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The Morristown East football team got a makeover this offseason, and at Friday’s Citizen Tribune Kickoff Classic, they’ll be debuting their new look.

Head coach Dallas Kuykendall headlines the list of new faces making their first appearance under the lights, and he likes the trajectory his team is on entering their week one matchup with West.

“I feel like we’re continuing to trend in the right direction,” Kuykendall said. “I’ve liked how we’ve been executing in practice this week; I hope that we continue to execute and translate what we’re doing to Friday night live action and go out there and compete, go out there and continue to execute and not try to be a hero, not try to do to much, just go out there and do your job.”

On the offensive side, the ‘Canes face a lot of uncertainty. Namely Caleb Billings at quarterback, who will get his first start behind center on Friday.

“I think it always starts with your quarterback,” Kuykendall said. “I expect Caleb to run the offense and get us in positions where we’re able to move the ball. I expect Austin Brannan and Carter Gilliam to lead the outside and be able to stretch teams vertically on the field.”

Brannan, a junior, and Gilliam, a senior, have each been impact players for the ‘Canes in past seasons.

In last year’s Kickoff Classic, Brannan filled the stat sheet for the ‘Canes defensively. He racked up six tackles, including a tackle for loss, and helped hold West to 66 yards passing on six completions.

This summer, Brannan appears to have added a dimension of big-play ability on the offensive side. In last week’s jamboree at Carson-Newman, he hauled in a 35-yard reception from Billings against CAK, and a 50-yard bomb for a touchdown on the last play of the matchup with Grace Christian.

Gilliam has had a promising summer as well, including an interception that he picked up in the jamboree. The two will look to replace the production of Nate Roberts and Bailey France, who were named to the Region 1-6A All-Region a season ago.

The ‘Canes have a pair of All-Region offensive lineman to replace this season as well, and Kuykendall understands the importance of the position.

“Obviously we’re going to have to lean on the offensive line, we challenged the o-line this week that they have to step up, they have to be physical,” Kuykendall said.

The ‘Canes also graduated a pair of All-Region running backs in Ryan Adams and Ethan Ledford, Ledford currently holds the career rushing record at East.

Easton Woody, Eli Davis, Cade Henson and Cam Miller will look to carry that load. Woody in particular looked good in the jamboree last week, showing a wide array of ways to make defenders miss.

The defense is where East boasts a majority of its continuity this season. Thus, it’s been the team’s backbone.

“We’re older on that side of the ball, so this week for them has been more so just cleaning things up,” Kuykendall said. “Making sure that we’re aligned right, looking back at film from last year, guys weren’t aligned right in the beginning of the games a whole lot, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re aligned right to give ourselves a chance to be successful.”

Brannan will play a pivotal role in seeing that the defense is aligned well. Former East head coach Caleb Slover was quoted after last season’s Kickoff Classic calling Brannan a “quiet leader” for the defense. A year more talented and more mature, Brannan’s defensive leadership won’t be as quiet.

Kuykendall has spoken multiple times this offseason about the junior safety’s ability to get his teammates lined up in the right spots.

Alongside Brannan, Max Baker is a name sure to be circled on West’s chalkboard.

Coming off his Region 1-6A Defensive Lineman of the Year campaign from a season ago, keeping him out of the backfield will provide a challenge for opposing offenses all season.

This week, the two will need to make plays in space.

“You’ve got to look at their playmakers, coach Sanders does a great job of getting his guys the ball in space, so we’ve got to be able to tackle well,” Kuykendall said. “In big games like this one, you’ve got to be able to tackle in space. We’ve got to be aware of where those athletes are on the field and make sure that we’re prepared.”

Seth Southard, Kade Denton and Jamarriel Hines have been among the members of the ‘Canes front seven making tackles this offseason, and they’ll have their hands full with West’s skill guys.

This week isn’t like other weeks, however; it’s rivalry week.

“When you have a rivalry game week one, you can kind of throw the stats and all that other stuff out the window, and you have to lock in on being laser focused on executing your plan,” Kuykendall said. “You’re talking about 16-18 year old kids that can get caught up in all of the social media, all of the extra stuff, so for us we’ve really been trying to hammer what we can control. All that we can control is our preparation, and focus on the attention to detail and the game plan and making sure we know what we’re doing and that we’re executing at a high level come Friday.”

The season starts on Friday for the ‘Canes, at 7:00 p.m. at Burke-Toney Stadium. East will be the road team, looking to avenge back-to-back losses and an 18-33 overall record against West.

“I’m confident with where we’re at, but we still need to stack some more good days of practice together and get some prep together,” Kuykendall said. “Hopefully we can do those things, and if so we’ll be prepared on Friday night.”