Hatton preparing for pivotal year two under Stover
· Yahoo Sports
Jul. 10—HATTON — Expectations are high surrounding Hatton football this season.
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Last season in head coach Nikita Stover's first year, Hatton went 7-4 in the regular season and 6-2 in region play before its season ended in the first round of the playoffs with a 20-19 loss to Madison Academy.
Now as the Hornets enter Year 2 under Stover, the hope is they can be even better.
"The buy-in is even higher than last year, and we had great buy-in last season," Stover said. "We've been in the weight room. You see how the guys look. They're getting bigger, stronger, a lot faster.
"We've got guys that we're moving around, doing a lot of different things this year. It'll help our depth, and we need that."
Stover said this summer has been about installing a new defense and continuing to work on the small things.
"It'll be similar to what we did the last four games last season, with a little spin to it," he said. "They're fast guys on defense that can play anywhere — guys that have been there. We only replaced two corners from last year, got mostly everybody else back."
The Hornets return one of the best running backs in the area, Savarius Evans. The rising senior ran for 1,719 yards and 19 touchdowns last season.
"He's our feature guy as far as offense goes," Stover said. "Everybody knows he's our bell cow. He's one of the best backs in the state."
Impact players like wide receiver Quenderius Bolding and defensive back Daniel Taylor Jr. will also return for their senior season.
"I told the guys, 'As long as you're playing fast and aggressive, if you make mistakes, that's fine.'" Stover said. "We're going to keep guys out there that want to play hard."
Quarterback, however, is a three-way competition between Taegen Burleson, Tristan Bolden, and East Limestone transfer Cade Parham.
Four-year starter Tasean Love graduated after last season, during which he passed for 1,557 yards and 26 touchdowns.
Stover said he wants to be flexible at the quarterback position so he can take advantage of each player's strengths.
"It's a great battle. They all make mistakes, but it's kind of 'iron sharpens iron,'" he said. "We might rotate. We've got different options we can do this year."
Stover said Hatton has also added transfers like Keyshawn Bowling from Lauderdale County and Daniel Aycock, who played last season at Russellville.
"Aycock is another guy that came back. He's from Hatton, went to Russellville and he moved back." he said, "He's been big time as far as the things he does on the field."
With this year's classification realignment, the Hornets will move down to Class 3A and join Region 5, where they will face teams like East Lawrence, Curry, Danville, Fayette County, Haleyville, Oakman and Winfield.
"Our goal is to be better than we were the day before," Stover said. "We think we have a talented team that can do great things."