FAIRVIEW, Ala. – Football season is nearly upon us once again and in Fairview, that means it’s nearly time for the Aggies to hit the field and take another run at the state playoffs. Fairview has punched its ticket to the postseason for five consecutive seasons, but head coach George Redding knows they’ll have a host of new challenges to overcome if they want to make it back in 2024. The Aggies have some big contributors returning at key positions as well as some new faces stepping into new roles and Redding has been watching to see how they all fit together throughout the summer and the preseason.
“We’ve got about five or six guys coming back on both sides of the ball. We have some really good players coming back that we’re excited about. We also lost some really good players from last year. You hate losing players to graduation and each year you kind of have to go back to the drawing board and try to find some new faces that can step into those roles and learn the things that they can do,” Redding said. “So, we’re really excited about those new faces, and I think the real key for ones who are coming back is to build leadership and chemistry on this team. We have a small senior class, we only have seven seniors this year and we do have 14 juniors, 14 sophomores and 11 freshmen right now. So, the biggest thing for us right now is really focusing on leadership and team chemistry and trying to mesh all the new faces together.”
The Aggies will have to prepare for some changes and new faces with some of their regional opponents this season as well.
“We are familiar with a lot of our opponents having been in that same region. We’ve played Priceville over the years as well. The thing is, four of the seven schools in our region have new head coaches so with that being the case, we know we’re going to have our work cut out for us because there will be some changes. Even though we feel like we have a good idea on some personnel, we know that for a lot of those teams some of the scheme is going to change and as a staff we’ll have to work hard to try and figure that out to give our kids the things that they need to be successful.”
Developing leadership has been a priority for Redding and his staff this offseason. He’s been proud to see several players embrace those roles and set an example for the younger members of the team.
“I definitely thing we’re getting there. That’s been the focus of a lot of our conversations. We had a conversation with some of the older guys after one of our summer workouts about how important that is. I think these guys understand that they won’t be successful without the guys below them. Just like with some of our other teams in past years, it took these guys helping those older guys. So, the younger guys have got to be able to do their part for us to be successful, but it takes leadership in order to get there,” Redding said. “You don’t have to be a senior to be a leader, that’s for sure, but the good teams have good senior leadership. We’ve talked about what’s expected of these guys and they understand what it takes to win. They’ve been part of some really good teams and they’ve been leaders in the past. I think the transition happens when you’ve been maybe a second leader or a guy that was saying things from behind because there were others already out in front, and we’ve had a lot of those on the last couple teams that we’ve had but now these guys have to be that up front voice and I think that’s what we’re transitioning to.”
One of this year’s seniors, Blake Rickard, has seen the team’s leadership grow together throughout the offseason and wants to see it continue to build as the season approaches.
“I think at the beginning we probably started out a little slow on leadership but as we played the 7-on-7s and have had more practices I think we’re growing together a lot better. We started out slowly but we’re getting there,” Rickard said. “It’s more about the little things, not just the big things. It’s helping someone else when they don’t know what to do or just asking someone if they need help and it’s things like that that we’re piecing together.”
Redding is excited to have a lot of players returning on the offensive side of the ball this season, but he and his staff are still working to fill some holes on the defensive end.
“I know right out of the gate the noticeable thing is we have both of our running backs back. Our quarterback is back and two of our linemen are back too. We lost a really good lineman from last year but we played multiple linemen last year so we have some guys that might be somewhat new faces this year that are battle tested. The receiver position is where we lost some seniors so we’re moving some guys into those roles, and we’re excited about seeing what they can do,” Redding said. “They’ve really come on this spring and summer. We got into some competitions this summer and they showed some really good things so we’re excited about what those guys can do. Defensively, we lost some guys at stack linebacker. Cale (Foster) and Eric (Gonzalez) were a tremendous presence when they were out there, and we lost some guys at the safety position too, so we’ve got some holes that we’ve got to fill but we’ve got some guys that we’re excited about coming in. Depth is another concern for us so anytime you have new faces and low depth behind that, it can be a problem so it’s very important for us to get everybody up to speed.”
The Aggies have goals to stack the win column and return to the state playoffs this season but Redding is proud that no matter what happens under the lights this fall, his team is full of young men that will be successful after football is over.
“I think the biggest thing for is just everybody learning what it takes to be successful on a Friday night,” Redding said. “We can’t wait until Friday night to figure those things out or we’ll be in trouble but I’m excited about this group. I love this group and I think they can do good things. I think they’ll do more things than just football, that’s the biggest thing for me.”
2024 Fairview Aggies Football Schedule
Aug. 23 – vs. Pisgah
Aug. 30 – @ Springville
Sept. 6 – vs. West Point*
Sept. 13 – @ Ardmore*
Sept. 20 – @ Lawrence County*
Oct. 4 – @ Russellville*
Oct. 11 – vs. Priceville*
Oct. 18 – vs. Sardis
Oct. 25 – vs. East Limestone*
Nov. 1 – @ Good Hope
*region game
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