Local football coaches look back on successful spring

May 23—Seasons may change and school years may end, but in Alabama one thing never stops, and that's football.

Many schools had spring games last week to close out spring practice for 2024. Among those were three of the more successful local teams from last season: Austin (8-3 in 2022), Hartselle (9-3) and West Morgan (12-1).

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Austin looking to grow quickly ahead of 2024 season

Spring practices and a spring game (against Muscle Shoals) might be more important to Austin than to any other school.

"We have a lot of youth in some spots. Defensively we only have three guys coming back that played significant snaps on Friday nights last year," said Austin head coach Jeremy Perkins. "It's hard to make a ton of progress in nine spring practices, but we did have guys that improved. We still have a lot of work to do."

Austin has some key players returning, such as running back Gavin Fuqua, who rushed for 1,188 yards and 18 touchdowns last year, and Jaxon Potter, who caught 31 passes for 584 yards and six touchdowns.

Also back is quarterback JL Davis. Davis split time evenly with Judd Bailey in 2023, throwing for 1,020 yards and accounting for 10 touchdowns. Now he's the lone signal caller for the Black Bear offense.

"JL had a very good spring. He's exactly where we thought he would be, and we're excited to see him take his game to the next level," Perkins said.

Perkins said the spring helped outline what the goals are for his team this summer.

"We have to continue to progress and grow quickly," Perkins said. "We need to figure out the identity of our team and find leadership so we can handle the ups and downs that we'll face."

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Hartselle has a new but familiar face leading the sidelines

The spring game against Buckhorn last week for Hartselle marked the first time Bert Newton roamed the sidelines since being named the new head coach this past January. Newton had been the defensive coordinator for the Tigers for six of the last seven seasons.

Hartselle defeated Buckhorn in the game 24-0.

"I thought we had a great spring. We had some really physical practices and were able to learn a lot about some younger guys," Newton said.

Newton got a look at a lot of young players in the spring game, especially at quarterback. With two quarterbacks still playing baseball and the Tigers' returning starter, Noah Lee, not cleared for contact, Hartselle had to turn to eighth grader Asa Priola to start vs. Buckhorn.

"He handled the moment a lot better than I expected. I was just thinking we would go out and hand the ball off, but he made some nice throws," Newton said. "With several guys that will be starters playing baseball, we were able to build some depth."

Some of the depth Hartselle is building is at running back, where the Tigers are replacing star Ri Fletcher, who is headed to play for the University of North Alabama. Guys like Jayden Morris and Jaheim Pruitt are expected to fill that role.

"Ri's electric. He's a guy that can go 70 yards at any time," Newton said. "The guys we have coming in are more workhorse-type guys. They bring some of that old school Hartselle football to the table."

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West Morgan excited to prove its here to stay

West Morgan is coming off its best season in school history. The Rebels finished 12-1 for their first ever undefeated regular season. Now after graduating a large group of seniors, including the bulk of an offense that led the state in scoring for most of the 2023 season, coaches and players are eager to show that success is still expected.

"There's a lot of new faces, a lot of guys that have stuck with it and waited their turn, and that's exciting," said head coach Drew Phillips, who is 27-8 in three seasons at West Morgan. "It was cool at the spring game that most of last season's seniors were on the sideline, and they got to see that the program is in good hands."

West Morgan certainly didn't look like a team that lost a 2,000-plus-yard passer, a D-I running back and a D-1 receiver. In the spring game, the Rebels defeated East Limestone 42-7.

Phillips said several players stood out.

"MaCarri Johnson broke his femur in last year's spring game and didn't come back until Week 7. We label him as an 'athlete,' and he had a pick six and a 69-yard touchdown on a screen," Phillips said.

Sophomore quarterback Titan Partlow and senior running back/linebackers Ty Jones and Jaylen McGuire were other standouts.

"Going into the spring, we had three goals. We wanted to get as many reps for each player as we could, be better at the end of spring than the beginning and figure out who we could count on," Phillips said. "I think we checked all those boxes."

— caleb.suggs@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2395. Twitter @CalebSuggs2