IOLA, Texas (KXXV) — “We’re ahead of where I thought we’d be at this point,” Eric Blenden said.
Blenden got to work immediately after he was named the Bulldogs next head coach back in March. He hired a staff that has been working with the team all summer to start building relationships.
“If the kids can trust the coaches and the coaches can trust the kids, then you can get along a lot faster and move on into your season a little bit quicker than what you normally can,” Blenden said. “These kids have done everything we’ve asked them to do and I hope that continues as the season starts.”
The Bulldogs like what Blenden and the staff bring to the program on and off the field.
“We have a lot of new formations with the new coach,” sophomore running back Adrian Garrett said. “He brings a lot of love to our team, we bring love to him and it’s just like a big family with him.”
“He’s got great leadership,” junior quarterback Tyler Elliott said. “He’s always lifting us up putting us in the best position we can be in.”
“He’s really pushed the fact that he’s going to be all in, and so we should all be in for each other and him pushing that has allowed us all to know that he’s going to be there,” senior center Cason Walton said.
“We’ve gone through a lot of coaches and so having the hope that he’ll stay and be able to build a culture there, is something that pushes us seniors to build the culture.”
This group has quickly bought in and they were committed to putting in the work throughout the offseason.
“This year during the summer training we’ve had more people than we’ve ever had,” Walton said. “We’ve constantly been working out, practicing our plays, practicing our defense, so I think we’re just a lot further ahead than we’ve been the last few years.”
In a pretty wide-open district, the Bulldogs return 14 starters from last season, and they’ll lean on that experience to try and win the district title and make a deeper run in the post season.
“Being able to inherit some guys that have a bunch of varsity snaps underneath them is a huge thing for us,” Blenden said. “Hopefully this year we can make a run deep into the playoffs and represent Iola well.”
The Bulldogs open up the season at home against Mildred. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
