by Rusty Ellis
The 2022 season was a successful one for the Smith County Owls, as the put together an 11-2 season that featured two playoff wins and the Region 5-3A Championship.
Head Coach Matt Dyer isn’t resting on that success however, as he says he and his team are completely focused on building onto 2022 and taking the next step as a program.
And it’s an exciting time to be an Owl, as summer practices allow Dyer and his staff to take the first look at how their incoming freshmen will mesh with their returners.
“It’s always an exciting time, we haven’t seen our freshmen up until now and that’s part of what makes June our evaluation time,” Dyer said. “That’s always a fun time as coach, getting to see your young guys and seeing how they fit in…you’re seeing guys grow and develop and be pushed to the max. The biggest thing is you’ve got to stay healthy.”
There’s not many secrets as far as the type of team the Owls want to be, as Dyer points out that as one of the smallest schools in the 3A classification, he had three players each finish with over 100 carries for the season.
He wants this team to play physical and ground teams down over the course of a four-quarter game, and that all starts with returning quarterback Kaden Powell.
“We bring back a lot of starters, we bring back Kaden Powell who’s continuing to grow, which is a crazy thing,” Dyer said. “He was 6-3, 230 last year, and now he’s sitting around 6-4, 240…he’s faster than he was last year, he’s got a great arm and his decision-making process is just unparalleled for a 15-year-old kid. We’re expecting big things from him.”
But he won’t be alone, as Dyer points out that he’s got a plethora of players he can plug in all over the field that will be key contributors.
They’ll have to replace two big seniors in Bryce Currie and Johnny Lyda, and while those two will certainly be missed, Dyer knows he’s not short of weapons.
“Ethan Madewell is going to be a senior and he had some good carries last year in our crowded backfield,” Dyer said. “We’ve got Jaden Evans coming in as a junior, he’s kind of a do-it-all back. Kylan Johnson is coming into his senior year, last year he played running back and we moved him to receiver late. We’ve just got to find creative ways to get him the ball because he’s one of the fast guys on the team. Key Harris is another guy that had a great Spring, Jermaine Cason was our backup quarterback last year, but we’re also going to feature him as well and get the ball to him as well. Wyatt Claywell and Peyton Hix are going to be big for us too. We have a plethora of offensive weapons where we can move the ball around.”
Players like Ty Martin and Javy Gaspar will also be important on both sides of the ball in the trenches for Dyer, as both the defensive and offensive line groups were instrumental in the Owls’ season a year ago.
2023 will be a fresh start in a new classification and new region as well for Smith, as they move down to Class 2A and will be in a region with East Robertson, Trousdale County, Westmoreland, Monterey and Jackson County.
And while everyone is pleased with how the team performed in 2022, Dyer has instilled a “what have you done for me lately” mentality in his players.
Simply put, he wants them to focus on what they can accomplish this year with each passing week instead of resting on the laurels of last season.
“We did a good job of trying to go 1-0 each week and then moving on to the next,” Dyer said. “We convinced our guys that nobody cares about what they did the year or week before. We care about what you’re doing this week in getting ready for our game and executing the game-plan. It’s all about what you’re doing today.”
