#HSFT21 Stop #43 — Eupora Eagles

  https://cdn.field59.com/WCBI/1628563265-4b4a5aad627dd37871d75b527f226f65fb38c98d_fl9-720p.mp4   EUPORA, Miss. (WCBI) — When building a program, Eupora football knows that consistency is critical. Eupora head football coach Brad Gray might be new in his current role. Howeve r, he’s happy to bring consistency to the Eagles. After a season serving as the offensive coordinator, Gray replaced former head football coach Stephen Edwards. “It really helped to already know the kids, to already have the relationships, to already have the foundation built and all that kind of stuff,” Gray said. “Not just with the kids, but with the assistant coaches, the staff and the school.” While there was a change to the coaching position in the offseason, the Eagles will welcome back a core group from the 2020 team. Its experience the team knows will be beneficial to them entering the 2021 season. “Your confidence in football comes from getting reps. It comes from quality reps. When you return starters you return those reps which is obviously you’re confident in that. Anytime you can do that…sometimes you’re least confident with those younger guys because that’s where it comes from so we’re pretty confident with a lot of those guys,” Gray said. “Biggest strength is staying together and being a team,” senior K/P Lydell Boatman said. “If we work with that I feel like we’ll be good.” Eupora has set a standard heading into the new season that says “take care of what you can take care of.” As a result, the Eagles will rely on every player at every position to try and make a big impact. “Everybody works hard,” senior DE Quintavious Morris said. “Even the people that don’t start they give all the effort they have to make everybody better.” “We’re obviously going to rely heavily on some of our offensive starters that are returning like Ty our quarterback. Defensively, two of our defensive lineman that are coming back are seniors. We’re definitely relying on those guys to be leaders. Ultimately, we’re looking for depth like everybody else,” Gray said. The Eagles will keep it simple in 2021. Eupora wants to focus on getting better with each practice and game every week. “Get into the playoffs and once you get into the playoffs you want to go undefeated. That’s what we’re selling to the guys and they’ve really bought in. We’ve thrown a lot of different things at them and they’ve done really well. They’ve been resillient,” Gray said. “The core of our identity is staying together and working hard and not being selfish,” Morris said. The season begins for Eupora against Nettleton on August 27th. “I just want to be Eupora. Be Eupora football. Be a team. Be confident in what we do and play football just like what the game is supposed to be like,” Boatman said.