Football not settling with past season

In just one year of head coach Randy Sanders’ tenure, the Bucs became conference champions and had a playoff game appearance. Coming off an 8-4 season, the Bucs will have to replace now Vienna Vikings quarterback Austin Herink.

Sanders made it known who that would possibly be in the team’s spring game. Cameron Lewis (McDonough, Georgia) took the majority of the snaps in the spring game and certainly impressed the crowd and the coaches.

“Cam is young, so he has a lot to learn,” said Sanders. “He worked hard at learning as he progressed his knowledge of the offense and defense and it has made it a whole lot easier to get better.”

Lewis completed 23-of-31 of his passing attempts, earning 200 yards through the air in the spring game. His running ability was also shown, finding his way into the endzone with a 34-yard rushing touchdown.

Offensively, the Bucs return a good majority of their team at skill positions, one being running back Quay Holmes (Powder Springs, Georgia) who has the chance to rush for 1,000 yards this upcoming season. He will be the lead man in what could be a balanced running attack with the quality at the position.

“I feel very comfortable in our ability to run the football and feel confident that we will be able to,” Sanders said. “We have a lot of experience returning at the offensive line. I have two good running backs and a tight end who is a really good blocker.”

That tight end position could play a major role for the Bucs this upcoming season. This past season, the tight end position showed flashes of how much of an impact it could have in the Bucs’ offense.

Enough can not be said about the hiring of Bryan Stork as the tight end coach. Stork, who won a Super Bowl in his rookie year with the New England Patriots and was coached by Sanders at Florida State, brings a lot of knowledge to the team.

The defense will definitely have some key guys to replace such as defensive leaders Dylan Weigel (Pickerington, Ohio) and Chris Boyuer (Rock Hill, South Carolina).

However, Sanders is confident in who is returning, noting that the players coming back have had experience. One of those players is none other than Nasir Player (Columbia, South Carolina) who is poised for a great senior year.

“I’m not content,” Sanders said. “I know our coaches are not content. Most of the time the team is going to reflect the coaches. I told the team what we accomplished in 2018 is great, but that was last year. Now we have to move on.”