Will Hickory be "down" in '08?

At least one of the usual Hickory-hating clowns on NCPreps thinks so...and this was my response to him on the NCPreps 3A message board...

"First of all, Hickory didn't lose as much as you think. Yes, Johnson and Burch are gone. But Hickory has people ready and able to step in and fill the gap. Do we have a returning linebacker of the same caliber as Johnson? No. But we do have a middle linebacker returning who can and will take up where the Bruiser left off. The fact is, Hickory has 8 starters returning on defense, with another 6-7 that got lots of playing time in every game last year.

This time LAST year Hickory was looking at a situation where the defense was going to start the season with 2 returning starters. So, despite the loss of 1 outstanding player, Hickory's defense is much more solid and prepared than it was a year ago.

Yes, the school's career rushing leader has graduated. Burch was a great running back and broke a lot of records. But Hickory has always been a running team and we have always had a good group of running backs. This year will be more of the same. Last year we had a 2,000-yard rusher, this year we will have a pair of 1,000 yard rushers. The end-result is the same.

Here is an example. Last season Hickory had to go on the road to face a tough, hard-hitting and highly-motivated Hibriten team. Burch didn't even make the trip. So what happened? His back-up ran for 179 yards and Hickory won by 3 touchdowns. And that kid, Kyshell Geter (95 carries for 612 yards and 3 TDs) was a junior.
Kyshell Geter



Burch averaged 9.6 yards a carry last season...but so did our back-up fullback, Rhakim Barrett (also a junior). For the record, Barrett had 52 carries for 504 yards and 5 TDs.

Rhakim Barrett


So, that’s 2 big graduation losses that won’t be as “painful” as people might like to think. Probably the biggest loss is the leadership that Johnson provided. He was clearly the leader and did a great job motivating the team.

On the subject of leadership, let me point out that the Red Tornadoes return quarterback Kevin Shelton (90-166-8 for 1,317 yards, 13 TDs). He is 22-1 as a starter for Hickory. He is a leader and is highly motivated for his senior season. Since Hickory uses a run-oriented offense, the stats aren’t gaudy, but only ONCE in Hickory’s 85-year football history has an underclassmen put up better numbers. That includes Daniel Willis, who led Hickory to the ’96 title.
Kevin Shelton



There is no doubt that Shelton could have been a 2,000-yard passer last season if there hadn’t been so many blowouts. Nevertheless, it was obvious to those of us who saw all of Hickory’s games that Shelton was getting better and more confident in his passing as the season went along. With all the key receivers (except for Johnson) returning, Hickory will be able to pull the trigger when necessary.

Finally, the one area where Hickory WILL have to rebuild: the offensive line. Hickory lost 4 key starters from last year’s line and it will take some time for the new starters to gel as a unit. So if you want to talk about graduation losses at Hickory, that’s it. It’s impossible to say how long it will take for the O-line to get it together. If they can get that machine-like precision going quickly, then everybody better watch out. If not, then hopefully the defense can keep things locked down until the offense gets rolling. Time will tell on that one.

So, long story short…don’t count on Hickory being “down” in 2008. Hickory will definitely be a Top 10 team again this year."