The Sevier County Smoky Bears will be looking to fill some serious holes in their lineup in the next month as they prepare to begin the 2007 football season.
Sevier County is coming off a 9-3 run in 2006 that included a 27-14 loss in the second round of the state playoffs at Ooltewah. The Smoky Bears finished second in Region 1-5A behind champion Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett, which handed head coach Steve Brewer’s squad one of its three losses (16-13 on Oct.6).
The Smoky Bears team that takes the field on Friday, August 24 in the 2007 season opener at Burchfield Stadium against William Blount, the other team that defeated the 2006 Bears (24-12 on Aug. 18).
Gone are ’06 standouts Corey Watson, the region’s most explosive and versatile player a year ago; James Feezel, a rangy wide receiver with game-changing playmaking ability; Cory Baxter, an All-Region linebacker; and Lee White, an active defensive force who was also a cog on the offensive line, to go along with several other key contributors from last season’s region runner-up squad.
Brewer, who guided the Smoky Bears to the county’s lone state championship in football in 1999, is counting on using a passing league in Norman, South Carolina next week and the team’s annual trip to a Middle Tennessee football camp in early August to identify some playmakers capable of stepping up and being the stars of a new era of Sevier County High School football.
The upcoming passing league will give Taylor Helton, the 6-foot, 170-pound rising senior who is expected to take Watson’s place under center, a chance to get comfortable with several new receivers.
Besides Feezel, the Smoky Bears also must replace skill position players Trey Pippen, Ryan Scott, Blake Wallace, Blake Cupp and Austin Williams.
The good news for the Bears is that several quality, proven running back candidates are slated to return.
Andrew Feezel is an emerging star as a junior-to-be running back. Daniel Cotter is a shifty scat back type with big game experience. Shawn Hodge might be the best pure running back in the county. Tyler Thomas will be a junior and should be a threat every time he touches the ball.
“We’ve got to replace four senior receivers,” said Brewer. “We’d obviously like to find five or six more to replace them. We have some talent coming back. Now we’ll see which players are ready to step up and do the job.”
Brewer said he’s confident in Helton’s ability to take over the quarterback role and lead the offense.
“Taylor backed up Corey last year and was able to see some action at different times,” Brewer commented. “When Corey got hurt (during the playoff game at Ooltewah) Taylor came in and did a good job for us under a lot of pressure.
“He has very good speed,” Brewer added. “He’s a member of our track team’s 4X200 Relay Team that went to the state tournament last year, and he’s got a very good arm. He throws the ball very well, and he has not missed a weight room all summer.”
The Smoky Bears will again go to McCallie School in Chattanooga for their annual preseason camp. For years, Brewer took his squad to camp at Chattanooga-Baylor, but when Baylor decided to stop holding such camps, the Sevier County Coach opted to take his team to work out at the other mid-state private school for a week.
Brewer has been in the habit of taking his football team to a preseason football camp, to work at getting better both physically and mentally, since 1992.
The year’s Smoky Bears team and its entire entourage, minus cheerleaders and marching band, will leave for camp on August 1.