VINEMONT, Ala. – Fresh off a promising 2025 season where the Eagles went 6-5, Vinemont, in Stephen Robinson’s tenth season at the helm, will aim for a seventh straight playoff appearance in ’26.
With the summer coming to a close and the roster taking shape, Robinson said the staff has seen great effort and buy-in from the team, which features a balanced starting lineup in terms of age.
The Eagles’ 2025 season, especially on the offensive side of the ball, is made more impressive by the fact that both of this season’s projected starting running backs were slated to contribute, but suffered season ending injuries.
“I think the biggest thing has been seeing Caleb Slain and Gabriel Herrera back. They were kind of unknowns coming into the summer, and once they were released to start playing again we didn’t know how quickly they’d get back into the swing of things. They’ve both been pleasant surprises with how quickly they’ve rebounded and started looking closer to normal. Gabe tore his ACL, which is honestly tougher to come back from than a broken leg, mainly because mentally you have to learn to trust that knee again. Both of them coming back and being what they are has been the biggest encouragement of the offseason,” Robinson said.
Behind Slain, a senior who Robinson said, “looks faster than he was before he broke his leg, somehow,” and Herrera, also a senior, the Eagles’ staff has also been pleasantly surprised by the emergence of sophomore Travis Speer.
Last season as a freshman, on one of the first days of in-helmet practices, Speer also tore his ACL, missing the entire season as a result.
“We’ve got the young guy, too, who I think’s going to be a huge piece of this team, and that’s Travis. He’s just a tenth grader, and he just works hard, man. I feel like he could have a very beneficial year to help the team in a lot of areas, including defense,” Robinson said.
The trio of backs nearly becomes a quartet when factoring in starting quarterback Josh Rhodes, who Robinson said “is also like a running back for us,” in their run-heavy offense.
The veteran signal caller enters his third year in control of the offense, and after learning and preaching the scheme for so long, Robinson said, “He’s such a veteran guy, I really think he could run practice if I wasn’t there. He knows all the plays, all the formations, all the situations, he’s just been around it for that long.”
On the offensive scheme, Robinson said, “We really just want to get up there and run straight through you, we’ll take shots over the top, but we’re really just ‘line up and see who’s tougher.’”
Making that possible is an offensive line composed of three returning starters from center-left tackle. On the right side of the line, however, Vinemont is breaking in two sophomores.
Defensively, the Eagles run a 3-4 scheme, and feature another strong position group that Robinson called, “the strength of the team.” Leading the linebackers is Brandon Johnson, 2025’s All-Region Defensive Player of the Year, who’s entering his senior season.
“He kind of runs the defense, he likes to take control, and he does a good job of it- he also doesn’t mind hitting you, either. He’ll get you pretty good, he’s strong, and his little brother Zach is gonna be starting right beside him as of now. We got a senior next to a sophomore, which helps that learning curve,” Robinson said.
Zach Johnson projects to be the only non-senior starting linebacker in a veteran group that helped power the 2025 defense.
In a new region with former 4A teams Oneonta and Etowah, plus their usual county rivals of Hanceville and Holly Pond, the Eagles have their work cut out for them.
On the season outlook, Robinson said, “I think for us to be able to get into the playoffs we’re gonna have to win some close games, and to do that you just have to do the little things right. I feel like we have a defense that is capable of flying to the football, and if we can fly around to the football on defense and then play sound football on the offensive end without making mistakes, I think we can be successful in a lot of areas this year.”
