2013

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Wednesday, August ZS, Z013 Karcher 'Era' in ECCC Football

sophomor es; receivers James Clark (6', 192), a sophomore from Laurel and Jimmy Cockrell (5- 10, 170), a freshman from Columbus; freshman offensive tackles Charles Robinson (6- 2, 280) of Neshoba Central , Branden Thomas (6-3, 285) of Gulfport, Edward DeLee (6-5, 290) of Centreville (La.) Academy and Ronald Dixon (6-1, 210) of Northwest Rankin ; freshman offensive guards Quincy Cole (6', 266) of Ackerman, Johnathan Chambers (5-10, 275) of West Oktibbeh a, Andy Morris (6-1, 260) of Amite School Center and Kendrick Maxwell (6', 220) of Houston. Chambers will a lso compete at center with freshman Kyron Samuels (6-2, 315), of Fairhope (Ala.) High School. Sophomore Austin Franklin (6', 180) of Petal returns as kick– er/punter. Tyler Pace is also listed as a kicker and Andy Morris is expected to compete at punter. wide

A new era in East Central Community College football gets under way Thursday, Aug. 29 , when the Warriors battle Itawamba Community College in a non-division matchup set for 7 p.m. on t h e Fulton campus. Ken Karcher, a vet– eran coach and for– mer National Football League quarterback, will get his first "taste" of JUCO foot– ball when the first – year h ead mentor leads his squad against t he Indians, who are ranked 16th in the NJCAA pre– season poll. Karcher , who previ– ously served as offen– sive coordinator at Eastern Michigan University and is a former head coach at Liberty University, said he looks forward to t he challenge even though his Warrior squad is mostly com– posed of freshmen. 'W e ar e very excited to start our first sea– son this week against Itawamba," said Karch er . "We are a very young team in most positions but have shown continu– ous improvement dur– ing camp. I am excit– ed about the opportu– nity to coach in a league that has a great tradition and experienced coaches." The Warriors will try to rebound from

last year's 35-15 sea– son-opening loss to the Indians, · who a re led by Jon Williams, a former Warrior assis– tant coach. Itawamba finished 6-3 last season and returns seven starters. The Warriors return six starters from last season's 3-6 squad, led by former head coach Brian Anderson. Expected to battle for the quarterback spot are fr eshmen Jacori Taylor (6-2, 210) , a product of Early County High School in Blakely, Ga ., and Donnie Farmer (6', 207), who hails from Harrison Central High School. Taylor's brother Emmanuel is a for– mer Warrior standout quarterback who received MACJC All– State honors in 2009 and 2010. Other top offensive team members include running backs Martin Johnson (6-1 , 200), a sophomore from Nanih Waiya and Lamarcus Franks (5-7, 150), a freshman from Greene County; tight ends Kyle Adkins (6-4, 230), a sophomore from Union and Tyl er Pace (6-2, 260), a freshman from Newton ; H– backs Layton Holcomb (6-2, 220) of Oak Grove and

On the defensive side, top player s include sophomore tackle J eremy Pyles (6-5, 22'0) of Oxford :MOCRAT ----– (Ala.) High School and freshman tackles ~TY TIMES ------ Romario Cobb (6', 260) of Ocean )UNTY JOURNAL _...;__ Springs, Xavier Woodard (6', 350) of DGER -------

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Wesley Smith (6-2 , 215) of Morton, both •