Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
PARIS EAGLES
2018 RECORD 0-10, 0-7 3A-1 Conference COACH Tyler Clark
RETURNING STARTERS 7 offense, 6 defense
KEY PLAYERS RB Blaise Woods (Sr., 6-0, 215), QB Chase Watts (So., 5-8, 140), TE/DE Luke Trusty (Sr., 6-0, 175), WR/CB Keller Keen (Jr., 5-6, 164), OL/LB Ethan Needham (Sr., 5-10, 250), OL/DL Jimmy Dikeman (Jr., 6-3, 310), OL/DL Adam Chandler (Jr., 6-2, 255)
THE SKINNY Blaise Woods returns as a senior and looks to lead the offense from the running back position after rushing for about 750 yards last season … Chase Watts, who led the JV team to a winning record last season, became the clear cut signal-caller for Paris after Anthony Potts moved away to Michigan … Program is excited to see the development of Watts as a sophomore and expects him to make plays right away … Eagles only lost five seniors that played last year and just have four seniors entering this season … Clark says he loves the high caliber of athletes he has but admits depth might be an issue at some point … Eagles have won just four games in the past two seasons but look to bounce back following strong offseason … Clark says conference schedule is a grind but allows team to get better against the quality talent … Eagles were outscored by 305 points last year, but Clark says valuable experience was gained from playing time in year one of coaching the team.
COACH SPEAK “The coaching staff is excited, but the more important thing is our kids are excited to bounce back this season. We tried to do a lot of things here to change our culture. We lost our last game to Mansfield and went right to work after that. The kids are getting strong. Kids want to be up here and don’t have to be told to be here getting better. This process has happened quicker than I thought it would.”