Replacements Steering North Squad Into Touchstone Energy Bowl

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>While the South squad remained relatively intact between October's initial roster release and this week's Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl, Robin Bacon's North team has seen constant turnover in recent weeks.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Those changes, and how the staff adjusts to them, will dictate the Blues' chances in the 75th annual all-star event.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“You initially say ‘This is the scheme you want to run.' If you lose a skill guy, you want to replace him with the next best guy who fits into the scheme,” said Bacon, who recently announced he was resigning as the head coach at Spring Valley. “We have to pick kids from every region. There's a lot of adjusting. We felt like we had some good pickups who could help us.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>By this past weekend, nine players - nearly one-quarter of the initial roster - needed to be replaced due to injuries, call ups to the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas or personal reasons. In fact, one player was replaced, only to see that replacement player then need to withdraw some 24 hours later.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Yeah, it's been that kind of ride for Bacon and his staff. However, many of the audibles certainly stand out in a big way.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Maybe none bigger than the late addition of Clinton's <strong>Bryson James</strong>, one of seven finalists for the state's prestigious Mr. Football award. The senior played tailback, where he ran for 1,075 yards and 22 touchdowns in the regular season alone, linebacker - where he picked up 50 regular-season total tackles and 11 tackles for loss, and also returned kickoffs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Red Devils lost to Powdersville in the Class 3A Upper State finals, meaning James is going to be relatively rested and equally motivated to show what he can do amid the rest of the all stars this week.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The same will be true for many of the eight other replacements playing for the North this week.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Like James, North Augusta's <strong>Taylor Washington</strong> instantly becomes and offensive focal point for Bacon. The Yellow Jackets' senior caught 60 passes (almost one-half of the total for the entire team) for a North Augusta-best 704 yards and six touchdowns.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With only two quarterbacks, <strong>Colby Shaw</strong> from Byrnes will have every opportunity to air it out time and again. He threw for 2,823 yards and 31 touchdowns this year for the Rebels.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A trio of new offensive linemen, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='141028' first='Peter' last='Blacks']</strong> (Ridge Spring-Monetta) and <strong>Elijah Radden</strong> (Gray Collegiate) and <strong>Carlito Jones</strong> (Pendleton) will also get plenty of snaps despite their late additions to the roster.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The other side of the ball was also impacted.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Linemen [player_tooltip player_id='91157' first='Kazi' last='Bland'] of Southside (35.5 tackles, 9.5 TFL), Daniel's <strong>Myquan Geer</strong> (45.5 tackles, 13 TFL) and Chapman's [player_tooltip player_id='146361' first='Abraham' last='Fyffe'] (50.5 tackles, 22 TFL, pictured) were all chosen as a direct response to not only initial selections dropping out, but also the type of firepower the South will have in its backfield - namely five tailbacks who all have game-breaking potential.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“We wanted to beef up our defensive line,” Bacon said. “We had some injuries after we picked and then we looked at what they had and we wanted to get bigger.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>North Replacement Players (initial selection)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Bryson James</strong>, RB/LB/KR, Clinton (<strong>Ve Morton</strong>, Greenwood)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Taylon Washington</strong>, WR, North Augusta ([player_tooltip player_id='202727' first='Apollos' last='Cook'], Airport)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Colby Shaw</strong>, QB, Byrnes ([player_tooltip player_id='89340' first='Grayson' last='Loftis'], Gaffney)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='141028' first='Peter' last='Blacks']</strong>, OL, Ridge Spring-Monetta ([player_tooltip player_id='91139' first='Kanaan' last='Ligons'], Ridge Spring-Monetta)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Carlito Jones</strong>, OL, Pendleton (<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='336115' first='Darrell' last='Brannon']</strong>, Spartanburg)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Elijah Radden</strong>, OL, Gray Collegiate (<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='443517' first='Will' last='Jenison']</strong>, South Aiken)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='146361' first='Abraham' last='Fyffe']</strong>, DL, Chapman (<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='443499' first='AJ' last='Miller']</strong>, South Pointe)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='91157' first='Kazi' last='Bland']</strong>, DL, Southside ([player_tooltip player_id='202756' first='Brody' last='Tesimale'], Catawba Ridge)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Myquan Geer</strong>, DL, Daniel (<strong>Omari Davis</strong>, Clover)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->