The Alcoa Tornadoes faced the Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders in a TSSAA Class 3A state quarterfinal on Legion Field at Hammonds Stadium on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023, in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
As more and more calendar pages flipped away from Alcoa’s 2022 Class 3A state championship and the focus turned towards yet another repeat bid for the Tornadoes in 2023, one major red flag flapped above a critical position group.
Offensive line.
At a program like Alcoa, whose hallmark during this two-decade run of dominance has been physical play up front and a subsequent reliable run game, this point of concern had to be addressed expeditiously.
And so the Tornadoes underwent a complete overhaul on its offensive front in the offseason.
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Lance Williams, a 2022 Tennessee Titans Mr. Football winner and four-year starter at tackle, graduated and left to join the program at Virginia Tech.
Bubba Jeffries, a massive 6-foot-5, 300-pound presence and multi-year starter, graduated and enrolled to play at Indiana.
Also departing due to graduation was 6-2 center Riley Long.
And then, Mason Martin — a starting right guard in 2022 — was injured during baseball season and underwent arm surgery.
That left Alcoa with one returning starter on the offensive line for the 2023 season, one in which the program also would have to break in a new starting quarterback.
When you’re in the midst of a historic run of championships like Alcoa is, the general public might assume that the Tornadoes just reload from a bottomless talent pool.
In actuality, offensive line coaches Brian Gossett and Alex Taylor had to work like mad in the spring and summer months to assemble a starting offensive line and develop depth there for a possible run at a ninth consecutive state championship.
Alcoa (12-1) will play for that ninth consecutive state title in Class 3A at 11 a.m. on Friday against East Nashville (12-2) in Chattanooga.
ADDRESSING THE ISSUE
Having two offensive line coaches was a must at Alcoa under coach Gary Rankin, who led the program to 13 state titles in his 16 seasons (2006-2021).
And current Alcoa head coach Brian Nix, who was Rankin’s defensive coordinator, continued that characteristic with his staff.
“Coach Taylor and Coach Gossett do a great job with our guys (up front). We feel like we’ve got seven guys who can rotate in and play,” Nix said on Monday. “(The linemen) know what they’re doing. They’re going to go in and play hard. A lot of that goes with the work that Coach Taylor does during the summer with them, getting extra work with our offensive line.
“We try, as much as we can, to get offensive and defensive linemen to be one-way players. There’s a few guys who will work on both sides … And I think as the year goes on, that pays off more and more, when you can work the same thing for two hours a day. That doesn’t matter, though, unless you have good coaches over there. And Jeff Hickman has done a great job with our tight ends. Our players have been receptive and worked hard.”
Alcoa took returning guard Isaiah Emert (junior, 6-0, 255), put him at center and then built an offensive line group around him that now runs 7-8 deep. Bryce Hayes, a 6-3, 220-pound senior, abandoned his normal tight end spot to occupy a starting left tackle spot. He played center as a sophomore but no offensive line in 2022.
“He’s an undersized offensive tackle,” Nix said. “But he went there for us and has done an unbelievable job for a guy who doesn’t fit the prototypical size — but he’s a smart kid and a strong kid. And he’s been a leader on our team, to sacrifice the position he probably wanted to play for what our team needed him to do.”
Jamir Turner, who moved to Alcoa from Knoxville in the offseason, is a defensive lineman by trade. The 6-4, 300-pound junior made the move to offensive line, learned quickly and earned a starting spot at right tackle.
John Spurling, a 6-3, 270-pounder, waited his time for three years, worked and now starts as a senior at right guard.
Alcoa sophomore left Colton Moore (6-0, 225), junior Rhyin McCourt (guard, tackle, 6-0, 265)) and junior Ben Lewis (guard, 6-0, 285) also log playing time on the offensive line. And Martin returned from injury around Week 8.
To get them all ready in a hurry, Alcoa scrimmaged in the offseason against 5A power Powell, Division II-AAA title contender McCallie and 6A semifinalist Bradley Central.
And that work paid off instantly, it seemed.
The Tornadoes beat Class 6A Ravenwood on the road in Week 1 and then rallied late to beat Class 6A Bearden in Week 2.
Ravenwood and Bearden each reached the 6A quarterfinals this month.
Alcoa later topped defending 5A champion West in Week 7. West is in the 5A championship on Friday night.
“In the West game, we didn’t knock them around or anything, but we got in there and fought them (up front) probably better than fought any other great team on our schedule,” Gossett said.
“We got in there and competed. At that point, it was like, ‘OK, we can do this. We can be the kind of line we expect around here.'”
WHAT THEY’LL FACE AT STATE
Now, for the third season in a row, Alcoa will play East Nashville in the Class 3A BlueCross Bowl state championship. The Tornadoes have a 44-game postseason win streak and are shooting for a ninth consecutive state title and 22nd overall.
Their opponent, East Nashville, had its own share of offseason growing pains.
Not only did it lose 12 starters off its 2022 runner-up team — including its starting quarterback, running back and top two receivers — but it also lost its head coach.
Jamaal Stewart left East Nashville to coach at Centennial High School, so East Nashville hired Damien Harris away from Pearl-Cohn, where he had been an assistant for 14 years.
“Coming in as a new head coach, it was very important to me to keep the standard where it was at,” Harris said on Monday.
He and the Eagles did just that; however, they hit a midseason lull with consecutive losses entering the October weeks. But East Nashville comes into the title game against Alcoa on a seven-game win streak, averaging 39.4 points per game in that span and surrendering an average of just 8.6 points.
Sophomore tailbacks Keith Johnson (152 carries, 1,355 yards, 19 touchdowns) and Kelan Anderson (74 carries, 805 yards, 16 touchdowns) will draw the focus of Alcoa’s defense, which also must account for junior quarterback Martez Lamb. His passing stats don’t astound, but he averages 11.9 yards per rush and can also hit on a big pass play every now and again.
Defensively, East Nashville has a collective 35 quarterback sacks this season.
Leading the way: 6-2, 255-pound senior defensive lineman Malik Bolling with 14.
That means Alcoa’s offensive front must be on guard.
“With Coach Stewart before and Coach Harris now, I don’t know if they’ve gotten enough credit for the coaching jobs they’ve done,” Nix said. “They’ve got great athletes and kids who can play. But it’s a real different look (this year) than we’ve seen with East Nashville teams in the past.
“(Coach Harris) has answered a lot of questions. They got cleaned out (by graduation) on offense from last year. … You can see how they’ve improved as the year went on. It’s not just a talented team and a team with some athletes, you can see they’re blocking who they’re supposed to block and they’re playing hard on defense.”
5STAR PREPS GAME PREDICTION
Alcoa 38, East Nashville 14
This season: 388-87 (.817)