HSFT Stop #33: Aberdeen

Aberdeen, Miss. (WCBI)- The Bulldogs lost 18 seniors from last year’s seven-win team. Alex Williams is in his fifth year as Aberdeen’s head coach and hasn’t seen turnover like this in his tenure so far.

“It’s been a challenge,” Williams said. “We had to change up some things defensively and offensively and it’s made us work harder as coaches to put these kids in the best position we can.”

While the Bulldogs lost experience, they’ll be playing in a very new district. Amory and Noxubee County, both 3A north half championship participants from a year ago are gone along with Hatley. Mooreville jumps down from 4A to join Aberdeen while Choctaw County and East Webster move up from 2A.

“It’s a year too late,” Williams said. “Thing about us is we will work hard and play hard. It’s always good to see Noxubee County move out of your division, Amory moving up. We had a lot of tough teams in that division but I also felt like it made us better. We had a few tough teams move into it with Choctaw County, East Webster, Mooreville and Nettleton. Those guys are consistently good so we’ll have to fight.”

One of the 18 seniors who graduated was dynamic quarterback Jermaine Strong. It’s junior Maurice Howard’s turn now. Howard says Strong taught him a lot of great things.

“He taught me how to read defenses and he was a great runner. I took a lot of that from him,” Howard said.

“From the moment we told him this would be his ship he has worked consistently,” Williams said. “He has thrown the ball every day, been to almost all the workouts and has gotten better each week.”

The Bulldogs open the season against Shannon on August 25th.