New faces abound with football season near

There will be two new coaches and all three teams will trot out new quarterbacks to direct their offenses. 

Cody Stubblefield is the lone returning head coach as he enters his fifth season at New Albany. 

However, Stubblefield will have a new quarterback leading his Bulldogs since Joe Mathis, the starter for the past two years has graduated. 

Braden Shettles, a freshman, will be taking the snaps for New Albany under center. Shettles is no stranger to the pressures of high school sports since he was a starter for the New Albany varsity basketball team last season. 

Stubblefield is hopeful his other offensive skill players will step up their game production to take some of the load off Shettles as he settles in for a tough schedule of competition from Division 2-4A foes.

Brandon Cherry will be the new coach at East Union, he replaces Todd Lott who led the Urchins to two Division 1-2A titles plus an appearance in the North Half title game in 2020. 

Cherry has been on the Urchin staff for several years, serving as offensive coordinator the past couple of years, so he is very familiar with the personnel he inherits and what the expectations are going into 2022.

Cherry has served previously as an assistant at Mooreville and was head coach at Alcorn Central during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.  

Cherry will have a new quarterback to lead his offense as Rett Johnson, last season's starter, has decided to concentrate on baseball. 

Drew Hollimon, a sophomore, will draw the signal calling duties for the Urchins after serving as Johnson's backup in 2021. 

Josh Curbow will be taking over the coaching reins at Myrtle from Jeremy Smithey, who will still be part of the staff and serve as defensive coordinator. This will be Curbow's first head coaching position in high school football.

Curbow comes to the Hawks from New Albany where he helped with the middle school and high school football programs and also serving as head softball coach. 

Curbow began his coaching career in 2007 at Horn Lake as an assistant. He also has stops at Lewisburg, Lake COrmorant, Northpoint Christian School. 

Myrtle will also have a new quarterback since long-time starter, Jackson Mayer, graduated. 

Aaron Rodgers, a senior, looks to be the possible game one starter for the Hawks who are loaded with sophomores and freshmen while only having two seniors on the roster.

Rodgers has never started a game for the Hawks and Curbow hopes to have him up to speed on the offense when the Hawks take the field for game one in late August.