Devil Dogs looking to develop experience
The bulk of the offensive line returns for Morrilton’s Devil Dogs in 2021, a key cog for any successful season. But otherwise, there’s not a lot of experience in Conway County.
“We’re inexperienced but working hard, and the kids are doing what they can to get better,” said Cody McNabb, starting his 12th season atop the Devil Dog program.
Since a 12-win state-championship run in 2013, the Devil Dogs have won 46 games, including eight-win seasons in 2017, ’18 and ’19, and a conference title in ’17.
McNabb has changed the Morrilton High School culture in the always-tough 5A-West.
“This is a year we’ve got to take one at a time,” he said. “It’s a game-by-game, week-by-week process for us. We can’t lose sight of that.
“But this is Morrilton, and they’re Devil Dogs. We’re not backing down from anybody. They’ll just have to figure out what it takes to win at high school football. That’s our challenge as coaches and their challenge as players. We’re working hard to get ready for it.”
The senior class is a small one — just 10. McNabb said that was down significantly from the more normal 15 to 20 seniors.
“We’re just going to rely on a lot more inexperienced kids this year than we normally do,” he said. “Usually, they kind of sit and play special teams as sophomores and learn, but with a small senior class and not a big junior class, they’ll be forced into action.”
While the lack of experience is a bit
unusual, the Devil Dogs’ approach is not.
“You approach this year like you do any year — just try to get better every day,” McNabb said. “You probably focus more on the process in a year like this than you do when you’re ultratalented.
“This is the kind of year that makes you better as a coach. You’ve got to find ways to put kids in a position to succeed. I’ve been very proud of my staff for what they’ve done between last year and this year. They’ve done a good job, and you just want to see improvement from a young, inexperienced team. We want to see improvement every day.”
In 2021, Morrilton is picked to finish fourth in the West, according to a statewide publication’s preseason poll of league coaches. Harrison is favored to win a fifth consecutive conference title, followed by Vilonia and Greenbrier. Farmington is fifth, followed by Clarksville, Alma and Pea Ridge.
“Harrison is on a high spot right now,” McNabb said. “They’ve been good in junior high, and they’ve just been so dominant in the league the past two or three years. Right now, they’ve kind of got that swagger to them, and we need to keep our swagger a little bit to know we can play against anybody.”
The Devil Dogs finished 6-5 last season, going through the league 4-2 to tie for second and earn the No. 2 seed to the Class 5A state playoffs. They opened with a 15-10 loss to rival Russellville; beat Beebe, 41-7; and lost to Wynne, 20-19, to finish the nonconference schedule 1-2. They opened conference play 3-0 with wins over Greenbrier, 33-14; Pea Ridge, 48-13; and Farmington, 35-21, but they had their momentum interrupted with a doubleovertime heartbreaker loss to Harrison, 35-34. They escaped Vilonia, 20-14, and lost to Clarksville in the regular-season finale, 20-19.
Morrilton thus reached the playoffs for the ninth time in 11 years.
In the postseason play-in game, the Devil Dogs hammered Hope, 58-14, before falling to Texarkana, 20-14.
“It was a weird year,” McNabb said. “For the most part, I thought we played really well. The Harrison game really sticks with you because we had them in regulation. That really sticks out. By the end of the year, we had some
compiling injuries that caught up to us. But from the conference season up until that last game of the year, I felt like we played really good football.”
For 2021, the Devil Dogs return five starters for their Multiple offense, but just two for the 3-4 defensive scheme.
Senior Dawson Granberry (6-0, 315), junior Noah Tindall (6-1, 285) and junior KJ Black (6-0 200) are the stalwarts on the O-line.
“We’re solid up front,” McNabb said. “Three returning starters are the most we have in any area, the most experience we have anywhere. I think that’s going to be a solid group for us.”
Another returning starter on offense is senior wide receiver Julian Brockman (6-0, 150).
“We like his leadership,” the coach said. “He is really playing well.”
Junior Kaleb McCuien (5-5, 160) will see time at receiver and running back.
“He could be a dynamic player,” McNabb said. “He’s not very big, but he is very hard to tackle.”
Junior quarterback Damarius Martin (6-1, 200) started the last six games of ’20 after senior Tucker Granberry broke his leg against Pea Ridge.
“That gave [Martin] some valuable reps, but it was a tough task to force him in in that situation,” McNabb said. “He hadn’t had the spring and summer work. It stunk for him, but he has really matured. He did a good job last year, but you can really see some improvement. He’s a big strong kid with a big arm. His knowledge of the offense, his decision-making and accuracy are what have really made the jump for him right now.”
Defensively, senior Blake Jones (6-0, 160) will be a three-year starter at strong safety. He was the only junior starting the bulk of last season with a group of seniors. Senior Jeremiah Canady (5-10, 165) started a couple of games at linebacker in 2020.
Team strengths?
“Our offensive line is back, our quarterback is better, and we have some offensive skill,” McNabb said.
The obvious weaknesses are defensive youth and inexperience.
McNabb said heading into the season, there’s not a particular matchup to point to as key, thus the focus on game-to-game improvement.
“I feel like this summer went really well,” he said. “We have gotten better. I like this team. They work hard; they’re a likable group. Attendance and commitment have been good. They’re doing everything they can, for sure.”
COVID-19 hadn’t been much of a problem by press time.
“We had one kid test positive and quarantined,” the coach said. “We’ve got a little over half the team vaccinated. Our kids will do what they need to do in the classroom and elsewhere to stay on the field.”
McNabb likened this team to the 2014 squad following the state championship.
“We had graduated a bunch of seniors and had a very inexperienced team, but that was a team that kept getting better,” he said. “That’s what I want to see out of this team.”