Coming off a 9-4 season and a run to the state quarterfinals, this year the Radford Bobcats are younger and inexperienced. The big thing is they are still athletic, quick and have skilled personal.

Head coach Matthew Saunders is starting his 11th year being the headman. As he has a 64-44 record at Radford. His overall mark stands at 73-55 with his two years at Castlewood.

Radford lost a couple assistant coaches with experience, but their staff still has lot of experience. Pierson Prioleau is in his fifth season. He will be the co-defensive coordinator and work with the defensive backs. A position he knows all too well playing that position at Virginia Tech and in the NFL with the Washington Redskins and New Orleans Saints.

Josh Woods is in his 4th year and will be the co-defensive coordinator and helps with the quarterbacks. Greg Ridpath is starting his 9th year and will help with the quarterbacks and serve as head junior varsity coach. In his third year will be Roger Hollins. He works with the offensive and defensive lines. Shannon Wohlford in his 4th season and will work with slot backs and quarterbacks. Josh Smith starts his second season and will help with the wide receivers / defensive backs. The two new assistants are Cameron Sellers and Galen Weyer. Sellers helps with the offensive line and Weyer works with slots and fullbacks.

The Bobcats have only three returnees on defense and four on offense. Coach Saunders remarked, ”We will run option, rocket and pass option. We like to be diverted on offense. On defense we will go with 3-4-4 look. We will be very young, especially on the line. We will rotate on the line and will go with two safeties.”

Radford will dress 46 kids on Friday nights, as they will have 10 seniors, 11 juniors, 15 sophomores and 10 freshmen. “We lost a lot of very good seniors and have a lot of holes to fill,” said Coach Saunders. He then stated, “I believe we will still be competitive and this group has worked hard to get better.”

Radford’s schedule has six teams that made the playoffs last year. One is defending state champion, a final state semifinalist.

They will start the season against rival George Wythe. Coach Saunders said, ”They have a huge line returning, a lot of returnees. They will be a very good club and should go deep in the playoffs.” Next they play the defending State Champions Galax. Coach Saunders said, “Coach Dixon does a great job. They are always tough upfront. Their line play is always physical.”

Coach then went on to talk about Fort Chiswell, Craig Co. and James River.

“Fort Chiswell played us as tough as any one last year. They should be improved and have some real good kids. Coach Tiller will have them playing hard. Craig Co. has some good players back and they will play hard. James River beat us last year at their place. They are well-coached, but they lost a lot of players.”

Coach was then asked about district play and he gave these comments on each team. “Floyd is very well-coached. Coach Beale does real good job. He has some big kids and some athletic players. Auburn has a new coach. They will probably still run the wing T like Coach Turner did. Coach Akers played and coached under Turner, so they will be tough and physical.”

He then talked about Giles. “They lost some good players but their single wing is always challenging. Coach Williams does a great job with them. Glenvar had a real good junior varsity that will replace a lot of players they lost. They will be very tough to deal with.” Coach then was asked about Eastern Montgomery and he remarked, ”They return some very good, skilled players. They are well-coached.”

Radford on offense will go with Shawn Reed, Brett Armentrout, Dillon Whitt, Charlie Lefew and Nathan Cox on the line. Senior DJ Baylor will start at quarterback. Josh Alley and JW Bethea will be starting wide-outs. The running back/ slots will be Markell Thompson, Trace Shepherd and Mitch White. Others that will see action will be Kamryn Edwards at wide out, with Trace Shepherd seeing some time at quarterback. Roman Bonet, Dale Stanley, Jeremy Chadwick and Elijah Duncan seeing time at the skilled positions.

On defense the Bobcats will go with Lefew, Reed and Adam Simpkins upfront. Eric Burdette, Roman Benet, Armentrout and Justice Marshall at the linebackers. The defensive backs will be Baylor, White, Shepherd and Elijah Duncan. Dillon Whitt and Jesse Shelor will get time on defense as well.

Charlie Lefew will be the punter and Michael Hill will do the placekicking. Baylor, White and Chadwick will do a lot of the kick-off returns.

Radford’s schedule is tough as they face the last three state champions in Giles, Glenvar and Galax. The youth and inexperience will decide on how this team fares this year. They have some experience that returns. It will be tough to replace Finley, Grant, Parcell and Ridpath from last year. Don’t underestimate these athletes’ quickness and speed. With some luck and lack of injuries this team can be dangerous. Will a playoff bid be there at the end of the season? There are enough players that saw action from last year that have athletic ability to say the layoffs aren’t within reach. Should be a fun a team to watch.