CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – We have a number of high school teams returning to the gridiron with a new head coach. Among the teams on that list are the Blue Demons at Christiansburg--a new head coach but a familiar face to the program.
Matt Herron spent the last 6 seasons as the offensive coordinator but is now the head honcho after Alex Wilkins stepped down. The transition has been rather smooth for all involved. Christiansburg graduated great talent from last years team, including three-time all-state player in Tanner Evans. But confidence is still brewing in the more than dozen returning starters.
“I’m excited. I couldn’t ask for a better group for my first time as a head coach and just being here with Coach Wilkins and coming all the way up and growing together,” Herron said. “It’s really exciting. It’s exciting to see where we are and understand it’s not me, it’s not any of us, it’s all of us collectively that have got to this point. So it’s exciting for that reason.”
While young in some key areas, the players are confident in the skill development they’ve had the past few seasons.
“We take what we have. I mean develop the players that may not have played last year or coming up from JV, even middle school,” said senior offensive and defensive lineman Tristan Sutphin.
The team also feels they can go a bit under the radar and catch the rest of the River Ridge District off guard.
“Nobody expects what we’re coming with,” said Blue Demons senior wide receiver and safety Colin Smith. “I think everybody saw that Wilkins left and how high of a profile that he had and now we have somebody new and I think it’s just going to surprise a lot of people this year.”
Forging a new identity will be a priority. We should expect no major changes but rather tweaks in schematics to fit this year’s personnel. Christiansburg’s lines should be fortified, anchored with Virginia Tech commit Carter Stallard making a difference. The Blue Demons open at Floyd County against their former athletic director Tim Cromer who’s now leading the Buffaloes.