ARLEY, Ala. – Football season is fast approaching and at Meek High School, Head Coach Daniel Evans and the Tigers are preparing to kick things off at the end of August. Evans will be heading into his second season as the head coach of the Tigers and after helping lead Meek to a 6-5 record and a playoff berth last year, he feels even more comfortable in his role as year two gets underway.
“Having a better idea of how my role changes from being an assistant coach to being a head coach has slowed things down for me so that definitely helps with the day-to-day stuff. You still have a lot of stuff to prepare and prep and organize and have to make sure everything is the way it’s supposed to be so that takes a lot of work,” Evans said. “It takes a lot of effort and these kids put a lot of effort in so it’s our job as coaches to make sure we’re doing the same thing. It has slowed down a little bit but at the end of the day, August is August, and there’s always a lot to do.”
Evans was very pleased with his team’s focus and effort during the offseason and is excited to see the habits they created in workouts carry over to the football field.
“I would say our culture is the best that it’s been in a few years, and that’s no disrespect to the guys that came before, but these guys have been around me and they kind of get that workman’s attitude. I don’t like to just rest on being good athletes or gifted, we work. I think it’s important for them to work and they picked up on that pretty early,” Evans said. “I’ve also got a couple of guys that have played four years for myself and Coach (Houston) Powell when he was here, so it’s been pretty easy for these kids to understand what we’re trying to do, and they’ve worked their butts off since January to do what they need to do. Now we’re getting to a point where they can reap the rewards. I’ve had to turn the lights on from my phone a couple times because I’ve had kids up there working at 7:30-8:00 at night and they call me and ask if I can turn the lights on for an hour so they can get some work in. So, these kids are ready to go.”
One of the position groups that Evans is most excited about is the defensive line. He believes the Tigers will have as good a defensive front as they’ll see all season and he’s looking forward to watching them terrorize opposing offenses this fall.
“Our defensive line is going to be as good if not better than pretty much everybody in 1A North and I know what that sounds like but I’m not going to apologize for it. We’re really strong up there and we’re also very seasoned. They’re pretty athletic and that group uses their hands well so they’re going to be an issue for a lot of people. We kind of saw that during 11-on-11 during the summer. So that group is going to be really good and another thing for us is we probably have more team speed than I think I’ve had at this school in the four years I’ve been here,” Evans said. “We’re going to have a lot of guys competing for skill jobs like wide receivers, DBs and positions like that. On the offensive line we’ve got some young guys that have worked their butts off that are pushing some of these older guys for positions, which is good. I don’t want kids to think they can be complacent. I always tell them that they have to compete, and everything is up for grabs all the time, so you’ve got to make sure that you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing. Those kids going into 10th grade took the weight room very seriously and they’re going to start pushing some of these older guys for starting jobs pretty quick.”
The Tigers have big goals this season and are hungry to return to the postseason. Evans has big expectations for his team on the field this season but something else that means a lot to him is that his team enjoys playing the game. The Tigers also have all three of their Winston County Rivals on the schedule this year and Evans knows those games will mean a lot to his players and the community.
“I just want us to compete every week and enjoy the game. I think it’s real easy to get caught up in wins and losses and forget how fun this game is. For 10 or 12 of my guys this is it. Obviously, there are opportunities to play in college, but that stuff is not guaranteed. They’ve got 10 regular season games and that’s all that’s guaranteed so I just want them to have fun and enjoy being around each other and enjoy the greatness that is high school football,” Evans said. “You don’t experience anything else like it for the rest of your life. I’m not saying it’s better than anything else, but it is its own unique thing and once you get done playing this game, you just don’t really find anything sports-wise that compares to all the preparation just to play one game on a Friday night with so much energy and intensity. On top of all that we’ve got every county school on the schedule for the first time in a while, so it’ll be nice to travel around to a couple places and have some teams from around here come to us. We go to Lynn and then Winston County and Addison will come to us so we get to play the county schools and those games are extremely important to me and to Winston County in general so that’s something I’m looking forward to.”
2024 Meek Tigers Football Schedule
Aug. 23 – @ Lynn
Aug. 30 – vs. Winston County
Sept. 6 – @ Hackleburg*
Sept. 13 – @ Phillips Bear Creek*
Sept. 20 – @ Waterloo*
Oct. 4 – vs. Shoals Christian*
Oct. 11 – vs. Addison*
Oct. 18 – vs. Cherokee*
Oct. 25 – @ Vina*
Nov. 1 – vs. Carbon Hill
*region game
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