Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Shelby County Wildcats have been getting closer as a team and focusing on their bond on and off the field as they seek to improve after a 2-8 playoff campaign in 2023.

Coach Zeb Ellison has a goal of getting to program more visible in the community, and from 5Ks to Liberty Day and beyond, he believes everyone knows who the football team is now.

In Hunter Brown’s eyes, that’s shown with the amount of support that Shelby County has received.

“I feel like more people are coming to the games, coming to see everybody, caring more about it,” Brown said.

It’s been a youth movement for the last few years as the Wildcats have built up a foundation of bought-in players who they can rely on, and now, they hope to see the rewards.

Eli Holliman said that the experience he has gotten made all the difference in his development.

“In my opinion, just a year of experience, it really changes your entire game,” Holliman said. “I got so much better just playing my sophomore year than my junior year. I was 10 times better. You understand the speed of the game more and your assignment more.”

For Ellison, that will hopefully open up the playbook with experienced players who know the system and can build off of what they did last year.

“From a coaching standpoint, when you have guys that are returning, you know you may have a playbook that is three or four inches thick, but it’s not what you know, it’s what your players know and can successfully run,” Ellison said. “So, with having as many returners as we’ve had, we’re able to install more and do more and just have more options.”

The Wildcats enter the season with a quarterback battle between two-year starter Ryan Sipes and Presley Duke. With similarities between the two signal-callers, Ellison has maintained throughout the summer that he will pick the leader who the players follow.

Whoever wins will join an offense with returning weapons like Devan Alexander at running back and Anthony Palmieri at wide receiver along with an offensive line Ellison hails as one of the team’s strengths.

Combine that with a defense that is led by established stars Cooper Pennington, Holliman and Eli Carlisle, and the Wildcats hope that they have the recipe to compete in a new-look but still tough Class 5A, Region 3.