^He'll definitely have a much better year. His hand injury limited his effectiveness last year and he still had a nice sophomore season.

As a freshman Coleman and Charlie Dotson were quite a dynamic duo on both sides of the ball. I fully expect Dotson to have improved leaps and bounds and for the Coleman kid to really surprise people.

And any word on scrimmages yet? Anyone?

I was told that Belfry will scrimmage Boyd County on August 10th. I couldn't find out at what time or where, I was told it was TBD. Does anyone have any info on this?

I like the chatter!

 

Coleman was number 10?

Coleman is #3.

Nice number!

Anybody else with any predictions of who will step up and into the limelight? Anyone ready for a break-out season?

 

From what I have been told Thomas Varney may surprise a few people with playing time this year. Aside from Coleman, I can also foresee a breakout season by Ivan Lee on both sides of the football. He really had struggles at times at DE last year, but with his size and speed, coupled with the flashes of brilliance he displayed last season, I see him turning some heads.

I think Lee will be fantastic based on what I saw last season. I think a few guys could really benefit from some added lean weight - especially Elkins and Dotson.

 

There was a good nucleus of young players with a lot of potential. I hope they have/are working hard to get stronger and faster.

The front line and front seven on defense should be tremendous. Will be a fun team to watch, and fun to watch develop and dangerous by end of season like always.

Has practice begun? How many kids are out?

I don't believe Belfry starts practice until the 23rd or 24th.

Well it appears theguru has updated the scrimmage page. Here are the dates and teams Belfry will be scrimmaging:

 

 

August 10th @ Boyd County

August 17th vs. Hazard

 

I am fairly content with these matchups.Hazard won their region last year in 1A and are expected to be heads and shoulders the class of their district. Hazrad should help us prepare for Corbin as the defense gets to face off with Tyler Olinger, a mobile QB with a decent arm. We will also get to see how our DB's do against a good receiver like the Campbell kid.

 

Boyd County is projected to be the early favorite in 4A District 8. They have nearly all their skill players back from last season and will efficiently show all of us a good mix between the run and pass.

Took a short peak at practice on my way home from work, not muh you can tell at this point in the pre-season, but a couple general observations for those interested:

1. Appeared as if there were 60-65 kids out, about average for the past few years.

 

2. Watching the QB's throw some short routes (slants and outs mainly), two QB's appeared to be throwing some pretty balls with zip (I am guessing Elkins/Preston).

 

3. This team won't make anyone say "WOW!" when they come onto the field, but the one thing I really liked is how lean they looked. Not much excess baggage on these boys.

 

4. The overall resounding impression I had though, was that I do not envy any coach who has to gameplan for a backfield that features Lee and May in it. Ivan Lee looked like a thoroughbred out there, and I feel sorry for any poor DB who has to come up in run support and see May running directly at him with Lee lead blocking.:eek:

I heard that a RB from Matewan has transfered to Belfry and has some good speed. Is there any truth to this and if so what kind of speed does he have?

Keep checking in on those practices EKU. The update is much appreciated from this fan!

 

One note. By continuing to work Preston primarily at QB, that could signal a couple things. A) No other QB is good enough now to be the backup, so Haywood is forced to work Preston in case of injury or B) Elkins hasn't improved as much as Pirate fans have hoped and there is still competition for the job

 

Hopefully Elkins steps up and an underclassman QB shows they can run the offense. I think Preston would benefit from a fulltime move to WR if he is eventually going to end up there.