From the outside looking in, the 2018 season for the Marshall County Tigers football team was a step back from the success the team has become known for after making three straight trips to the 4A state semifinals.

But a closer look at the season finds evidence the 2018 team was right on track for another above average regular season and deep postseason run if not for a few key injuries and unlucky bounces here and there.

“Last year we were in a battle every week," Tiger coach Thomas Osteen pointed out. "Hopefully it taught our returning players just how important it is to prepare each day for your next opponent."

"As a coaching staff we had to adapt many of our philosophies to try and give us the best opportunity to win," Osteen continued. "I think it made us better as a staff, trying to find new ways to put ourselves in a position to compete.”

“We obviously slowed our tempo down last year in an effort to shorten games, but hopefully we will be able to go faster at times this year and create some more explosive plays."

Looking back

The Tigers started off the season by almost shocking the entire state before falling to 6A powerhouse Cane Ridge (11-1) 35-28 in overtime despite finding out just weeks prior that two-year starting quarterback Bryce Wallace was transferring to Giles County for his senior campaign.

Marshall County followed the close loss with a gutsy 24-21 win over 5A Shelbyville Central (9-3), who was just six points away from an undefeated regular season.

A heartbreaking 14-13 loss at Tullahoma the following week set in motion a series of excruciatingly close setbacks mixed with a couple easy region wins against Spring Hill and Lawrence County to put the Tigers into the TSSAA 4A state playoffs as an unfamiliar four-seed against one-seeded Stone Memorial (9-1) at Crossville.

The Tigers were able to register one of the biggest upsets of the first weekend of the playoffs by pulling off a last second, 30-29 overtime victory over the top-seeded Panthers before ending the season in a battle with Tullahoma that resulted in a 16-14 loss in the second round.

"Last season was hard for everybody," Bryson Hammons, who split time with departed senior Malik Thomison at the quarterback position in 2018 said. "Although our record doesn’t look the best, it doesn’t even show a little bit of the adversity we went through. The biggest thing the team learned last year to me is that when adversity hits don’t just keep taking it, do something about it and I think we did that all last season. "

Moving forward

After scheduling one of the toughest schedules in the entire state the past four seasons, Osteen has put together another trying schedule but one that's not as loaded as in previous seasons.

“Obviously we want to start the season fast and build confidence in week one," Osteen said. "The region games after that receive the most focus because they are what counts towards the playoffs.”

“If you asked the players that would probably say Giles as they always look forward to play in that rivalry game."

The Tigers will start the season out against Columbia Academy (9-3), which moved from 2A in 2018 to D-IIA for the 2019 campaign.

Marshall County also takes on 5A Lincoln County (5-6), 4A Springfield (11-3), 3A Giles County (1-9) and 5A Shelbyville (9-3) to round out the non-conference schedule with region matches against Tullahoma (10-3), Maplewood (12-2), Nolensville (7-5), Lawrence County (2-8) and Spring Hill (1-9).

Hammons gets the nod at quarterback

Thomison stepped into the quarterback role just weeks before the start of the 2018 season and filled in admirably, finishing with 874 yards in the air with eight scores and just four interceptions while rushing for 442 yards and two more scores on the ground.

All eyes will be on Hammons, who filled in briefly for an injured Thomison to finish with 134 passing yards and one touchdown toss in 2018, but has earned his teammates trust during summer workouts and 7-on-7 passing competitions.

"(Hammons) should have a lot of experience because he knows what the speed of the game is like and also he knows what it takes to win and he knows how to compete with other schools," junior receiver A'Ky Howard, who finished last season with seven receptions, 158 receiving yards and three scores, mentioned. "We have lost a lot of big men that have graduated last year, but this year I think we will still be solid at the O-line position."

"Also on the offensive side of the ball we're more dominant because we have more threats than we had last year at the skill position," Howard added. "And as far as the defense, we’ve had just a couple to graduate but basically our whole defense is back so we have a lot of potential this season."

While Hammons will be the key this season for the offense to return to its former dominance, the Tigers have several key offensive threats to help the sophomore quarterback along the way.

"Javaria Rucker, Devon Wilson, Aky Howard, and Kel Greer will play a great roll on our offense this year," Hammons stated. "These guys will help me set the tempo this season. The O-Line this year is very impressive. They are nothing but doubted by everybody."

"These guys give their all every single day to protect me and the running backs,"

Hammons added. "The O-Line isn’t afraid of nobody. They will always give their opponent a tough battle no matter what."

"I have definitely gotten better at reading defenses," Hammons continued. "We are a big RPO (Run-Pass-Option) team and my knowledge of who to look at during each play has gotten a lot better. My communication has gotten a lot better also being that we are a no-huddle offense, I have gotten a lot better of telling my guys what they got to do."

Tigers have the skill players

The biggest threat on offense will be rising senior Javarria Rucker, who finished the 2018 campaign with 1,483 all-purpose yards with 864 yards coming on the ground with 11 touchdowns and four 100-yard plus games.

Rucker will get some help in the backfield from Kel Greer who finished 2018 with 261 yards and a score on 59 carries.

The wide receivers are led by Howard and Devon Wilson, who filled up the stat sheet with the Tigers his sophomore season before transferring schools for his junior season and will now return to Lewisburg to finish off his career.

"Javarria Rucker, Kel Greer, and Devon Wilson have all played a lot of football the past three years and will be counted on to all take the next step in their leadership and production," Osteen said. "Players that have not seen starting action but will be thrust into it for the first time this fall will be QB Bryson Hammons, C Matthew Fuller, Guard Noe Eusibeo, DT Chandler Davis, DE Logan McKnight, and safety Hayden Sheppard.”

