgan Lyons 11 6’2” 205 RB/LB 25 Jason Sexton 10 5’9” 140 WR/SS 28 Jaden Hensley 9 5’9” 185 TE/DE 34 Jonah Boling 9 5’11” 210 TE/DE 39 Tristan Lipford 11 5’8” 135 WR/S 47 Evan Mann 10 5’9” 135 WR/DB 48 Ryan Crumley 11 5’9” 210 FB/LB 49 Ashton Hardin 10 5’9” 185 TE/LB 52 Andon Winters 11 6’0” 200 TE/DE 53 Austin Bentley 9 6’0” 200 FB/LB 55 David Grindstaff 12 5’9” 205 G/DT 57 R.D. Ward 12 6’2” 240 FB/DE 58 Grayson Young 9 5’8” 190 OT/DT 59 Caleb McKinney 12 5’10” 225 G/DT 60 Greg Tolley 9 5’9” 220 G/DT 61 Michael Purdam 10 6’0” 250 G/DT 63 Zach Beam 11 6’0” 270 G/DE 64 Shayden Oliver 9 5’9” 230 OT/DT 65 Douglas Tolley 12 6’1” 270 OT/DT 67 Will Thorton 9 6’1” 300 OT/DT 68 Devin Ward 10 5’10” 260 G/DT 71 James Tolley 12 6’4” 270 OT/DT 72 Aubrey Wenger 12 5’3” 160 G/DE 74 Nathan Weatherby 11 6’1” 320 OT/DT 77 Keegan Purdum 9 5’10” 245 TE/DE 78 Mackinley Kuhn 11 6’0” 310 OT/DT 82 Delaney Patterson 9 6’1” 165 TE/LB 84 Mason Ford 10 5’10” 140 WR/FS Head Coach: Michael Lunsford Mascot: Bulldogs Colors: Blue and White

2020 Hampton Cheerleaders

(Front L-R) Briley Curtis, Chloe Bradley, Allison Bowers, Bailey Andrews, Sophie Cable, Haley Taylor, Gracie Crumley, Isabelle Bowers, Shania Pierce, and Cheyeanne Fair. (Back L-R) Amber Gilbert, Reagan Ashley, Hannah Smith, Kaegan Campbell, Emma Harmon, Gabriel Cook, Kylie Odom, Kyndal Scalf, Lauren Hyder, and Marina Bailey.

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