Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
ROGERS HERITAGE WAR EAGLES
2017 RECORD 1-9, 1-6 7A-West COACH Tony Travis
RETURNING STARTERS 1 offense, 5 defense
KEY RETURNERS OL Zion Adair (Sr., 6-4, 340), QB Zac Brown (Sr., 6-2, 185), RB Ty Graser (Sr., 5-8, 175), WR Dylan Moore (6-1, 175), DB/WR Isaiah Tibbs (Jr., 6-1, 175), OL Hunter Holland (Sr., 5-9, 210), DL Gavin Pusey (Sr., 5-8, 275), LB Reese Williams (Sr., 6-0, 225), DB Tanner Epps (Sr., 5-10, 160), LB Griffin Brown (Jr., 5-11, 165).
THE SKINNY Save a couple of positions, the War Eagles have better overall depth than a year ago, Travis said entering his third season. … Heritage has won just two games total in the past three seasons. … Adair is the lone returning starter on offense, but Brown has taken some snaps on Friday over the past two seasons. … Graser, who finished fifth in the decathlon in the spring, gives Heritage some speed at running back. He played mostly at defensive back a year ago. … Tibbs started as a sophomore at safety, but will get some time at receiver, too, this season. … Linebacker Parker Lee missed spring workouts because of a back injury, but recently returned to practice this fall. … Senior Tanner Epps, a returning starter at cornerback, was not expected back from knee surgery until midseason, but recovered quicker than expected and could be ready for the start of the season. … Williams and Carter Christian give Heritage good experience at linebacker.
COACH SPEAK “I think one of the most positive things I’ve seen since I’ve been here is we’ve learned how to be better teammates. They’ve learned to push each other and to get excited when other people do something good. Everybody talks about winning culture. When I played it was called team chemistry. I feel like we have good team chemistry right now. We see those improvements and I think that will lead to good things on Friday night.” — Paul Boyd • @NWAPaulB