Smith County Owls 2019 Football Preview

August 20, 2019

by Ryan Nixon

The 2019 Smith County Owls Football Team

The Owls are hoping to change the culture surrounding their program under their new head coach, Scott Murray. The team has focused on bringing energy back to the program, starting with the fans. Players have also focused more on the weight room this offseason, which should help the team win some more battles throughout the game.

Smith County went 4-6 in the regular season last year, and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Red Bank. While last year saw the team use a number of younger players, the Owls have retained a high number of the team and will look to have a strong foundation by their senior class.

Senior quarterback Cameron Spivey will hope to build off of last season and direct an offense that retained a number of weapons from offense last season.

These weapons include seniors John Ross Hord, Jaden Apple-Gibbs, and Eli Martin. Hord will be the starting running back and linebacker and will look to be explosive coming out of the backfield. Wide receiver and defensive back Apple-Gibbs was one of Spivey’s top targets last season and will look to continue his success. Martin is a player that was able to find the end zone often last season, from a number of different positions. The team will look to him to play different positions on both sides of the ball.

Schedule

( * signifies Region 4-3A matchup)

August 23 – @ Macon County

August 30 – @ Gordonsville

September 6 – @ Upperman*

September 20 – @ York*

September 27 – Livingston Academy

October 4 – Sequatchie County*

October 11 – @ DeKalb County

October 18 – Cannon County*

October 25 – Stone Memorial

November 1 – Grundy County*

Games to Watch

@ Gordonsville – August 30

With the team’s focus on drawing energy from the crowd, this game will be huge for Coach Murray. Following the 20-12 loss last season, a win for Smith County would definitely help get Owls fans excited for the rest of the season and give the crowd a good impression of Murray. Expect this game to feature passion from both sides, which should mean a very good game to watch.

@ Upperman – September 6

Smith County’s first region game of the season is against the projected top team, so the Owls will not have to wait long to see where they stand. Upperman is returning talent with their roster that went 13-1 last season, with their only loss coming in the 3A semifinals to Alcoa. This will definitely be a difficult matchup for the Owls, but it will show a lot about this team.

Sequatchie County – October 4

Sequatchie finished second in the district last season, going 8-4. (4-1 in region 4-3A) The Indians will have high expectations this season, but with a number of younger players that are likely to get an opportunity this is a matchup the Owls could win. A win here would allow Smith County to catch some momentum going into the last portion of their schedule.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNkzMniSujI

[wdca_ad id=”11404″ ]

[wdca_ad id=”11484″ ]