By Michael Lindsay
The high school football regular season is less than a day away, and for the Cumberland County Jets, 2023 is a chance to continue building under head coach Noah Repasky.
“I’m excited about this year,” Repasky said. “This senior group is the group my staff came in with as freshmen. It’s fun to see how these guys have grown and matured. They’re a great group and they’ve played extremely hard in the preseason.”
The Jets went 2-8 last season with wins over Livingston Academy and Jackson County. Cumberland County went 6-5 two seasons ago for the program’s best record in 21 seasons, a mark the Jets are working to return to.
“We need to play consistently and do the small things right; that’s where this group can grow,” Repasky said. “They’ve been so resilient in dealing with everything like injuries. We’re down 4 starters on offense we thought we’d have.”
Cumberland County remains in Region 4-4A alongside DeKalb County, Livingston Academy, Macon County, Stone Memorial, Upperman and White County.
“It keeps getting tougher every year,” Repasky said. “They added Upperman two years ago and now White County is down from 5A to 4A, and they’ve really got their program back on track. It’s a murder’s row; we’ve got a 5-week stretch in the middle of the season where it’s nothing but region games. Four of our six teams were ranked top-10 in the state most of the season.”
Non-region foes for Cumberland County include Scott, Bledsoe County, Pickett County and Sequoyah.
The Jets return 3 starters on offense and 8 on defense after losing 5 seniors from 2022. Cumberland County has 9 seniors on the 2023 squad.
Junior Bryson Wilson is set to take over at quarterback following the preseason transfer of former starter Noah Potter.
Joining Wilson in the backfield will be a rotation of Connor Hankins, Darel Davis and Clay Mullen.
At receiver, the Jets are projected to start Jeffry Smith, Adam Packett and Cayden Matthews with Nolen Carter and Eli Ostrander in the rotation.
Along with running back duties, Clay Mullen is expected to start at tight end.
Up front, the Jets are set to start Jordan Propst, Devon Gilstrap, Benji Hulburt, Levi Garrett and Dontae Parsons on the offensive line with Jacob Alderman rotating in. Jacob Nealon is expected to return to the lineup once he’s returned from injury.
Defensively, the Jets are set to rotate Xzavier Toebbe, Dontae Parsons, Benji Hulburt and Levi Garrett on the defensive line. Inside linebackers include Wyatt Sharpe, Jordan Propst, and Darel Davis, while outside linebackers include Clay Mullen, Devon Gilstrap, Brady Ragan and Tyler Phillips.
Jamie Perez and Ayden Clanton are set to start at cornerback while Adam Packett, Nolen Carter and Connor Hankins will share safety duties. Perez will also punt and kick for the Jets.
Joining Repasky on Cumberland County’s coaching staff are Brad Eich, Andrew Phipps, Sean Eckert, Dalton Barney, Abe Wilson and Jake Johnson.
The Jets are set to kick off the regular season on Friday, Aug. 18 at Scott High School.
