Ringling Team Preview

Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy! It’s the month of July and that means it’s preview time! Throughout the month of July, we are publishing 100 team previews to get you ready for the 2022 season. This is something that began last year and has become even bigger and better this year. We’re looking forward to diving deep into the top teams across the state. From defending champs, to top contenders and dark horses, we’ll have complete coverage every single day with new teams from Class 6A down to A. In this post, we take a look at the Bixby Spartans. One of the best teams over the last decade is moving up to 6A-1 after dominating 6A-2 since it’s inception. Ringling Blue Devils (A Preseason Ranking: #5) Once again, the Ringling Blue Devils are one of the top teams coming into the season in Class A and that really is a testament to what legendary high school coach Phil Koons has done in his short time with the Ringling program. Despite returning only two starters on offense and another two starters on defense, the Blue Devils come into this season as the #5 team in our Class A preseason rankings. And by the time November rolls around those new starters are experienced veterans, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them much higher than #5 in Class A and as a serious threat to make it back to UCO in Edmond, playing for a state championship. The Blue Devils come into this season as the favorites in their district once again and the district championship could set them up for another deep run in November. This year’s Ringling team will have plenty of new faces but the goal is still the same. The goal is to win the district and then compete for a state championship. The Blue Devils bring back just four starters from last year’s team that did just that. They went 14-1 and made it all the way to the state championship game before losing a heartbreaker to Cashion in the final minutes. The Wildcats went back to back and did not allow the Blue Devils to capture their second state championship in three seasons. Cashion and Ringling are both reloading this season but that doesn’t mean they aren’t serious threats to win another championship. The few starters that Ringling return are some of their best athletes and playmakers and that will certainly help the new guys around them come along with less pressure being put on the new starters. <hr /> 2021 Results (14-1 Record - Class A Runner Up) Aug. 27 - Beat Atoka 48-0 Sept. 10 - Beat Dickson 76-12 Sept. 17 - Beat Marietta 48-0 Sept. 24 - Beat Stratford 35-7 Oct. 1 - Beat Wynnewood 48-13 Oct. 8 - Beat Rush Springs 58-0 Oct. 14 - Beat Healdton 57-0 Oct. 22 - Beat Dibble 43-0 Oct. 29 - Beat Wayne 27-12 Nov. 5 - Beat Elmore City 55-8 1st Round - Beat Hinton 53-13 2nd Round - Beat Minco 72-12 Quarterfinal - Beat Pawnee 42-32 Semifinal - Beat Morrison 13-12 Championship - Lost To Cashion 21-14 <hr /> Players To Watch [player_tooltip player_id="381567" first="Caleb" last="Taylor"] - 2024 Defensive Back One of the younger standouts from last year’s team is 2024 defensive back and wide receiver [player_tooltip player_id="381567" first="Caleb" last="Taylor"]. As a sophomore, Taylor made his way into the lineup and became a valuable part of Ringling’s stout defense. Taylor ended the season with 40 tackles and three interceptions. he’s also one of the fastest players on the team as he clocked a 4.6 40 earlier this year. Ringling takes a tremendous amount of pride in their defense and Taylor is one of the few players with any experience returning this season. We’re expecting not only for him to have another standout year, but become more of a leader within the Ringling defensive unit. [player_tooltip player_id="291971" first="Kaden" last="Barron"] - 2023 Running Back/Linebacker One of the more impactful players returning for the Blue devils is 2023 running back and linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="291971" first="Kaden" last="Barron"]. There’s no doubt that Ringling is a run-first team and Barron brings a lot of production back from last season’s runner up team. He finished his junior year with over 1,000 yards and didn’t even reach 100 carries on the season. We’re expecting that work load to go up significantly this fall. On defense, he also had nearly 100 tackles. He also handled kicking duties for the Blue Devils. We mentioned how he might be the most impactful player on this team. When you take into account the offensive, defensive and special teams production, it’s hard to argue. [player_tooltip player_id="189421" first="Karson" last="Daniel"] - 2023 Quarterback Returning to Ringling at quarterback is 2023 QB1 [player_tooltip player_id="189421" first="Karson" last="Daniel"]. The Ringling signal caller has been around for several seasons, making plays with his arm and his legs. While Ringling isn’t exactly known for airing it out on the offensive side of the ball, Daniel has been outstanding in that department over the last few seasons. Last year, as a junior, Daniel threw for nearly 1,800 yards and 22 touchdowns. He would complete nearly 60 percent of his passes. He also added over 450 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. While Ringling will continue to be a run-first offense, it’s good to know that if they get into a situation where they need to throw the ball, they’ll have no issues with Daniel returning. More Names To Know Davier Carr - 2023 Wide Receiver/Defensive Back DJ Lewis - 2023 Offensive/Defensive Lineman Hunter Stephens - 2023 Linebacker John Tynes - 2023 Offensive/Defensive Lineman Kaden Lyle - 2024 Defensive Lineman Kash Rose - 2023 Defensive Lineman Rance Wilson - 2024 Fullback/Defensive Lineman <hr /> 2022 Schedule/Games To Circle Sept. 2 - AT Atoka - The season opener for the Blue Devils will be a tough one as they hit the road to take on 2A’s Atoka. Ringling absolutely handled Atoka last season in the season opener but this year could be a different story. Ringling brings back just four starters total while Atoka brings back nine starters on offense and another nine starters on defense. They have athletes that have D1 potential in multiple sports so right out of the gate, the Blue Devils will be challenged. Ringling has been dominant in the regular season over the last three years, but week one’s road trip to Atoka will be arguably their toughest test of the regular season this year. Sept. 9 - Marietta Sept. 16 - Apache Sept. 23 - AT Rush Springs Sept. 30 - Dibble Oct. 7 - Healdton Oct. 14 - AT Wayne Oct. 21 - Wynnewood - After Fall Break, Ringling will return home in week eight to host Wynnewood. In terms of Ringling’s district, Wynnewood is the only other team that is ranked in the preseason top ten. The Savages have been up and down over the last decade but when they’re up, they’re routinely one of the better teams in Class A and this year should be no different. They have one of the top overall prospects in the 2025 class and that will definitely cause problems for the Blue Devils on defense. If Ringling can get wins over Wayne and Wynnewood in back to back weeks, they will be set up to capture another district championship and have a favorable road in the playoffs. Oct. 28 - AT Elmore City Nov. 4 - Stratford <hr /> Notable Ringling has had arguably the best defensive unit in the state over the last three seasons. First, we’ll go back to the 2019 when they won the state championship. Ringling had a stretch of nine consecutive games where they didn’t allow a single point. That’s one of the more remarkable stats over the last five years across Oklahoma football. You can accidentally give up a touchdown and they were perfect for over two months. Last year, they didn’t have a shutout streak but they were as close to perfect as they could have been. In seven regular season games, the Blue Devils gave up just 18 points with four shutouts sprinkled in. All in all, the Blue Devils gave up a total of 74 points when you combine the regular season and playoff run. Last season, the Blue Devils weren’t as dominant but they had five shutouts and kept all but two of their opponents under 20 points. <hr /> Championship History 5 State Championships 2019 – Beat Cashion 20-14 2012 – Beat Wynnewood 39-12 2003 – Beat Tonkawa 27-20 1992 – Beat Velma-Alma 20-12 1989 – Beat Empire 31-3