Radford…Coming off a 5-5 regular season, the Bobcats made the playoffs but they lost to Patrick Henry-Glade Spring. This year’s edition of the “City Cats“ will have only nine seniors. They will return five starters on defense and five on offense.
Their head coach is Matthew Saunders who is starting his 11th year at Radford and his 13th season as a head coach. His record at Radford is 69-50. He will also be the offensive coordinator, and he coaches the quarterbacks.
Coach Saunders’ assistants are: Greg Ridpath, Pierson Prioleau, Josh Woods, Roger Hollins, Josh Smith, Cameron Sellers, Carlton English and Timmy Worles. Their athletic trainer is Andrew Waff. Ridpath is in his 10th year as he coaches the running backs and is the junior varsity head coach. Prioleau is in his 6th year. He is the co-defensive coordinator and works with the defensive backs. Woods is starting his fifth season. Woods is co-defensive coordinator and helps with the linebackers. Coach Hollins is in his 4th year at Radford and helps with the defensive and offensive lines. Smith is starting his third year and coaches the wide receivers. Coach Sellers is starting his second year with the Bobcats and teaches the offensive and defensive lines. English and Worles are in their first year officially on the staff. English coaches the defensive ends. He was formerly an assistant coach at Blacksburg under Coach Dave Crist. Worles helps with slots as well as receivers and assists Coach Ridpath on junior varsity as well.
Radford had 50 players to come out for football – freshmen to seniors. They are moving up to Group 2A in competition this season as they still play in the Three Rivers District.
Offensively, look for them to run the option, rocket and jet. Coach Saunders remarked, “We’d like to be fairly equal in run to pass or 60-40 run.”
On defense the Cats will be in a 43 or 52 look. Some or most of that depends on whom they are playing. The secondary will mainly be man to man. Coach Saunders said, ”I believe we are athletic enough to play people man to man.“ Once again it will depend upon whom they are facing.
They break down in class with 9 seniors, 17 juniors, 10 sophomores and 14 freshman. Most of the freshmen will mainly perform on the junior varsity team with a few eighth graders.
Radford will face George Wythe, Gretna, Alleghany, Carroll Co. and Glenvar at home. They will travel to Galax, Fort Chiswell, Giles, Floyd Co. and James River.
Coach Saunders said, ”We are playing a tough schedule. When you start with two of the best Group 1A schools in George Wythe and Galax, that’s tough right off the bat. Both are very consistent and are both well coached. Wythe will have the Skeens kid at running back and Galax has the Peoples kid back as their running back.” He then said, ”Fort Chiswell lost some good players but also return some good ones. Coach Tiller does a great job with them. As far as Gretna and Alleghany, I don’t know that much about either of them. I do know Gretna has athletes and Alleghany I’ve heard are physical.”
“Giles, Glenvar and Floyd Co. all will be very tough as usual. Coach Williams does a great job with the single wing at Giles. Glenvar has been as good as anybody the last couple years, and Coach Beale at Floyd does a remarkable job there,” said Saunders. He then added, “James River will probably be a spread team and Carroll Co. will be much improved.”
Then Coach Saunders was asked about his team and he responded by saying, ”I think we will be more athletic and quicker than last year’s team. I also think we are more versatile and we have some real good speed with our slots, receivers and running backs. I like how the kids hit the weight room in the off season and we’ve gotten stronger. We need to be more physical on both sides of the ball. We are young and that’s a good thing, but the bad thing is we are young. We will have a lot of kids going both ways as will most of your 1A and 2A teams.“
Coach was then asked about the starters for the offense and defense and he replied this way, “As of now offensively we will probably go with Dillon Whitt at center, Nick Clark and Nathan Cox at the guards. The tackles are Eric Burdette and Ben Cox. Quarterback is Trace Shepherd with Justice Marshall at fullback. Josh Alley, J W Bethea at wide receivers. Roman Bonet at tight end and the slot receiver will be a number of kids: Jeremy Chadwick, P J Prioleau, Chris Carter and Jaylin Taylor.”
Dale Stanley, Mel Harvey, Kam Edwards will all see action as will Zane Rupe and Elijah Duncan. The line will also see Payton Hollins, Charlie Lefew, Andrew Olverson, Ricky Buton and Donavan Rucker in on some action.
Defensively Coach Saunders said, ”Ricky Burton, Donavan Rucker and Ethan Hoffman will be on the line. The ends will be Dillon Whitt and Roman Bonet. The linebackers could be Justice Marshall, Dale Stanley, Elijah Duncan and Nick Clark. All will see playing time. Cornerbacks will be Josh Alley, Jeremy Chadwick and Trace Shepherd. Seeing time at safety will be P J Prioleau, Jaylin Taylor and Mel Harvey. We have some people that are battling for starting positions.” He then added, ”Eric Burdette, Ben Cox, Simone Stanley and Chris Carter all we see some action as well.”
Look for a more athletic, quicker, faster, stronger and physical Radford Bobcat football team than last season. They are very young and look to be more versatile. They will be playing in Group 2A Division, a step up for the Cats and that’s a very trying thing to go along with a very tough and competitive regular season. Hey, a break-even season is not out of the question with this young squad. A playoff appearance is within their reach if some things can be answered in a positive way. They need to avoid the injury bug, and with a few good bounces of the pigskin, there may just be a surprise or two for this team.