2026 Preview: Ware Shoals Hornets

There are rebuilds. And then there's what Ware Shoals is going through this summer.   After taking a huge step forward in 2024 and rolling that momentum into a 10-win season last fall, the Hornets not only graduated the senior class that was largely responsible for that rise; the program also lost three of its most influential returning players to the transfer portal.   Yet, no one - from head coach Chris Dodson to the actual returners to 10 incoming freshman who have already been slotted for major roles - is doing much head hanging. No, in their minds, this is the next opportunity.    “We're showing who we are,” new quarterback Jamieson Crockett said during last week's Prep RedZone Media Days series at Gilbert. “We're going to be pretty solid. We're trying to be as good as the team last year, so we're hoping to take on that legacy.”   Crockett hasn't even started his first high school classes yet. Nor has he even put on pads in a full varsity practice, since he was still an eighth grader during the spring sessions.    That's not slowing the excitement for what's to come over the next seven-plus weeks and beyond.    “Four years,” Crockett said. “I love the game of football and I'm so ready to go. It's more intense. It's a lot more than you think it is. It's a big learning [curve].”   The trial by fire wasn't simply based around the graduations. Yes, quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='2176142' first='Jayden' last='Johnson'] - who essentially set every school record for the position - is gone. So are linebackers Elijah Brown and Trent Dyal and their combined 275 tackles and 60 tackles for loss from last season. Thousand-yard rusher Altavis Evans is gone, too. Same for Tyrell Cunningham and his team-leading receiving role and his nine interceptions on defense.   Not enough?    Would-be high-profile returners [player_tooltip player_id='1869917' first='Josh' last='Winbush'] (Clinton), [player_tooltip player_id='1672843' first='Ry'Keem' last='Robinson'] (Greenwood) and [player_tooltip player_id='2098897' first='Charles' last='Callaham'] (Emerald) all elected to transfer.   It accelerated some of those younger players, and it elevated some of the older ones into revamped rolls. Out of it all, doom and gloom isn't the feel. Dodson has already seen something about his 10 first-year guys about to be starters, often in multiple positions.    “Just the grittiness, they're carbon copies of what we had when we walked in when those guys were 10th graders. It's just reps. We're going to have to get reps to get them to the point where they're comfortable with what's going on out there.   “I don't worry about [pushing them too hard]. They constantly hear about what this group that just graduated did. I have to constantly tell them ‘Don't compare yourselves to them. I want you to work like they did and everything will come. But don't think you have to go out and be [player_tooltip player_id='2176142' first='Jayden' last='Johnson'] Game 1. Jayden as a 10th grader was not what he was [as a senior].”   STARS SET TO SHINE   Eamonn Pulley DB/WR, 2027 - Now one of the old guys on a team full a youngsters, Pulley will make a slight adjustment on the defensive side of the ball and morph into the team's spur position (hybrid defensive back/linebacker). Pulley had 15 tackles last season but may have that after two games this time around.    Clay Hasting (pictured) and Elijah Keller OL/DL, 2028 - The two rising juniors will be the crux of the offense, at least to start, while all these fresh faces get used to the speed of the game. Both of them have plenty of experience, with Hasting usually lining up in the middle of the trenches while Keller tends to play more tackle (offense) and end (defense). If those two stay in sync, it will expedite the acclimation process for Crockett and others. After all, those two are among the four total returning starters on the entire roster.   Drew Nix LB/TE, 2027 - After playing (admittedly, out of position) on the defense line last year, Nix will be able to play a more natural spot for him this fall with his move to linebacker. He had some flashes of production, mostly against teams like Whitmire and Blacksburg, and now he's going to become one of the centerpieces of the middle of the defense.    BIGGEST LOSSES   [player_tooltip player_id='2176142' first='Jayden' last='Johnson'] QB - The multi-sport standout spent last fall throwing for 1,652 yards and 16 touchdowns while rushing for another 1,177 nine.    Elijah Brown LB - Brown's final season included 164 total tackles, 27 tackles for loss, nine sacks and three forced fumbles.    UP-AND-COMING POTENTIAL   Ty Haines DB/WR, 2030 - While the Hornets will again utilize their spread offense, it's not one that is throwing the ball 30 times a game, still, Haines is going to be a top target immediately and should be able to flirt with a 500-yard season.   Grady Eichhorn LB, 2030 - Eichhorn, like most of the names you'll hear out of Ware Shoals this fall, will make his high school and varsity debut after spending most of the last year working exclusively with Brown and Dyal, the team's two departing stud linebackers.    Jackson Willis RB, 2029 - After playing mostly on special teams as a freshman, Willis will jump into the starting tailback role for the Hornets and will have to be one of the steadying forces on that side of the ball.     Crockett was slated to take over the QB job well in advance of his actual entrance into the high school ranks. He's been coached up for the last two years while playing at the C-Team level.   And, as Dodson put it, already has the comfort level to handle the position despite his relative small size. The coach believes the rest will come, but it will have to be some serious on-the-job training.

There are rebuilds. And then there's what Ware Shoals is going through this summer.