By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

And we’re back with some more Way-Too-Early football predictions! With 17 teams to get through before the start of the season in August, we’ll be hitting a few each week in order to give a thorough breakdown of each team across the county. Part one of this prediction series took a look at the Chelsea Hornets, and now part two takes a look at the Briarwood Christian Lions.

For the first time in the history of Fred Yancey’s storied 27-year career as Briarwood’s head football coach, the Lions are coming off back-to-back losing seasons. The addition of the 7A classification in 2014 and the restructuring that followed pushed Briarwood into the 6A ranks for the first time in school history, and the Lions suffered as a result.

However even though Briarwood’s record over the last two years was a combined 9-14, the Lions made the playoffs each of the last two years, and even upset Fort Payne in the first round a year ago, which pushed Briarwood’s streak of making a playoff appearance to a ridiculous 23 consecutive years. Now, in the wake of the 2016-18 reclassification, Briarwood has once again been classed as a 5A school and will make the transition back to its more natural fit this fall.

Now, as far as the on-field product is concerned, the Lions return a number of skill players on offense in quarterback William Gray, who started every game last year as a junior, as well as playmaker Carson Eddy and a horde of receivers. Gray took his lumps last year as a junior, and the Briarwood offense was never very potent. He was turnover-prone at times, which is something he will have to improve on this season, and took a number of risks downfield. However, his interception numbers from a year ago don’t paint a completely accurate picture, and Yancey has expressed complete confidence in the senior. With a dedicated offseason of work, Gray has added speed and strength and is more confident than ever heading into his final prep year.

Eddy, the lightning-in-a-bottle rising junior, spent much of last season at running back out of necessity, but is moving to wide receiver this year, his more natural position. Eddy is a wizard in the open field, and tackling him at times can be as easy as tackling wind. His move to receiver is made possible by the additions of JR Tran-Reno, Ashton Domingue and Wilson Hand. Domingue spent much of last season backing up Gray, but has speed that can’t be ignored. Tran-Reno, a sophomore, was clocked running a 4.6 40 on the freshman team and has only improved, while Hand returns to the football field after taking a year off from the game.

Not to be forgotten as well are returners like Kolby Kwarcinski, Luke Miskelley and Bradford Pittilo, all of whom will see a plethora of time at receiver in Briarwood’s spread offense. The Lions definitely have pieces to play with on the offensive side of the ball.

On the defensive side, Briarwood will have to defensive lineman Carter Bankston as well as linebackers RJ Jennings and Sam Sherrod. Those three combined for 259 tackles, 31.5 tackles for loss and six sacks. That’s a ton of production. Bankston, who is now playing football for the Naval Academy, leaves large shoes to fill, both literally and metaphorically. Fortunately, the other three starting lineman from last years’ group are all back in Jordan Harmon, Champ Stewart and Cooper Thompson, which is good news and should help alleviate Bankston’s absence.

With Jennings and Sherrod gone from the linebacker unit, that group will look completely different. Ethan Housel, who started as a safety last season, is moving to the middle of the field to lead the now-raw group.

Also, Carson Donnelley is back in the secondary. Donnelley, the point guard on the basketball team, is one of the most competitive players on Briarwood’s roster, and one of the better athletes as well. The junior has added speed and bulk in the offseason, and will be joined in the secondary by Bennett Miles, who is moving from cornerback to the other safety position to replace Housel, who has now moved to linebacker.

The Lions will play the next two years in the newly aligned 5A Region 5 along with Fairfield, Moody, Pleasant Grove, Shelby County, St. Clair County, Wenonah and Woodlawn. Those seven teams were spread across two classifications and three different regions a year ago, and only Pleasant Grove and Wenonah made the playoffs, meaning the newly aligned region is open for the taking if Briarwood can step up and make a claim.

Way-Too-Early prediction: Briarwood has not missed the playoffs in 23 years. That is much longer than any player on the Lions’ roster has been alive. At a certain point, it stops making sense to bet against a streak like that, and Briarwood reached that point about 10 years ago. The Lions will return to their winning ways this season, and snag the second seed out of the region en route to yet another playoff berth.