The upcoming 2023-24 football season may be a couple of months away, but the DeKalb County Tigers have been on the practice field preparing for the gridiron kickoff. The team has been lifting weights and working on various teams, seeing where this year’s players will be best suited on the field.

“We’re through with spring training and we’re now in what we call our summer program,” said Tigers Head Coach Steve Trapp. “We started the Thursday and Friday before Memorial Day, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and took Memorial Day off. This is our first full week and it’s going good.”

“The kids are showing up,” Trapp continued. “It’s a short chunk of time, but we put a lot of work into it. We’re lifting weights and conditioning, but we’re also doing our scheme work. I guess this is what the NFL would call the OTA, Organized Team Activities. We’ll do this all the way through the third week of June, then we’ll have two seven on sevens where we’ll throw against other teams.”

“After that, we’ll take a couple of weeks off for dead period, then we’ll come back in the second week of July and invest more time. Instead of being out here for two hours, we’ll be out here for four or five hours, doing weights, board work, and then full practice. It will basically be our fall camp in July.”

Coach Trapp said that this year’s team has a lot of potential and he likes what he is seeing

“I like what we can do offensively and defensively” Trapp said. “We’ve not worked on any special teams as of yet, but we’re starting to get that going in our summer program. It’s going to come down to what these guys really want to accomplish. I think we have the skill set, and the leadership in place. We’ve got a great mixture of guys that have playing experience, and some guys that have been backups, but have some experience. I’d say that we are a veteran team. We had to replace a few spots with sophomores, but they’ve got the potential to be really good and play a lot of football for us over the next three years.”

“We’ve been telling them since January that it’s not about wanting to win or having the desire to win because everyone has that. It’s about what are you willing to do to get it. Last year we came up short. We were 6-1 and never won another ballgame. I still have a sour taste in my mouth personally over that, and they hear about that every day. We have a lot of guys back that were a part of that. We ask them all the time, is there one thing that you could have done different that could have made the outcome different. We’ll have 12 guys this year that will have the opportunity to make it right.”

With the loss of last year’s star senior running back, Colby Barnes, as well as some big guys on the line, Coach Trapp was asked who would be stepping in to fill their shoes.

“The guys coming back that have a lot of experience are Will Farris and Chris Pulley. They were on the same side last year on the offensive line, left guard and left tackle. We’ve moved Pulley to right tackle and he’s doing a good job there. The three in the middle, our guards and our center, Bryson Arnold is playing right guard and Aiden Turner is playing center, and our left guard is Aaron Hatfield. Hatfield is a four-year senior, and was a backup guy last year. He knows what he’s doing. We won’t be as big as we were last year, but I think we can be quicker and definitely be mean as always.”

As for the quarterback position, Briz Trapp will be returning this year after a late season injury sidelined him last year. “After surgery he got cleared at the end of February, and he’s been through a throwing program to build his arm back up,” Trapp explained. “He looked good this spring, moving around in the pocket, and throwing and running the ball. He’s a big part of what we do on the offense.”

“Jordan Parker will still be the backup QB, but will play a lot of wide receiver for the team. He’s a gritty, smart kid, and is very approachable. He did a super job last year, so we have to make sure he’s on the field. He gives us depth in the secondary, and will probably be on every special team.”

“Even Jon Hendrix, our number three QB, is a really good athlete,” Trapp continued. “He’s tall and long arms, he’s going to have the opportunity to play some receiver, and give us some depth at safety too.”

As for the receiving corps, Coach Trapp said the team will have several options. “Last year we had Malachi Trapp out there, but we’re going to move him to running back. He’s dynamic with the football. We’ve got to make sure we get him the ball. He’s got size and speed at 200 pounds. He got that first-step quickness, that twitch or jump cut in the hole. He has a chance to be pretty special for us. We’ll use him as a receiver too, so we’ll move him all over the field.”

“Trace Hamilton and Andrew Dakas will be outside receivers, and flip series to keep each other fresh. Our slot receivers will be Austin Nicholson and Jordan Parker. Marquez Chalfant, a senior, will be an outside receiver. He has a lot of athletic potential and game breaking ability. He’s definitely a play maker.”

“We also have Collin Dickens, he’s a four-year senior that gives us depth on the outside, and our other slot receivers, which is usually our H-back/tight end/full back player, we have Ari White, Bryson Trapp, and Ty Webb,” Trapp said.

One weak spot the team is working on is the kicking game. Trapp said he has a soccer freshman that looks good as a kicker, but the punting game is still in the air.

“We’re going into it and having to develop everything,” Coach Trapp explained. “We don’t have a returning punter or kicker. Adam Johnson, an incoming freshman, has played some soccer coming up and has worked on kicking through the spring. He did a really good job, so I think he’ll be our kicker. Punting wise, we’re fixing to hold some tryouts.”

Overall, Coach Trapp said that he likes where the Tigers are going and how training has progressed. “We like what we’ve seen so far. We’re going to keep working and try to get even better.”

The Tigers will face off in some preseason scrimmaging at the end of July, taking on Friendship Christian, York Institute, and Providence Christian. The Tigers’ season will begin on the road on August 18, against the Warren County Pioneers.