Highlanders looking to run offense inside out

BY IVAN SANDERS STAR CORRESPONDENT

Cloudland head coach Spencer Nave has something to be excited about now that Highlander football has came to a completion as some of those players will be switching from the pads to sneakers in preparation for the 2022-23 season. That’s especially important as Nave’s team is a little low number wise this season and he needs all hands on deck as the Highlanders forge forward toward a successful season.

“The guys have been working hard and we should be getting our football guys back soon,” said Nave. “We have had three guys that have been coming in pretty much every morning around 6:15 to 6:30 and shoot until school starts. I am excited about those three and we have a transfer from Unaka that is going to probably going to help quite a bit in Ryan Sexton.”

Nave plans on using what he has available and that is two big men in Dylan McClellan and Jacob Street that can dominate a game from their inside position. The secondyear coach is hoping that both players can create the op- portunity for some points from the outside.

“Our inside game with Dylan McClellan and Jacob Street - we are going to try pound the rock a little bit inside and hopefully have our shooting good enough on the outside that when they collapse inside that we can kick it out and shoot the three ball well. We have been working on it so I hope it pays off,” Nave said.

The Cloudland head coach also has the luxury of having an athletic specimen in senior Gage McKinney who is coming off a phenomenal football season in which he rushed for nearly 3,000 yards.

“Gage McKinney is a great kid and I can ask him to do anything - if I told him to run through the wall, he would run through the wall for me,” Nave said. “We need that type of kid. I would love to have five to 10 of Gage’s - we would be all right. He had a heck of a year in football and we just want to keep him healthy.”

Although the numbers are low right now on Roan Mountain, Nave can’t help but look ahead to next year when there are a possibility of 14 eighth graders who will be moving up to the high school.

“We currently have 11 kids,” said Nave. “We have a couple of freshmen and its kind of a down year with numbers but that is kind of the way it is with small schools. Our eighth grade class has 14 eighth-grade players at the middle school so next year is probably going to be pretty good. We are hoping to get a few more kids out of the hallway this year as well.”

Despite the low numbers, Nave believes that his team will be ready to compete each and every night in a conference that if full of star athletes and teams that are accustomed to reaching deep in post-season play. It’s a conference that Nave believes is one of the toughest in the state.

“This is probably one of the toughest conferences in East Tennessee from Knoxville up,” Nave said. “We have a couple of teams that pretty much go to state every year in North Greene and Hampton. Ned (Smith) does a great job at Hampton They are in it to win every year. Ned came really close last year and he is getting a few kids back that have that experience. University High and Unaka have some good kids returning as well.

“I am really looking forward to having a good season and try to win a few more than we did last year.”