Coach Tyrus Ward
Q. How would you characterize this year’s team?
A. This year’s team is a lot closer than our previous squads.
Q. What will be the keys to your success?
A. Staying healthy and becoming closer.
Q. Who will be your key leaders on the team?
A. We are really excited about the leadership thus far from Kenneth Starling (DB) and Xavier Wood (LB).
Q. What are your biggest reasons for optimism?
A. It doesn’t matter what a team did the year before. Everyone has an opportunity to write their own story each year.
Q. What will keep you up at night?
A. The possibility that one of our student athletes could make poor, life-changing choices off the field.
Q. What can you build on from last year?
A. We must continue to establish, build, and strengthen our relationships with our student athletes.
Q. Any lessons learned from last year?
A. The importance of keeping the main thing the main thing!
Q. Will we see anything different this year?
A. We will be multiple in all areas of the game.
Q. How would you characterize your team’s speed?
A. Each year, our team speed has improved. However, we will rely heavily on getting 11 hats playing hard and together.
Coach’s View
I want to thank this team for allowing me to be a part of your lives. It’s a great honor to be head coach at Brainerd. We win, we lose, we fight, we sink, we swim, we cry, we hurt, and we prevail together. Forever forward, never backwards!
Photos by Andy Mitchell
Jaylyn Dupree
Jeremiah Hendrix
Rashawn Davis
Kenneth Starling
Akeem Cosme
Allen Ware
Talijah Whitt
Byron Sanders