Graham football aiming high be it winter or fall
Feb. 26—BLUEFIELD, Va. — Graham's 2019 football season feels so many worlds away since the COVID-19 panic broke that it might be tempting for some programs in the region to wonder if that was the campaign when the wave of the G-Men football renaissance crested.
That would be wishful thinking. Kicking off a season in what is technically still winter has an apocalyptic feel, but there'll be plenty of fire in the G-Men furnace when Graham travels to Ernie Hicks Stadium Saturday for a 1 p.m. mutual season opener with county rival Richlands.
If there is a state tournament to be won — and there will be — that's what the G-Men are gunning for.
"That's going to be our objective every year. Let the chips fall where they may, but that's always a goal for our football team," said Graham head football coach Tony Palmer.
Even following the 2018 state championship squad, the 2019 edition remained an astonishing group. Graham's quest for a repeat state title ultimately ended in the state finals with triumphant Appomattox. And yet, when the All-Class 2 votes were finally tallied, two of the top three all-state honors went to G-Men players. Devin Lester was All-Class 2 Offensive Player of the Year. Aaron Edwards was All-Class 2 Defensive Player of the Year.
The party is by no means over. Since he took over the reins of the Graham football program, Palmer has had an extraordinary knack for getting a roster full of good players to crystallize around its great ones. The whole has tended to be greater than the sum of its parts.
Graham returns to football this spring with two players who earned Class 2 first team status as sophomores: wide receiver Xayvion Turner-Bradshaw and offensive lineman Brody Meadows. Even with the athletic world having ground to a halt due to the pandemic, the duo were generating news in recruiting circles last April.
Meadows, a 6-foot-7, 307 pound offensive lineman was named among the first 20 Four Star national high school recruits for the class of 2022 by Rivals Camp series. At that time, Meadows already had 11 NCAA Division I full scholarship offers, being courted by the likes of Penn State, West Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Northwestern, Maryland, Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia. He has since received others, the most recent coming from East Carolina.
Turner-Bradshaw received his first two Division I offers that same month: one from Kansas and one from Marshall — alma mater of his father, Graham alumnus Ahmad Bradshaw, who went on to play in two Super Bowls with the New York Giants.
Interest in the Graham speedster, who played on the G-Men basketball squad's recently-concluded 15-1 season, has been snowballing ever since.
"He's got eight or nine teams interested in him. West Virginia has offered him. Virginia has offered him. Quite a few," said Palmer, who is staying mum on what position or positions Turner-Bradshaw will be deployed on the Graham offense this season. "He's going to be in very good shape. He's one of those guys who, in terms of getting in shape, I don't have to worry about."
Jamir Blevins, who began his career at Tazewell, will be calling the signals for Graham this year. He spent the 2019 season serving as Lester's backup.
Veteran defensive end Zach Blevins returns to this year's squad, as does starting defensive back Zach Dales. Past that, Palmer is keeping his cards close to the vest.
The G-Men will face Richlands twice during the 2021 Spring season but every win is important in a six-game regular season.
"I've heard people say this game doesn't count, but yes it does count, because you get points for it," Palmer noted.
Meanwhile, this is the first time since Palmer took over the Graham program that he'll face the Blue Tornado under a head coach other than Greg Mance. New Richlands head coach Thad Wells has his own state championship pedigree, but no track record of what he intends to do at Richlands.
"Under coach Mance, they could beat you at any time and I expect more of the same out of coach Wells. I expect them to be a well-coached program and I expect Saturday's game to be tough," said Palmer.
As far as schemes go, the G-Men will have to adjust on the fly.
"It's not like we've had the luxury of exchanging game films. They've got film on us [from past seasons] ... they pretty much know what we're going to do. But with a new coach, there's an element of surprise. We've got to be pretty much prepared for everything," Palmer said.
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