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It’s one thing to return players with game experience. It’s another to have what Jefferson County is bringing back in 2023.

The Patriots enter the new season with returning starters at just about every position. Not only that, but Jefferson County returns backups that played meaningful snaps in 2022, as well.

With all that experience, Jefferson County coach Spencer Riley is excited to see what his team can bring to the table.

“The best part for us this year is that we have so much competition at positions,” Riley said. “Because of that, if you don’t produce you don’t get to play. If you produce, you get to play. That’s what we have been telling the kids. And that production starts at practice. It’s a great motivator. Competition breeds success, and we finally have enough pieces to have competition all across the board.”

The Patriots enter the season coming off their second straight playoff appearance. With both of those appearances coming on the road and ending with losses in the first round, Jefferson County will look in 2023 to take care of business in the regular season to try and give themselves at least one home playoff game.

“It’s not about just making the playoffs but advancing and doing what you’re supposed to,” Riley said. “It’s about winning the region and being able to host a playoff game. Those are the goals we have for the program. That’s what the kids expect and want to do so we’re going to push them to get to that point and strive to be the best that we can be.”

While Jefferson County lost some pieces from last season, the Patriots have an incredibly strong senior class that will be looked on to be leaders. However, it doesn’t stop there as Riley is excited about his juniors and sophomores too.

“It’s great,” Riley said. “You have a bunch of seniors and juniors that have played a bunch of snaps. And then you mix in some of those sophomore guys; we have a good mix of classes. There’s not one class that is stacked in one skill position. It’s balanced across the board. It’s fun to teach a group that is mixed like this. It’s fun to see them come together and try and be the best they can be.”

Offensively for Jefferson County, the Patriots lone position with no returning players comes at quarterback. After two-year starter Izaiah Hall was dismissed from the team due to a violation of team rules, the Patriots will look at sophomores Mason Henderson and Jackson Osborne to carry the load.

“We need them to be more consistent,” Riley said. “Consistency at that position is the key to success with this ballclub. We just need them to distribute the football in a way we need them to. We don’t need them to win us football games, we feel confident in our run game and line area.”

At running back, Jefferson County has one of the deepest rooms in the state of Tennessee. Along with seniors Omarian Mills and Dallas Williamson, junior Skylar Thomas and sophomore Shawn Jackson return to give Riley some remarkable depth.

Last season, Mills ran for 1,001 yards and five touchdowns while Williamson had 458 yards and nine touchdowns. Thomas had 130 yards and a touchdown, and Jackson had 134 yards and a touchdown as a freshman.

“We have four running backs that anybody from upper east Tennessee all the way to Chattanooga would like to have just one of them,” Riley said. “They’re all going to get touches in different ways. It’s a good problem to have. They all bring something different to the table. They catch the ball well out of the backfield. It’s pretty fun being around those guys.”

At receiver, Bryson Letterman is the key returner for the Patriots as they look for a little more depth. Letterman had 304 yards and three touchdowns last season.

Other receivers that Riley looks for to step up and make contributions are Dakota Haun, Raymond Landry, Dustin Roberts and Luke Messer.

On the offensive line, Mason Black, Nic Moore and Christian Wilson played significant snaps for Jefferson County last year and will anchor that group. Along with those three, Griffin Townsend, Israel Hurd, Braylon Boggs and Keshawn Boyd will all look to get in the mix and make an impact.

“We feel like we have a good, solid group of guys that can play,” Riley said. “For me, this will be the first time in a long time that I have a lot of guys to go through to find the best five guys.”

Defensively, the Patriots are loaded at linebacker. Williamson leads the charge after totalling 68 tackles last season. Along with Williamson, Emmitt Newman (72 tackles), Bradon Griffin (46 tackles), Hayden Churchwell (26 tackles) all return to give Riley plenty of options to rotate on the field.

Along with the linebackers, the Patriots bring back most of their defensive line as well. That starts with Destin Adams (20 tackles), Hurd (16 tackles) and Moore (20 tackles).

“We return so many guys that played a ton of snaps last year,” Riley said. “We return 12 guys in the front seven that played meaningful snaps for us last year. Our linebacking core is as solid as any in east Tennessee. They’re very impressive. I love when they show up in a very bad mood to the football carrier.”

In the secondary, Letterman returns after totalling 34 tackles and picking off two passes last season. Others that Riley expects to play are Mills, Jackson, Roberts, Landry, Thomas, Jaidan Jackson, Eli Roberson and Landon Weatherford.

For Riley, while he has a lot of players playing both ways, the depth of his team gives him the ability to rotate players in and out and keep guys fresh for four quarters.

“We’re going to play guys that need to play and play at a high tempo on both sides of the football,” Riley said. “If they get tired, we’ll sub them out but we’re going to try and make sure they’re in decent shape for game one.”

Schedule wise, the Patriots have no easy weeks. After opening the season on the road against Oak Ridge, Jeff County will host Sevier County. Region play begins the next week with a road game against Science Hill before returning back home to play Dobyns-Bennett. The first half of the season concludes on the road against Morristown East.

Following a bye week, the Patriots will play the other side of Morristown as they host Morristown West. Jefferson County then hosts West Ridge before playing on the road against Farragut and Cocke County. The season concludes with a region home game against William Blount.

“I know where I am going to be standing at the end of week five and know what we need to do,” Riley said. “Whatever happens in those first five weeks doesn’t dictate where we go. But we’re going to find out if we want to play ball very early on.”

As far as goals for the season, they remain the same as always for Riley.

“Number one goal is to win a region championship game,” Riley said. “After that, it’s to host a playoff game. And then to win a playoff game and let the chips fall where they may after them.”

Jefferson County kicks off the season on August 18 at Oak Ridge. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

“I want to see toughness,” Riley said. “That’s what we want to see. We talk about it everyday. Toughness is a choice. You can either choose to be tough or choose to be soft. Our kids have bought into being tough.”