HOLLY POND, Ala. – Football season is fast approaching for all our local teams and in Holly Pond, the Broncos have been hard at work getting ready to kick things off at the end of August. Will McDaniel is preparing for his first season as head coach of the Broncos, and he credited the seniors for leading the way this offseason. Holly Pond will have some strong competition on their new 3A schedule this fall, and McDaniel believes the work his seniors put in this offseason will be invaluable when the lights come on.
“With our schedule in 3A we’re going to have Fyffe, Geraldine and Sylvania in our region as kind of the top three you look at and I think the rest of the region is potentially wide open,” McDaniel said. “I’m the fourth head coach in four years for this group going back to middle school, they’ve had six different head coaches in six years. We’ve got 10 seniors in this group and all 10 have been there all summer long. We’ve got some incentives and goals in place for making those summer workouts and I’m proud of all 10 of those seniors for being there all summer.”
McDaniel was impressed with the determination his team showed throughout the offseason and preseason programs. The Broncos won’t have as many names on their roster as some of their opponents this fall but McDaniel is confident that his guys will be ready to compete.
“It’s extremely valuable. The week before the Fourth of July, we started our five day a week training and we went to Danville for an OTA practice and what we were able to do and how advanced we were on just our fourth day was good. We came back after the Fourth and went to Point Mallard for an FCA 7-on-7 and we’re a play away from winning the small division championship and you just kind of shrug your shoulders because they just take on everything,” McDaniel said. “We put a lot on them, physically and mentally, and they can handle it because of all the different offenses they’ve played in. From 9 a.m. to about 4 p.m. that day at Point Mallard we played seven games, and it was hot. During that seventh game you’re just kind of wondering ‘How did we get to this point.’. We don’t have a huge roster, but these guys have taken on ownership of learning and have been amazing at coming to work.”
Despite having a smaller roster than some, McDaniel feels really good about the Broncos’ depth on the line of scrimmage. They’re still looking for players to step up at some of the skill positions but when you’re solid up front, it makes everything easier for the rest of the players on the field.
“We have a ton of depth in our offensive and defensive lines, which you would not think with us being a smaller 3A program that we would have that, but we do. We have some ninth graders that will probably be able to play at the varsity level so that helps too,” McDaniel said. “We don’t have nearly as much depth at the skill positions. I think we took 11 to Point Mallard that day and you look around and most everyone else has 20 or 25 kids. I would say we have a lot of quality; we don’t have a lot of quantity. They’ve played a lot of football but depth-wise we have a lot more up front.”
Coaching changes have been nothing new at Holly Pond over the last few years and that much turnover can make it more difficult for players to become comfortable in their roles. But, after watching them work this summer, McDaniel is excited to see how much his team can continue to grow once they kick things off.
“It says way more about them than anything that I’m doing. They’ve had all this turnover and all these different coaches and they’re still coming back and working hard to represent Holly Pond and do it the right way. Having those 10 seniors makes my job and our coaches’ jobs a lot easier,” McDaniel said. “They’ve been through a lot of adversity and perseverance is kind of who they are. Football is a hard game so it’s not easy to always want to come back for me, especially having gone through what they’ve been through, but they’ve worked hard all summer. We’ve enjoyed it and we’re looking forward to this season.”
2024 Holly Pond Broncos Football Schedule
Aug. 23 – vs. Appalachian
Aug. 30 – vs. Hanceville
Sept. 6 – @ Sylvania*
Sept. 13 – vs. Brindlee Mountain*
Sept. 20 – @ Geraldine*
Oct. 4 – vs. Whitesburg Christian*
Oct. 11 – @ Asbury*
Oct. 18 – @ Fyffe*
Oct. 25 – vs. Collinsville*
Nov. 1 – @ Cleveland
*region game
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