After having to contend with coaching changes after the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Smackover went through its first offseason with Brian Brown this summer.
“It’s gone really well,” Brown said. “We tried to give the kids off a little bit in June. We kept the weight room open. Then we hit it hard in July. We’ve had really good senior leadership about getting people up there. We let the kids mainly be in charge of their own groups, and they did a good job of calling and getting guys up there. Just pleased with how the summer and offseason went.”
Brown’s debut season included a 5-3A championship and a run to the state quarterfinals.
With several key starters back, but also with some big spots to fill, Brown is looking forward to seeing what his team can do for an encore.
“The cliche line is you take it one game at a time, but we look at it in three phases,” Brown said. “We try to really bunch our preseason games together. We try to focus on those, and then when we get to conference, obviously our goal is to win like everybody else and to win the conference. We’re adding stuff trying to win the conference championship. Obviously, you go into a different mode in the playoffs. It’s a win-or-go-home situation, so we try to take it in three phases.”
The non-conference phase for the Bucks begins on Aug. 30 when they host Hampton.
“We had them scheduled last year, but didn’t get to play, so we’re excited about the game,” Brown said. “It’s a local game. They’re pretty close to us, so it’s going to be a really good first game for both us and them. We’re excited about that.”
The Bucks will hit the road to take on Union County rival Junction City a week later.
A year ago, the Bucks upended the Dragons 46-20, and Brown knows they will be ready for the rematch.
“Obviously, the Junction City game is a big rivalry,” Brown said. “They’ll be fired up with the new coach, and I think it’s going to be a great battle between the two teams. They’re going to be fired up since they didn’t win last year. They’ll be ready for us like they always are. A very tough opponent.”
After playing in Union County in the first two weeks of the season, the Bucks will embark on a lengthy road trip to Shiloh Christian.
“We wanted to play a little closer, but we were stuck in one of those situations where Foreman didn’t want to play this year, so we had to go elsewhere,” Brown said. “We weren’t left with a lot of choices. I think it’s going to be a big game for us as far seeing some stuff that we’re not going to see until the playoffs. That’s a big game for us.”
The trip may be a long one for the Bucks, but Brown said it will be very beneficial to his team.
“We’re excited about the game. We’re not excited about the travel, but sometimes you put up with that. For us, it’s going to be really tough with the travel, and they’re a good team, I think they’re ranked fourth in Hooten’s. We’re going to have to go up there and play our best game to stay in the game. It’s going to prepare us for anything that we see in 3A as far as spread teams. They do a great job. We’ve already seen some video on them from last year, and it gets us ready for those games when we get into the playoffs.”
As far as the league is concerned, it stands to be a three-team race with Harmony Grove, Prescott and Smackover all ranked in the top 10 of Hooten’s 3A rankings to start the season with the Hornets opening the season ranked No. 1.
“It’s going to be the same,” Brown said. “You’ve got the top three teams that are going to battle it out for the conference title. If you’re an outsider looking in, you’re probably going to go with Prescott. They’ve got the depth, a lot of returning players, and their junior high was good, so you’re naturally going to go that way.
“If you’re from Smackover, you think Smackover. If you’re from Harmony Grove, you think Harmony Grove. All three teams have promise. Seasons are long, injuries and other things happen, how they pan out and how teams jell together, so we’ll see what happens. Obviously, all three teams are top five or six teams, so I think it’s going to be a battle to the finish.”
An oddity of Smackover’s schedule is that they have only four home games this year, which stems from playing in the Hooten’s Kickoff Classic last year against Foreman.
“Anytime you play a preseason game like that at a neutral site, it’s going to throw you off,” Brown said. “It hurts for your home money, so you would like to keep it even, but those games are also fun for the kids. They want to play in those type of games. They like to play in the big stadiums and the good teams. The more you do that, the better off you are, so it was a good experience for us, but the negatives are you do lose that game.”
If the Bucks are to enjoy a successful second season under Brown, developing depth will be critical.
“I like our team,” Brown said. “I like our senior leadership. I like our toughness. All of those things are great things. But I think developing depth for us with the numbers, that’s going to be the key to our success. I feel good about our situations with our quarterbacks and running backs, even our O-line, but our depth is what we’re going to have to develop for us to be really, really good.”