Tate football looks to be on a steady progression.
In head coach Rhett Summerford’s third season at the helm, he’s brought the Aggies from a one-win team to a .500 team – posting a 5-5 record, the team’s best season since 2017 – and has seen an increase in numbers.
After 10 or 11 seniors his first season, Tate now boasts 25 seniors – a number the program hopes to keep consistently given the size of Tate High.
“In high school football, a senior who’s had two or three years of varsity experience, you can’t put a price tag on that. That’s invaluable,” Summerford said. “Now they’ve just got to carry the torch.”
That torch is being led by a few key seniors who have been through the grind of Aggie football, going from a one-win team to a contending program – especially given who Tate brings back to Carl Madison Field at Pete Gindl Stadium.
There’s one question that the coaching staff is posing to its team going into the regular season, as well.
“Where can you go? And how are you going to get there?” Summerford said. “Sure, there’s a lot of players returning, but where are you going to go from there? That’ll be what we are at the end of the season. …
“Our goal is to take Tate football to a place that we haven’t been in awhile. We’re striving every day to do that,” Summerford added. “Coaches can push and do everything, but your senior leadership – which is what we have – has to take that role on.”
The seniors also have one other goal on their mind: to continue the growth, and not let Tate football settle for a .500 record.
“We definitely need to keep building this legacy,” Zane Warrington said. “I have a little cousin on the team who’s younger. I’d like to come back in a couple years to see how we’re doing, and how things are still progressing.”
Moving forward from the spring
After breakout 2023 campaigns from several players, that bled right into the spring. Now-senior Taite Davis threw for 1,715 yards with 17 touchdowns, and PNJ Offensive Newcomer of the Year Christian Neptune hauled in 863 yards receiving with seven touchdowns.
While the Aggies lost leading rusher Andre Colston to graduation, not far behind was now-senior Carson Secchiari, who posted 835 yards rushing with eight touchdowns.
Tate won its spring game against Bay and had the goal of getting “a little stronger and a little faster” during the summer. Now, with fall camp, it’s getting everyone on the same page after individual work to understand individual roles on the team.
“A few of us have played together for awhile. We have good chemistry and we’re really tight,” Davis said. “We added more pieces in the offseason, and I feel like we have a pretty good shot this year.”
With the emergence of some players, like Elijah West – who will be on the opposite side of Neptune – allows the offense to spread out. West had 130 yards receiving on 11 receptions for three touchdowns.
And a strong offensive line, that includes Tyler Folmar and Owen Davis as seniors, gives the offense a chance to be versatile.
“We have explosive players. That hasn’t been something Tate’s had in awhile,” Summerford said. “There’s a lot of talk, but it’s got to be on the grass – that’s what matters.”
“It’s going to be a big part of our game this year to pass the ball around. … We ran the ball a lot last year. Hopefully we can pass a bit more,” Davis said. “I think we’re going to be able to do a lot of different stuff compared to last year. People are going to see a lot more variety in our offense this year.”
Summerford also mentioned Davis’ growth and maturity over the last few seasons, going from a quarterback who was just trying to understand the offense as a sophomore, to now being able to have “really good conversations” with Summerford about what’s being seen on the offense.
“Now, he’s kind of the total quarterback,” Summerford said. “What he’s got to do, as a senior, is control the offense. He knows he’s been through bad times. How you handle that is the definition of what you are as a quarterback.”
Filling the gaps on defense
Similar to the offensive side of the ball, there weren’t too many holes that the Aggies had to fill on defense. Only losing a few top tacklers – including Nathan Shimek with 58, Colston with 42 and Clayton Philley with 37 – allows the defense to continue to grow as well.
That includes a couple defensive linemen in Isaiah McCants and Rayne Johnson, both playing defensive end. And there’s the strong linebacker group with Brayden Walker, Warrington and Kaydon Biggs all returning.
While some players might not have seen the field as often during the 2023 campaign, there were plenty of replacements that have emerged as strong starters.
“We added some weapons with our secondary, too,” said Warrington, who will be at the outside linebacker position and led the team in sacks (5) last season. “We got some good replacements. Now we’re older, too.”
There’s been one aspect the defense has been focusing on, as well: not letting up the big play. There were a couple games where the Aggies found themselves in the driver’s seat, but a single play “stopped the mojo” Tate had.
Namely, the “shootout” against Navarre in Week 4, where Tate lost 45-42, comes to mind when Navarre scored on some longer plays.
“That’s what we’ve been working on, just a lot of conditioning,” said…
Pensacola News Journal
