2021 Season Preview: Silver Bluff Bulldogs

De’Angelo Bryant knows how close his team was to turning the corner a year ago. The Silver Bluff head coach and his talented group of returning players made some huge strides, but year four under Bryant is expected to blow the doors off the previous three. “It’s been a long time since Silver Bluff had this excitement in that locker room,” said Bryant, a 2003 graduate of the school. “It’s a different vibe. Those guys are super competitive. When you see that, when you know that is the drive of the football team, you feel like it’s something special.” The reasons for his anticipation are quite clear. Three Class 2A All-State players - quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="91161" first="Maleik" last="Williams"], tailback [player_tooltip player_id="91348" first="Traevon" last="Dunbar"] (pictured) and offensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="91199" first="Corey" last="Heath"] - will all be back. So are offensive and/or defensive linemen [player_tooltip player_id="91240" first="Connor" last="Barton"], [player_tooltip player_id="91184" first="Jaden" last="McLeod"], <strong>Jacob Smith</strong> and <strong>Ryan Tilley</strong>, receiver <strong>Dominique Davis</strong>, and defensive backs <strong>Marcus Washington</strong> and <strong>Ricardo Jones</strong>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span> Rising sophomores [player_tooltip player_id="139299" first="Jordan" last="Boyd"], [player_tooltip player_id="139306" first="Christian" last="Echols"], <strong>Darien Jackson</strong>, <strong>Maleik Scurry</strong> and <strong>Daniel Jones</strong> help fill out a Bulldogs roster that will undoubtedly fill up some time from college scouts over the next few years. Recruiting certainly won’t be hurt if Silver Bluff continues the trend that started last fall. The Bulldogs lost their first two games (road contests at Wade Hampton and Barnwell) by a combined three points. From there, the Bulldogs romped Edisto, Williston-Elko, Pelion and Midland Valley by an average of four touchdowns per game. And while much of the focus will be on Dunbar - a tailback already receiving Power 5 looks after earning a ton of pub as a freshman - the rest of the bunch ain’t too shabby, either. Williams is an electric dual-threat quarterback at the high school level who lists as an athlete in college. McLeod has stacked a high-quality spring on top of his highly effective junior year on the defensive line. Heath, Barton and the rest of the offensive line will give all those skill guys plenty of time to develop. Add in Georgia transfer <strong>Davon Simpkins</strong> at defensive line and South Aiken transfer <strong>Zaden Davis</strong> at corner, and the Bulldogs are one of the handful of Class 2A schools expected to contend. “I think they have some idea,” Bryant said of his team’s self-awareness heading into 2021. “They’ve gone through their fair share of lumps. Having that type of maturity, it’s going to be great for us going forward.”