ADDISON, Ala. – The Addison Bulldogs are preparing to kick off a new season and will do so under the leadership of veteran Head Coach Mark Hastings. Hastings is a veteran of the Winston County Football wars as he was previously the Head Coach at Lynn High School, about 40 miles southwest of Addison in the far corner of Winston County. Hastings led Lynn to some of their most successful seasons in recent memory and brings a fresh approach to Bulldog football.
“First of all, I have to acknowledge the tremendous job that Coach (David) Smothers did here laying the foundation of this program,” Hastings said. “He did an excellent job here and this is actually the first job that I have taken in my career that I do not consider a rebuilding job. They had success last year and with the returning talent I believe that we can be successful pretty quickly here. I was drawn to this Addison job by their storied history, tradition of the program and the expectations that are here each and every year. I know a lot is expected but I can assure you that no one has higher expectations for our success than me and I will be my harshest critic. I love being around the young men and being a mentor to them. Building a lifelong relationship with your players, coaches and even coaches on the other teams is important to me. I believe that to be a good head coach, you have to be part psychologist, part father figure and just lead by example. You have to find out what makes your players tick and find that competitive nature in each young man.”
“We are blessed to have some really good athletes here and I feel that they fit my offensive and defensive philosophy pretty well. We like to spread the other team out and get our playmakers the ball in space,” Hastings said. “We will take whatever the other team is giving us. If they are selling out to stop the run, then we need to be able to throw the ball and vice versa. I think we are going to be able to do that. I have been very pleased with the effort and attitude that our young men have shown this summer both in the weight room and at our 7 on 7 camps.”
Hastings broke down some of the returning impact players on the offensive side of the ball.
“Our quarterback situation is pretty stable. We have two young men that are leading for that role, Jr. Elijah Roberts and Soph. Scout Flynn. Both men have their strong suits, and the good thing is whomever wins the job the other can help us at other positions. Both are very talented,” Hasting said. “The running back room has three guys vying for the lead role. Seniors Seth Hammack and Stone Talley and junior. Zayne Smith. Smith is coming back from a knee injury, and this is Talley’s first year playing varsity football. Talley is a really good athlete and is not afraid of to put his shoulder into you. All three backs run hard but, in our system, you have to be a little more patient in choosing your holes to run through, so we are still learning that. We are lucky that senior Trennon Burns can play wide receiver as well as running back and will help us somewhere on the field this fall. As a matter of fact, all of our backs are pretty good at catching the football which is what we expect in this offense.”
Hastings continued,
“Junior Dathan Cleghorn has really stepped up this summer at our 7 on 7 camps at wide receiver. He has been a beast and runs exceptional routes. Dathan has basically been our go too receiver and has consistently made play after play for us. Judah Wilkins is an excellent athlete and can play numerous positions. Michael Lee and Major Snoddy can play tight end and both are big bodies that have the ability to catch the ball, Hastings said. “Our offensive line has the ability to be a strength for us. We return three senior starters, and each have been leaders in our summer workout program. They are Casen Hill, Brye Dollar and Brodie Willingham. This year I think we can go seven or eight deep at the offensive and defensive lines. I feel comfortable, as of now, that we will have some depth there this year which is a rarity in 1A Football.”
As far as defensively goes Addison will be running mainly a 4-4-3. A pretty standard defense in high school football using four down lineman, four linebackers and three defensive backs.
“The one thing that I can tell you is we will be physical, we will tackle, and we will play fundamentally sound. If a young man doesn’t want to tackle, then we will find someone who will. We probably will have several kids playing both ways, offensively and defensively, but that is pretty standard in lower classification football.”
The goal for every team this time of year is to win every game each week but more than that, Hastings wants to see his team approach the game the right way. Addison will travel to Lynn for a jamboree game before the season officially kicks off and Hastings is looking forward to a fun atmosphere that night.
“Our number one goal is to play the game the way it is meant to be played at full speed and with discipline. If you can accomplish those two things success will follow. Naturally, you would like to go undefeated and win state, but we are going to focus on Lynn High School because that is who we play in the jamboree in a couple of weeks. It will be a game-by-game approach and like I said if we do the things we are supposed to be successful, and success will take care of itself,” Hastings said. “I can only assume that the atmosphere will be incredible. Probably be like a playoff game. I coached a lot of those kids and have nothing but love and respect for the players, coaches and fans of Lynn High School. They treated me and my family great while I was at Lynn and I have the utmost respect for Coach (Steve) Cagle. Coach Cagle assisted me so much while I was there and he is a great man and coach.”
The rest of the coaching staff is full of new faces as well. Coach Hastings will handle the offensive play calling duties while returning Coach Lee Williams will handle the defensive calls. Dusty Hayes and Toby Denson will handle the offensive and defensive lines. Chris Lane will assist with defensive backs and running backs while first year coach Lane Tubb will help with offensive and defensive positions.
Addison is in 1A region 7 and should be in contention for the region championship on paper. Rival and region foe Meek may be the co-favorite with Addison while defending region champ Hackleburg may take a step back due to huge graduation losses, but the rest of the region slate looks manageable. Non region games are very challenging with 2A Winston County, 4A Good Hope and 2A Decatur Heritage. The region championship will probably come down to the Oct. 10 matchup with Meek at Addison. A playoff berth and hosting a first-round game is not out of the question for the 2025 Addison Bulldogs.
2025 Addison Football Schedule (1A, Region 7)
Aug. 22 – Winston County
Aug. 29 – at Decatur Heritage
Sept. 5 – at Shoals Christian*
Sept. 12 – Cherokee*
Sept. 19 – at Hackleburg*
Sept. 26 – Good Hope
Oct. 3 – Waterloo*
Oct. 10 – Meek*
Oct. 17 – at Vina*
Oct. 24 – at Phillips Bear Creek*
*Region Game
Check out The Cullman Tribune’s Football Fanatics preseason magazine when it becomes available for more on the Bulldogs and all our local teams including band and cheerleaders.
