Trojans enter season with massive expectations
Hot Springs head coach Darrell Burnett holds the chance to do something this season he really hasn’t had to do since taking over as Trojan head coach: deal with big time expectations.
Hot Springs travels to Vilonia tonight as the No. 18 team in the entire state according to scorebooklive. com and the No. 2 team in the Class 5A-South according to Hooten’s (only defending state champion Parkview sits above the Trojans).
“I think the biggest thing is make sure the kids understand it,” Burnett said. “You’ve got a lot more freedom and you can play a little more relaxed when people don’t expect anything from you. I don’t think a lot of people will realize that and admit it. But when people are actually out to get you and when everyone was hoping you win, now everyone is hoping you lose, it’s a big difference. You’ve got to be prepared for that.”
Hot Springs exploded onto the scene last year, finishing the season 7-4, just losing in the first round of the playoffs on the road at Mills 32-27.
Burnett and his coaching staff spent time talking to players about expectations this season ahead of the 2023 campaign.
“What’s our team goals?” Burnett said. “What’s our conference goals? What’s our overall 5A goals? Just making sure they understand that we’ve got the talent to do it but it ain’t going to happen just because people are talking about you or because you’re returning three guys that possibly have D1 offers or you’ve got one of the best quarterbacks in the state. That doesn’t mean anything. That doesn’t mean anything. This year is a whole nother year.”
Burnett took over the Hot Springs job in 2018 and has built the Trojans from a team that went 1-9 into a team with serious expectations. While winning this season certainly matters, it’s hard not to look at how far the program has come.
“It means a lot, but it’s been fun,” Burnett said. “It keeps you on your toes. You can’t ever get comfortable. You can’t ever just say, ‘Ah yeah, this is going to happen.’ Then we surrounded our kids with good staff. That means our football staff, our teachers, our parents, man, from pee wee all the way up, they’re involved.”
Burnett said having expectations heading into a season is a privilege, and it’s fun for his team.
“A lot of people will say, ‘coach
Burnett you did this and you’ve done this,’” he said. “It’s not really about me. I’ve been an assistant coach before. I know how much work and how much effort you put into it that can make your team good or not good. Our coaches have been putting in the work.”
The Trojan offense expects to be plenty powerful this year with All-State quarterback Matthew Contreras leading the way, but the Trojan defense boasts an impressive weapon with plenty of expectations, too.
Kendall Williams will play defensive end, linebacker and even tight end for Hot Springs. The 2022 All-State selection holds the ability to make plays from anywhere on the field and is a handful to deal with at any position.
“He wears No. 11 for a reason,” Burnett said. “All these coaches love the Cowboys. We’ve got No. 11 and we’re going to try to use him like No. 11 (Micah Parsons) for the Cowboys. Let him do what he does and then make plays. He understands making plays in the context of the team. … Kendall’s proven. Now he’s just got to take it up another level.”
Hot Springs puts the expectations to the test in Vilonia at 7:30 p.m. The Trojans aren’t just dealing with the hype, but also extremely hot temperatures and a road test to start the year.
Kickoff moved from 7 to 7:30 p.m. to account for the heat, and the quarters have been shortened to 10 minutes.
Burnett said the Trojans have done a great job so far not cramping, and the coaching staff has a hydration and cooling plan set in place that starts long before the team gets to Vilonia.
Heading into tonight, Burnett told all of his players to be ready to play in case someone needs to come out of the game.
“Somebody needs to come out, get out, it’s hot,” he said. It’s a curveball for everybody. Some teams have been practicing in the morning. Then you’ve got to ask yourself, are you ready for the heat? Some teams like us we’ve been practicing in the indoor and it’s hot still, but you’re not able to do as many special teams stuff as live as you want to. So that’s what we did (Thursday morning). It’s a give and take, but oh well. We’ve still got to win the game. That’s what it’s all about.”