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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Thompson Warriors will have a lot of changes in the 2024-25 season, but one thing will stay the same: the goal of winning a Class 7A state championship.

That hasn’t changed since the Warriors hired Major Deacon as their new head coach, and he’ll help a new-look roster work to reach that goal.

“The standard has always been set at Thompson High School to win a state championship and I don’t think that standard’s going to ever move, so hopefully that’s our goal this year,” Deacon said. “We’ve worked really hard and hopefully we’ll be able to achieve that goal this year.

As a former assistant under Dru Powell, Deacon knows what it means to work in pursuit of Thompson’s championship standard, and after successful stints at Albertville and Austin, winning in Class 7A is what he is used to and expects.

However, he won’t be the only new face on the court in Warrior Arena this year.

While the Warriors broke through last season to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2013, not only is the architect of that team gone in DJ Black, but two of their key contributors won’t return this season either.

Last year’s All-County sensation Colben Landrew transferred to Wheeler in Georgia and was one of multiple outgoing transfers from Thompson. In addition, last season’s key post presence Jared Smith will not return as he prepares to play football at Auburn.

That means a lot of players will take on new responsibilities as Deacon implements a new system. As a result, he said no one’s starting spot is guaranteed and everyone will have to work for their place on the court.

“To me, I think it’s really about all of us trying to find ourselves in new roles,” Deacon said. “They’re trying to learn me and I’m trying to learn them, and this being our first year together, I think we’ll see as the season plays out, people will establish themselves in those new roles.”

However, that doesn’t mean the Warriors are starting from scratch. Multiple key contributors from last season’s team are coming back, including juniors Carson McKenney and Daeshaun Morrissette as well as sophomore forward Cam Pritchett.

They’ve been working over the offseason to build chemistry both on and off the court as they build their new identity, and McKenney said that’s already paying dividends.

“Everybody’s coming together because when we work together outside and off the court, it shows up on the court when we have chemistry,” McKenney said. “We always know what each other’s going to do, we know where we’re going to be at certain times, and we can play off each other really well.”

Both McKenney and Morrissette are stepping into new roles as upperclassmen on a team that only has two seniors, Jaden Love and Aaron Gover. As a result of their experience as underclassmen from last year, they will now be called upon as leaders.

For both McKenney and Morrissette, that starts with leading by example and showing the younger players how to move now that they’re on the varsity team.

“Leading the younger guys, you’ve got to know you’re being watched at all times, try to react to things,” Morrissette said. “Body language and stuff like that, it matters at all times.”

Their chemistry will be crucial as Deacon implements a faster playstyle. Defense will be the Warriors’ foundation this season as they use that to become a more efficient offense.

“I think we may play a little faster, especially from a defensive perspective,” Deacon said. “I think we’re going to be a little bit more aggressive. Hopefully, we’ll be able to achieve one point per possession. That’s really the goal to being an efficient basketball team.”

In order to be a strong defensive team, that means Thompson will need to communicate better on the court and lean on that chemistry that the players have developed with each other over the offseason.

“This year, defensively is going to be the biggest thing that’s going to dictate our success,” Deacon said. “We have to be great defensively, and that all starts with communication. Our guys have really started to work on that in the offseason. They put a lot of time and effort into it by spending a lot of time together. Hopefully that communication will then transfer onto the court.”

Deacon acknowledged that the growth will take time, especially as key players like Pritchett and Trey Knight finish up playing football for the Warriors during the start of the regular season.

While the goal is to make it past a new-look area in Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa, Prattville and Tuscaloosa County, that starts with building the foundation in non-area play. Deacon isn’t getting too far ahead of himself though as he aims to improve with each game.

“I think we’ll do OK,” Deacon said. “For me, it’s just about focusing on us every single game and taking it one game at a time, not trying to look at anything down the road or anything, just taking each opponent as they come.”

After enduring losses throughout the offseason, the Warriors are hungry to get out on the court and silence the naysayers. The new group of rising stars like McKenney are motivated to show their skills and prove to the world that they are still a force to be reckoned with.

“We want to become the best team we can, and we want to prove everybody that we can be who everybody says we can’t be,” McKenney said. “We have something to prove this year, and that’s our main goal.”

In the end, even with changes swirling around the program, it all goes back to the championship standard. Teams at Thompson are expected to win, and the players are motivated to do just that.

Those who are left like McKenney are proud to take the floor for the Warriors. They’re embracing their role as the hunted and want to live up to the high expectations that past teams have set for them.

“Playing for Thompson, it means something,” McKenney said. “It’s a sign of opportunity. We always have a target on our back. Everybody wants to beat us because we are the standard. We have the highest standard I feel like in the state of Alabama. So, everybody wants to beat us, and it means something to play for Thompson and back that name up.”