By Michael Lindsay
With spring football practice wrapped up in Sparta, the White County Warriors entered their summer workout program this week under first-year head coach Curtis Beaty.
“It’s going good,” Beaty said. “We’re a young team losing so many kids. We’ve got a lot of learning going on, and we’re getting strong. We’ve been at it for two days now and I’ve seen improvement.”
Beaty takes over a White County program that went 9-3 in 2022 under former head coach Mark Frasier. The Warriors graduated more than 20 seniors from last season’s power-run team including Mr. Football finalist running back Malaki Dowell.
“Me and coach (Mark) Frasier lined up on that when he came here, and that’s one of the reasons I stayed on staff,” Beaty said. “The identity of Sparta football is power, smash-mouth football, and that’s what we’re going to do. We have some athletes on the outside, but we want to pound the football and make it as physical as we can.
“Darvon Richmond has played receiver for us, and is a big name that will help us this year. Of course you’ve got (QB) Tripp Pinion and Owen Adams and those guys. TJ Dodd is playing offensive line is coming along and is going to help that group. When you lose as many as we did on the offensive line, you need guys like him and Keaton Sparkman.”
Summer football is a time of evaluation and tweaks for Beaty and the Warriors.
“We’re trying to find out who can play,” Beaty said. “We did that in the spring, but now we’ve got some freshmen coming in. We’re fine-tuning some scheme things, but ultimately in June we’re focusing on the weight room.”
White County drops from Class 5A to Class 4A this season and will join Region 4-4A alongside Cumberland County, DeKalb County, Livingston Academy, Macon County, Stone Memorial and Upperman. The Warriors kick their season off Friday, Aug. 18 at Silverdale Academy.
