KERMIT Last season was a tough pill to swallow for the Kermit football team.
However, with head coach John Fellows entering his second season with the Yellow Jackets and with a plethora of returning players-most of whom saw playing time as sophomores last year- there are reasons to believe this season will be much better.
The Yellow Jackets are coming off a 1-9 overall, 0-4 district record in Fellows’ debut season.
The good news is that Kermit returns six starters on offense and eight on defense.
Even better news is that now there’s more familiarity between the coaches and the players which Fellows said was a huge difference between this year and the beginning of fall camp last season.
“I think familiarity with the kids and the kids with the coaches and just getting to know each other and having a chance to build that relationship over the last year,” Fellows said. “That’s really done wonders for both sides. I think another huge thing for us is we were able to keep the corps of the coaching staff intact this past spring. That’s good for us and good for the players.”
Quarterback Mauricio Perez is back to lead the offense after throwing for 834 yards and eight touchdowns while rushing for 745 yards and scoring seven touchdowns on the ground.
“We’re expecting big things from Perez and the offensive scheme,” Fellows said. “He’s one of those quiet but strong kids. He leads by example and just a tremendous kid and not a bad athlete either. Defensively, we’ve had some moving around with trying to get some kids to fit in different positions. I think it’s going to be good.”
The Yellow Jackets also Diego Juarez back after playing both offensive and defensive line.
“He’s going to be a big part for us on both sides of the ball,” Fellows said of Juarez.
Avondre Marsh is a key returning player on defense after posting 55 tackles last year and has been moved from safety to linebacker.
“I think that move will make us a better defensive unit,” Fellows said. “I think overall, the second year in the same scheme is going to help tremendously.”
Fellows is excited about his offensive line and believes this unit will be one of the team’s biggest strengths.
“We’re bringing back three starters plus one that played a lot,” Fellows said. “Aaron Rodriguez started as a sophomore on both lines so he’s going to do well for us. We’re going to be a little young in the secondary but all in all, I think we’ll be fine there. We played a lot of sophomores last year so having more experience is going to help us on Friday nights.”
However, lack of experience on the defensive secondary could be an area of concern for the Yellow Jackets.
“I think one of our bigger weaknesses is going to be our secondary because we’ll be so young back there,” Fellows said. “We lost quite a few guys there. We’re bringing back just one starter. It’s just going to be one day at a time with that group.”
The Yellow Jackets at least won’t have to worry about missing the playoffs for the next two years after the recent realignment from the University Interscholastic League placed Kermit in a four-team District 2-3A DI alongside Denver City, Brownfield and Lamesa.
“Those teams are great,” Fellows said. “Denver City is Denver City and they’re returning quite a few juniors. They’re a good football team. Brownfield is always really athletic and tough to match up against. Lamesa has changed schemes. I haven’t seen much but I know their coach has a good pedigree coming in but we’ll see how that goes. I’m not too familiar with that part of it.”
The Yellow Jackets will open their season at 7 p.m. Aug. 30 against Post at Walton Field.
