The new-look red line

The new-look red line

Earle looks to launch fresh running game

Sports Editor On any given day during fall camp at Earle High School in the past, the Bulldogs may have had 11 players or less present for an August workout.

The Bulldogs had 26 players on their varsity roster last season, which was the most active players that they boasted since at least 2013.

Still, the attendance for Earle yesterday morning on day three of fall workouts had to be music to Earle head coach A.C. Coleman’s ears.

“We’ve had kids up here every day working out. A lot went to some individual camps even,” says the Lake Village native, who has been over Earle football since 2010. “We’ve been everywhere for 7-on-7 tournaments and we had some success there. It’s been one of the more productive summers that we’ve had at Earle, if not the most productive.”

Earle won a share of its second consecutive league title last fall, jetting out to an 8-1 start to their season, but that year ended with a loss at Cross County on the road in Week 10 before a shocking playoff loss at home to Magnet Cove in the first round of the Class 2A state playoffs. It was the first time that Earle didn’t win at least one playoff game during the Coleman era.

Following that loss to Magnet Cove, the Bulldogs graduated eight seniors from their 2015 team, and while Marcus Brown was selected to play in the Arkansas Activities Association All-Star Game in Conway, Earle may miss running back Richard Merritt the most.

Merritt racked up just under than 3,000 rushing yards combined in 2014 and 2015 as the feature back for Earle.

As productive as Merritt was, one may wonder how Coleman will ever replace him, but the veteran coach has given up trying to do so with just one player.

“We always want to be 50/50 in our playcalling,” explains Coleman. “We have three guys working out for us right now and they all do different things. We’ve got Kameron Banks, Treyvon Reel and Jacquezz Gray. They’re unproven, none of them have ever carried a ball in a high school game. They all have strengths and weakness, like Kam is shiftier, maybe a little faster than the others. Reel is more of a power runner, but Gray makes cuts better and has a better natural flow to the game.”

Helping Coleman pick his running back rotation will be an offensive line that helped carry Earle’s junior high team to a 9-0 record and a district title last fall.

The coach estimates that he will have seven sophomore linemen on this year’s team, in addition to senior Fred Williams, who has seen plenty of action in his two years of varsity play.

“They’re constantly working. They’re learning our schemes and they actually like to work hard,” says Coleman of his talented, but green offensive line. “The best part is that our guys this year actually want to be on the line. We don’t have guys asking to get carries or run routes. They’re not doing any of that, and they’re just hungry to learn.”

Earle’s offensive line was a patchwork last season, with just five regular offensive linemen on the roster, a real problem early in the season when the team’s conditioning was still in flux and hotter temperatures leading to quicker fatigue.

That line will also be tasked with protecting junior quarterback Gerry Bohanon, who attended camps at the University of Alabama, Auburn University, the University of Arkansas and Arkansas State University, to name a few.

Earle will open its 2016 season with a benefit scrimmage on Friday, August 26 at England High School. The Bulldogs open their season on Friday, September 2 in Helena-West Helena against Class 4A’s Central High Cougars.

By Chuck Livingston