“Omari Armstrong is a name the Tiger faithful will need to know. He will start at LG and play plenty at DT. He is a big man that can run."

Stout defense could be nightmarish for opponents

The Tigers are not short on play makers on the defensive side of the ball as Greer is the returning leader in tackles with 72 with four and a half for losses.

Fellow linebacker Christian Stacey (52 tackles, 4.5 TFL), defensive end Kaylin Talley (50 tackles, 5 TFL), and defensive lineman Tez Allen (46 tackles, 11 TFL, six sacks) will form a deep nucleus of defensive leadership and skill.

Defensive backs Kade Whitson (34 tackles) and Connor Hilton (47 tackles) will join Carter Shirley (30 tackles, three sacks) as other defensive players poised to have big years.

Estes, Gold lead special teams

Jon Estes leads a strong special teams unit after connecting on 4-of-6 field goals, 23-27 PATs, and averaging 46.3 yards on 42 kickoffs with 12 touchbacks.

Joseph Gold returns to handle punting duties following a 2018 season with averages of 28.1 yards per punt with a 49-yard long and three punts downed inside the 20-yard line.

The Tigers have some tough non-conference challenges in 2019 with Springfield being the most anticipated, but the region games against both Nolensville and Maplewood will decidedly be the difference as to where the Tigers fit into Region 4-4A regular season standings and the 4A playoffs in November.

"Every year is different, but I hope I think we are a hungry football team that is eager to prove themselves," Osteen said.

2019 Marshall County Tigers Roster

# Name Grade Positon

1 Kaden Whitson 11 DB/WR

2 Lamarion Pierce 10 DB/WR

3 Javarria Rucker 12 RB/WR

4 A’ky Howard 11 WR/DB

5 Connor Hilton 11 DB

6 Devonte’ Davis 10 DB/WR

7 J.D. Clark 9 DB

8 Kel Greer 12 TE/LB

10 Boo Shirey 12 TE/FB

11 Devon Wilson 12 WR/DB

12 Trey Warner 9 QB

13 Kortez Ingram 10 DB/RB

14 Bryson Hammons 10 QB

15 Dravin West 11 WR/QB

16 Hunter Rolof 11 WR/DB

17 Riqkyous Summers 12 RB/LB

18 Christian Stacey 11 LB/QB

19 Casey Southerland 11 WR/DB

20 Hayden Sheppard 11 DB

21 Andrew Gold 12 DB/WR

22 Thomas Beech 9 LB

23 Kamarian Ingram 10 DB/WR

24 Issac Brinkley 11 DE/FB

25 Jeff Carls 11 DB

26 Grayson Miller 9 DB/WR

27 Iyasen Biggers 10 DB

28 James Hery 9 DB

29 Demari Braden 9 RB/DB

30 Logan McKnight 11 DE/TE

31 Darian Crenshaw 9 DE

32 Kenneth Turner 11 DB/WR

33 Jayden Hart 9 WR/TE

34 Jon Estes 11 K

35 Jacob Reilly 12 LB

36 Joseph Gold 11 LB/TE

38 Nathan Pinedo 10 DB

39 Layne Smallwood 9 DB

40 Kamron Dunnavant 10 LB

41 Brock Anderson 9 DL

42 Parker Little 11 TE/DE

44 Kaylin Talley 12 DL/TE

46 Jonathan Bair 9 LB/TE

48 Chloe League 9 DL

49 Alex Espejo 9 DL

50 Noe Eusebio 12 DL

51 Bradley Wright 10 DL/OL

52 George Vilchiz 9 DL

53 Chandler Davis 11 DL

55 Javion Brown 11 DL/OL

56 Matthew Fuller 12 OL

57 Tristan Crabtree 9 OL/DL

58 Chandler Davis 10 OL

61 Juan Garcia 9 DL

62 Matt Rester 10 OL

64 Omari Armstrong 11 DL

65 Terry Gulley 12 DL

66 Gannon McMahon 11 OL/S

67 Caden Dunn 10 OL/DL

68 Matthew Hazlett 11 OL

70 Tez Allen 12 DL

71 Kris Hall 11 OL

72 Anthony Diaz 9 OL/DL

73 Caden Mills 9 OL

74 Zach Moore 10 OL/DL

75 Wesley Martin 9 OL/DL

76 Isiah Stewart 9 DL

77 John Morgan Thomas 9 OL

78 Colton Cashion 10 OL

79 Ethan Miller 12 OL

80 Adam Hopper 9 TE

81 Cameron Lee 9 WR/RB

82 Devin Wiser 9 WR

83 Carlos Alvarez 11 K

Coaches

Thomas Osteen-Head Coach

Jerry Cobb-Defensive Coordinator

Ron Shirey

Danny Pickle

John Denton

Hunter Newton

Jake Barnes

Waymond Boyd

Hunter Cummings

Kevin Hull

Game Day Assistance

John Osteen

Joel Hutson

Managers

Courtney Hitchcock

Lydia Fagan

LaAngela Cecil

Kyleyah Hazel

Videographers

Jerry Perry

Brandon Thornhill

Kevin Hull

Athletic Trainer-Greg Cloutier

Athletic Director-Kevin McGehee

Schedule

Date Opponent Venue

8-23 Columbia Academy Away

8-30 Lincoln County Home

9-6 Tullahoma* Away

9-13 Shelbyville Home

9-20 Maplewood* Away

9-27 Springfield Away

10-4 Lawrence County* Away

10-11 Giles County Home

10-18 Spring Hill* Home

10-25 Bye

11-1 Nolensville* Home

*Region4-AAAA

All games begin at 7 p.m.