Kingstree – Things have just a little different feel to them for the Kingstree High School football program for this year’s spring practice than last year at this time.
In reality, the Kingstree Blazers had yet to officially come into existence. Brian Smith was trying to bring together the players he had coached at C.E. Murray High, which was closing, with the returning Kingstree Jaguar players to form one team under the Kingstree High banner.
Smith said he averaged about 32 players a day between varsity and junior varsity players last spring. This year Kingstree was averaging 70 players a day.
“We’ve got a lot of guys returning who were freshmen last year who will be sophomores this year,” Smith said. “They are excited to be playing football. That’s always a plus when you have so many who want to be out there.”
The Blazers went 5-5 in their first season, losing in the first round of the AA state playoffs.
“The season went a lot like we expected, having to deal with the learning curve of being a new school, trying to mingle two groups together,” Smith said. “I think we had as good a season as we could have had knowing all of that.”
That, however, was a major improvement for the Kingstree players. Smith, who had led C.E. Murray to the Class A lower state championship game in its final season, felt the attitude and culture he and his staff brought to the new team has led to the increased interest.
“They finally have something here that they want to be a part of,” Smith said. “They see that we’re headed in the right direction, and that this is a program that can help them reach their goals.”
Smith said players not having to learn each other and coaches not having to learn players has led to a much different spring.
“We're settled in and really have our focus on making our guys better,” he said “Instead of teaching basics we have a whole different mindset and are more in sync. We are able to get on to more complex areas of football. They know the expectations, the kind of practice schedule we have. We’re not fighting those kinds of battles anymore.”
The Blazers return six starters on offense and seven on defense. Kingstree will have to replace two key figures on both sides of the football in Amond Myers, who signed with The Citadel, and Nicolas Brown, who is attending South Carolina State.
They return four of the five starters on the offensive line as well as quarterback JaShaun Dorsey.
“It’s always a good thing when you return most of your offensive line as well as your quarterback,” Smith said.
The 6-foot-2-inch, 170-pound Dorsey completed 86 passes for 1,368 yards and 12 touchdowns while running the football 57 times for 294 yards and two more scores.
James Brockington, a rising senior like Dorsey, is the leader of the offensive line. The 6-2, 275-pound Brockington had eight pancake blocks. The other returnees on the offensive line will be rising juniors Mychael Wallace and Malcolm Salters as well as rising senior Emmanuel McBride.
Brockington is a major returning force on the defensive side of the ball as well. Brockington had 44 solo stops on the defensive front, 24 of the tackles for a loss. He had four quarterback sacks, a quarterback hurry, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble.
Smith likes where the program is at as spring practice winds down.
“They all belong to the same team now,” Smith said. “There are no new adjustments. This to me is one of the more successful mergers of all the mergers that have happened in the state.”
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