Season Preview: Boiling Springs Bulldogs

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When Matt Reel looked at Boiling Springs, he saw the "want-to".</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Reel, who took North Myrtle Beach to unprecedented football heights, took the Boiling Springs job last winter and immediately saw something he needed to see.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"There's a great desire to be competitive," he said. "There's a desire to be looked at as a program who should be among the elite. And there should be expectations here. They played for a state championship in 2016. The kids are here. We've just got to have consistency in expectations and responsibilities. From the administration down, the only question has been 'what do you need to be competitive?'. It's been great. It's been all you can ask for."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On the field, the Bulldogs will be a young team, and will look to grow up quickly.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"We have a good number of sophomores playing up," Reel said. "We're going to see how quickly they come along, how accustomed they get to those Friday nights."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>One player who's not new to Fridays is <strong>Kam Williams</strong>. Williams topped 100 yards rushing in several contests a year ago, and is an extremely hard-working player who has embraced the culture Reel is trying to bring to Boiling Springs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"He's really competitive, and he works like crazy," Reel said. "He's one of the first who reached out to me when I got the job, and we're looking for a really good season from Kam."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Reel said <strong>Spencer Eison</strong> is another player the Bulldogs will rely on. Eison will play WR and DB for Boiling Springs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"We'll use him at receiver, safety, and corner," Reel said. "He's a guy who will play all over the field.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Up front on offense, the Bulldogs will look to a trio of upperclassmen as leaders, in seniors <strong>Josiah Touch</strong> and <strong>Jason Blackwell</strong> and junior <strong>Billy Fields</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"We'll need those guys to be steadfast for us," Reel said. "We'll need them to lead."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At QB, as sophomores <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1012707' first='Lincoln' last='Huskey']</strong> and <strong>Zy Landrum</strong> are competing for the starting job, with senior <strong>Jacob Dawkins</strong> also in the mix.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Everyone has a chance," Reel said. "Lincoln and Zy have kind of separated themselves, but we probably won't name a starter until game week against T.L. Hanna. We'll figure it out, and the others will play quite a bit. We're going to go with two quarterbacks a lot of the time."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Defensively, Reel is looking for big things from <strong>Calvin Jackson</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"He has a chance to have a big year," Reel said. "He's explosive and powerful, and can play not only DE but some LB in odd fronts for us."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>JoJo Barrett</strong> will provide leadership at LB as well.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"He's a savvy player who really gets it," Reel said. "He can cover, he can stop the run, he can blitz - he can do everything we need a linebacker to do. He'll play all over the field for us."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Hudson Wilson</strong> and <strong>Justin Woodruff</strong> are also primed to have big years for the Bulldogs on the defensive side of the ball.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->