VINEMONT, Ala. – Its almost time for the Vinemont Eagles to hit the field once again and they’ll be eyeing a return to the state playoffs after punching their ticket last season. After dropping two of their first three games in 2020, the Eagles went on to win six of their final seven regular season games to finish with a record of 7-3 and earn a trip to the postseason. In 2021, Vinemont Head Coach Stephen Robinson and his team plan to start and finish the regular season in the win column and get back into the playoff field in Class 3A. Robinson is happy with the way his team worked and prepared in the summer and now that fall camp has arrived he’s looking for more physicality out of his guys.
“It’s gone very well so far; we’ve had great attendance and the effort has been there. I can’t question these guys’ effort; they bring it every day, so it’s been a really good summer for us,” Robinson said. “Now we’re just excited to move on to the next step and start getting physical so we can find out where we are from that standpoint. That’s what we do is try to be physical and if we don’t have that we’re lacking in what we need to be doing so we’re just excited to go to the next step.”
Last year, teams across the country were strictly limited in what they could do in the summer to prepare for the season but this year, the Eagles have been able to complete their normal preseason program and gained valuable experience at different camps and competitions this summer.
“It was huge for us because it was a great chance to work on our two-minute offense and it was great work for our defense,” Robinson said. “We have a young coaching staff still too, so it was more reps for all those guys too and those things are important. It was good experience for our kids, and we were definitely pleased.”
Vinemont has several playmakers returning on the offensive side of the ball this season that Eagles fans will already recognize and with a lot of names and faces returning on the defensive end, Robinson is looking forward to seeing how good that unit can be this fall.
“We’ve got Colby Miller coming back with Gabe Friedrich, Braden Boner, Brodie Spear coming back at running back and then some linemen like Tyler Mayfield and Alex Salazar, so we feel really good about those guys and a lot of our defensive guys are coming back,” Robinson said. “We feel pretty good about those guys like Kylan Richards at linebacker and Jarrett Friedrich, so we’ve got quite a bit of experience coming back on the defensive side of the ball and we’re excited about that.”
Spring training was great experience for this year’s team as well after missing out on spring practices in 2020. Robinson liked the way his team competed, particularly on the offensive front where the Eagles still have some holes to fill.
“I really was pleased with the spring we had as far as our offensive line,” Robinson said. “That position was our biggest question mark coming out of last season, so I was really pleased with our O-Line in the spring against Good Hope and the work they put in. I’m hoping they just continue to build on that and keep going.”
There are several positions up for grabs on the line of scrimmage, both offensively and defensively. Robinson and his staff are focusing on those groups in fall camp to try and find the right combination of guys to slide into those positions and contribute.
“We’ve got some competition on the offensive and defensive line, we lost both of our defensive ends so that’s probably our most competitive spot right now and we’ve had some even in the secondary. We did have to fill a spot in the secondary, but we’ve had some young kids that have been really competitive and that’s always a good thing because you go in and you don’t really count on having those freshmen in there so to have some of those guys that can help us, we think is going to be huge,” Robinson said. “On the offense, we’re really just focused on getting guys in the right spots. We have had some competition at our Wing Back, but the rest of the spots were kind of already set based on the backups we had last year and guys we lost. Offensively, we’re just trying to get guys in the right spots to be able to help us the most.”
The Eagles were a much stronger team in the second half of the regular season in 2020 and Robinson was happy to see that turnaround come together but this year he wants to see his team start strong and play consistently throughout the fall.
“I think we just have to realize what created that momentum. We changed some things early last year after a bad start, really held the kids accountable and they held each other accountable,” Robinson said. “So, for our kids to understand what led to that success is the biggest thing and that way we can continue doing those things and lead our younger guys into doing the same thing and keep building on that. We want to try and continue that success we had last year and get off to a better start. If we had done that last year, I think we would’ve been hosting a playoff game so that’s what we’re working toward.”
2021 Vinemont Football Schedule
Aug. 19: @ Hanceville
Aug. 27: Fairview
Sept. 3: J.B. Pennington*
Sept. 10: @ Carbon Hill*
Sept. 17: Tarrant*
Oct. 1: @ Winfield*
Oct. 8: @ Susan Moore*
Oct. 15: @ Oakman*
Oct. 21: Holly Pond*
Oct. 29: Cold Springs
2021 Vinemont Football Roster
#1 Colby Miller
#2 Jarrett Friedrich
#3 Brody Speer
#4 Chayce Sandlin
#5 Chris Hart
#6 Ayden Thomason
#7 Kayden Henderson
#8 Toby Hill
#9 Jules Baker
#10 Isaac Moody
#11 Gabe Friedrich
#12 Diego Rodriguez
#14 Dawson Wilhite
#15 Austin Boudreaux
#17 Rush Sandlin
#18 Logan Ford
#20 Ryan Stewart
#22 Justin Marotz
#23 Malichi Adams
#24 Preston Williams
#25 Dawson Crider
#30 Kyler Pugh
#31 Dekota Crider
#34 Gage Duncan
#40 Kylan Richards
#42 Ian McCuiston
#44 Thomas Harris
#45 Bradley Johnson
#50 Marcus Callingwood
#51 Nic Jankowski
#52 Braden Boner
#54 Tatum Brown
#56 Keith Slaton
#57 Alex Salazar
#60 Tai Shurtleff
#61 Tyler Mayfield
#62 Rigo Martinez
#63 Rylan McRae
#64 Emmett Hudson
#68 JP Johnson
#70 Tyler Espy
#71 Symon Joiner
#74 Jonathon Faulkner
#75 Dustin Faulkner
#76 Jon Bridges
#77 Brennan Watson
#88 Jacob Hale
2021 Vinemont Varsity Cheerleaders
Brylie Teichmiller- Captain, Shaylynn Barnett, Morgan Nail, Ashton Kelley, Lily Williams, Elyssa Mead – Ellie Eagle, Berkley Gable- Co Captain, Macie Dyer, Callie Millwood, Anneliese Kline, Brooklyn Dyer, Alaina Cody.
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