Media Days 2018: High school football season kicks off in Gardendale

Published 11:43 am Wednesday, August 1, 2018

On Monday and Tuesday high school football’s unofficial kickoff took place in Gardendale.

Over 40 teams from Jefferson and Shelby Counties participated in High School Football Media Days, which was held at the Gardendale Civic Center. NJN-area participants include Mortimer Jordan, Corner, Fultondale, Gardendale and Pinson Valley. Each team’s head coach chose two players to join them for a 16-minute press conference with local media members.

Dusty Goode was a veteran among the local representatives. He has held his post at Mortimer Jordan for the last five seasons, and chose defensive end Dylan Morris and defensive back Ronnie Wright to join him in Gardendale.

“Kourtlan [Marsh] has had a really good summer. He’s developed leadership skills and he is without a doubt our quarterback,” said Goode of the rising junior. “Kourtlan has grown about three inches and put on probably 20 more pounds, so his throwing and decision making has gotten better. We expect big things from him.”

The only other returning head coach in northern Jefferson County is Pinson Valley’s Patrick Nix, who won the school’s first state title last December. He was accompanied by his son and quarterback Bo Nix along with defensive end Joel Parker.

“They’re kind of the bell cows and leaders of the team and quite honestly the ones you want to talk to,” said Nix of Bo and Parker.

“Honestly, the day after the state championship we started looking at this next season,” said Bo. “The day we got back to school we started working out again, so we didn’t take too much time off and I think to defend a state championship you don’t have time to take any time off.”

Bo talks about the season opener against defending Class 7A state champion Hoover below. 

First-year Gardendale head man Chad Eads brought defensive end Xavier Skinner and offensive guard Micah Gibson. After 11 years on the staff in Hoover, this will be Eads first head coaching opportunity.

“It’s been a great transition for me,” said Eads. “I guess the biggest jump is the desire to make sure you know every kid on the team, where before I worried about a small group.”

Eads specializes in the offensive line and hopes to find consistency among his starting five this fall. “I tell them I want them to be like a good second baseman, they don’t have to make a spectacular play, just make the routine plays over and over and over.” 

The head coach speaks about Gardendale’s Meet The Rockets event, which will include performances by the GHS band and cheerleaders along with youth camps for football players and cheerleaders, below. 

Don Dover also makes the jump from assistant coach to head coach at Class 3A Fultondale. Dover, an assistant on last year’s 11-1 team, introduced the media to linebacker Ja’Len Sims and lineman Dontarrius Crenshaw.

“We’re excited about our upcoming season,” said Dover. “We have some experience on both sides of the ball and have some young kids coming up and we’re excited about seeing what they’re able to do and how they can help us on Friday nights.”

Dover brings back six starters on offense along with five more on defense this year.

Corner head coach Jon Clements, a former offensive coordinator at Clay-Chalkville and Pinson Valley, made his visit alongside running back Garrett Purvis and defensive back Blayse Pickle on Tuesday morning.

“Garrett [Purvis] is our running back. I put a lot of trust in him… he’s got to be a route runner, he’s got to be a run-scheme guy and he’s got to be in protection,” said Clements. “We feel pretty good at running back. I feel really good skill on both sides. I think we probably need to find one or two more guys up front.”

Check back with the NJN for more on High School Football Media Days.

Erik Harris is the Sports Editor of The North Jefferson News. Email him at njnsports@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jeharris2.