Panthers gear up for season, restructured 2A-5

Coming off an undefeated run in the

2A-5, Magnet Cove returns many of its key players this year in a conference that had a major reorganization.

The conference lost Bigelow, Conway Christian and Quitman to the 2A-4 as well as losing England, which finished third in the conference, to the

2A-6. The conference then added Class

2A semifinalist Gurdon and Mount Ida, both from the 2A-7.

“Our conference is a lot tougher with the addition of Gurdon and Mount Ida,” said head coach Caleb Carmikle. “Gurdon is, in my opinion, one of the best teams in the state coming back. That’s who we lost to in the quarterfinals last season, so they’ve been our motivation all offseason and looking forward to a rematch with them. Hopefully we can give them a better run than we did last time. Mount Ida (is a) tradition-rich program. They were down a little bit last year, but that won’t last long.”

Junior Evin Ashcraft will step up quarterback this season after completing 2 of 7 passes in two games as backup quarterback behind now-graduated Tyler Hodges. He also worked as the team’s scout quarterback last season.

“He’s grown quite a bit and is probably close to 6-2 or 6-3 now and has a really strong arm and a good understanding of the offense,” Carmikle explained.

All-State running back and linebacker Landon Stone, who ran for over 2,700 yards and tallied 31 touchdowns, returns for his senior campaign. He will also share return duties on special teams with junior Jacob Hawthorn.

“He was the Little Rock Touchdown Club Class 2A Player of the Year — had a phenomenal season. … You don’t see high school football players put up numbers like that very often, so we’re definitely excited to have him back,” Carmikle said. “He looks as good as ever has — had a really good off season and is looking really well in fall camp so far.”

Classmates and three-year starters Lucas Smeltzer at left guard and Carson Lane at right tackle anchor the offensive line while junior Hunter Hilborn lines up at left tackle and sophomore Chris Medina as right guard.

“(Smeltzer and Lane) bring a leadership quality to the offensive line meeting room, and they do a good job with those young guys, help get them going,” Carmikle noted. “They’re both very physical, and they have a great understanding of the offense, so we’ll lean heavily on them.”

Senior Levi Horton and juniors Davis Dickinson and Hawthorn will all see time on both sides of the ball. Horton reeled in 24 receptions for 385 yards and five TDs while Dickinson had limited catches and Hawthorn created another ground option in the backfield. Horton also lines up as safety, Hawthorn splits time at linebacker and safety and Dickinson will see time in various spots in the secondary.

Julius McClellan, who helped lead the junior Panthers to an undefeated season, racked up 18 tackles, starting on defense in the five varsity games he played as a freshman, and had 34 carries for 199 yards and three touchdowns in those same five games.

“He’ll return and play some safety for us, and he’ll play some wide receiver and also put him in the backfield so really excited about Julius,” Carmikle said.

Junior Brett Williams joins the Panthers after garnering All-Conference honors at Bismarck last season.

“He was all conference linebacker and running back as a sophomore,” he said. “His dad is on our coaching staff at Magnet Cove now, so Brett is here with him. Big addition for us. He’s a very, very good inside linebacker, and he’ll get some meaningful carries at running back as well. He’s probably one of the strongest kids in our program and runs real hard, so we’re really excited about Brett.”

Several Panthers are stepping into larger roles this season. Sophomores Mason Henderson and Mason McCutcheon line up as defensive tackles while classmate Kizer Kidder will work at tight end and defensive end with junior Matt Jones.

Sophomore Chris Medina will also gain some experience at right guard while classmate Kevin Endsley sees time in the secondary and junior Austin Oates starts at fullback and linebacker.

Braden Campbell will step into the role of kicker after the loss of Alex Ordonez, and Carmikle hopes for some “explosiveness” in special teams this fall. Ashcraft will handle the punting for the team.

“He was our backup kicker last year,” Carmikle explained. “Obviously, we lose the best kicker that Magnet Cove’s probably had in Alex Ordonez. That was a big role we had to fill. Braden’s done a good job so far. He worked a lot in the quarantine at kicking his extra points and kickoffs and whatnot. He’ll slide into that role well.”

While Carmikle said his team enjoyed being able to practice “real football” this past week, it understands due to the pandemic that the season could be taken away at any moment.

“We have very high expectations for this season and the expectations were set back in January, so the seniors were worried sometimes about whether or not they were going to get to have a senior year, but it’s all looking good like we’re going to get to play,” he explained. “We understand that from looking at the spring sports and what happened to them that it could be yanked away at any time, so we’re not going to take practice or a game for granted and treat every game like it’s a one-game season, and it may be the only one we get to play together.

“Something we focus on in our program in every aspect is make sure we’re the most prepared team that we can be, so we’re telling them that they’ve got to be ready. Obviously, if things change and we’re unable to play, that’s life and sometimes that happens, but we’re going to make sure if we do get to play that we’re prepared as can be and ready to put a good product on the field.”

Magnet Cove opens its season at home against Murfreesboro with conference play starting Oct. 9 at Mount Ida.