BLACKSBURG, Va. – The 1st and 10 Camp Tour rolls into the New River Valley for a check on the Blacksburg Bruins as they look to reload with a new head coach.
Eddie Sloss is a former Bruin himself and now leads the team after four seasons at Carroll County.
Blacksburg is just two years removed from their state title. In 2017 they moved to Class 4, where they fell short to Salem in the postseason, but marked the school's first 11 win season in recent history.
The Bruins had a stout senior class that included Cole Beck, but they return a host of talent including University of Virginia commit Tiquest Terry. Given Blackburg's recent success, the expectations are high.
"Lot of the seniors were sophomores and they they contributed to that state championship team. And although we lost some valuable seniors from last year's team, you know, some lineman and then obviously Colton Beck. Guy you can't hardly replace because of his just dynamic speed and explosiveness. But at the same time we got a lot of guys from that team, from that state championship team, even last year's successful team, and their desire still burning," said Sloss
"We got returning players, we got kids that haven't played that are just as good, and they're working harder now, you know, because they realize we're going to fill those spots," said Terry, a Bruins wide receiver.
"We have a lot of skill and athletes on this team and we just need more of them to step up and the more that step up the more successful we'll be," said offensive lineman Jacob Lucas.
The Bruins open their season at home against Giles.