The prep football preseason notebook …
Some of Rowan County’s best athletes are taking a shot at football for the first time or are returning to the gridiron after a sabbatical.
Among them are North Rowan’s Jalen Sanders and Josh Handy; East Rowan’s Austin Wyse and Naquis Caldwell; South Rowan’s Qwan Rhyne, Alec Stewart and Tireek Wilder, and Carson’s Marquez McCain.
Sanders, Rhyne and McCain were members of the all-county basketball team.
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It could be a banner year for Rowan football, especially offense.
Seven of last season’s top eight total-offense guys when measured by yards per game are back in uniform.
There’s North Rowan’s Jareke Chambers (1), East Rowan’s Samuel Wyrick (2), North’s Alexis Archie (3), South Rowan’s Aaron Kennerly (4), West Rowan’s Harrison Baucom (5), Salisbury’s Riley Myers (6) and Carson’s Brandon Sloop (8).
Most fans probably know that Chambers and Sloop have topped the 3,000-yard mark for their careers and are the county’s top two returning rushers, but there’s another returning rusher who finished in the top five in the county stats in 2013.
That’s East Rowan’s Jake Boltz. who pounded out 648 rushing yards.

South Rowan
It’s a long trek from South Rowan’s locker room, on a rocky path past fields and woods, to the team’s practice field.
South coach Jason Rollins likes it that way.
“We’re kind of in our own little world way out here,” he said with a smile. “A lot of people don’t know how hard our kids are working out here. I know most people just see the scoreboard, but coaches see a lot of other things. These kids are getting better.”
Rollins likened South’s chemistry to the togetherness it had in 2009. South went 9-3 that year, the only winning season South’s enjoyed since 2003.
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NUMBERS: Rollins said South has 88 players in the program.
“That’s pretty good numbers when you look at the size of our school now,” he said. “We’re very happy with the numbers we have.”
Thirty of the 38 players listed on South’s varsity are seniors. There are just seven juniors and one sophomore — running back Jamorya Cousin.
South’s enrollment is 961, according to the most recent figures available. That’s 500 fewer students than Hickory Ridge and about 450 fewer than Cox Mill. Those are the two biggest SPC schools.
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NEW LOOK: South Rowan will display a white block ‘S’ on their helmets this season.
North Rowan
If the goalposts at North look new — and that’s because they they are new.
Besides being a shiny gold color, the new uprights will tower almost 10 feet taller than they did previously.
No change in the width, though.
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HALL OF FAME: North Rowan assistant Nick Means, who was a stellar receiver at Catawba was inducted into the Indians’ Sports Hall of Fame last spring.
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BIG BEN: Besides being North’s offensive coordinator, coach Ben Hampton, who spent most of the summer coaching South Rowan American Legion baseball, has taken the reins as North’s new AD.
A star running back at West Rowan in his high school days, Hampton is replacing Bryan Mills.
A.L. Brown
One of the best things about former Carson coach Travis Billings coaching at A.L. Brown this year is that his father, Ken, was already a fixture there.
“That’s a pretty neat thing, seeing your father to start the day,” head coach Mike Newsome said.
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VERSATILE: Jeremy Ryan is the jack-of-all-trades on A.L. Brown’s staff.
This is his 18th year with the Wonders — he goes way back to the Bruce Hardin days — and he’ll be coaching his sixth position this fall as a tight ends and receivers coach.
“He knows our offense so well, he could coach any offensive position,” Newsome said.
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HOW BAD WAS IT? Newsome said the Wonders had so many players injured by the time they played Charlotte Catholic in the 4A playoffs last year that some of them couldn’t be on the sideline.
“That visiting sideline at Catholic is small,” Newsome said. “We had so many guys hurt there was no room for them. They had to go into the stands to watch the game.”
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RICH GET RICHER:
Brandon White, Northwest Cabarrus’ QB last year, is now at A.L. Brown.
He’ll probably focus on defense with the Wonders and could make an impact as a linebacker or safety.
East Rowan
Inquiries in the preseason about the East Rowan offensive scheme under new coach Kenneth McClamrock have been met with sly grins and satisfied silence.
With top quarterback Samuel Wyrick returning as well as receiver Seth Wyrick and veteran runners Jake Boltz, Max Wall and Tre Gillespie, look for the Mustangs to showcase a lot of different looks in an multiple option-style attack.
McClamrock assures everyone it will not be a single wing or Notre Dame box.
East will rely on the accurate arm of Wyrick, but the running game will be key.
“To be a good football team you have to run the ball,” McClamrock says. “We plan to run the ball on offense and on defense we want to stop the run.”
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INTERESTED: A frequent visitor to East football practices has been head boy basketball coach Trey Ledbetter.
“I am just trying to make sure they are taking good care of my guys,” he said. The Mustang football team features a number of talented players who will hit the hardwood for East this winter.
Both Wyrics are key East cagers. But this year they are joined in football by some star basketball talent, out for the first time.
Juniors Naquis Caldwell and Austin Wyse are wide receivers and sophomore Datavian Davis is a defensive back. Several other potential basketballers are playing both sports as well. McClamrock told Ledbetter he may be the jayvee basketball coach for a while if the football team makes a playoff run.
Carson
Joe Pinyan welcomed a big staff addition when David Johnson, who worked with him at Salisbury, arrived. Johnson will be the defensive coordinator.
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Pinyan and his staff were leaders in accepting the “Ice Bucket Challenge” to aid ALS and challenged all the other county schools to join in the fun.
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West Rowan
West Rowan games will be on the radio this fall, with WSAT 1280 carrying the Falcons every Friday.
WSTP 1490 will again have a game of the week format, so there may be some weeks when both Salisbury stations are broadcasting the Falcons.
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READY TO POUNCE: The Falcons’ lost a lot of offense, but they do have one county stat leader returning. That’s defensive lineman Darius Williamson, who had four fumble recoveries to share county honors.

Salisbury
The Hornets, who were 2-9, had more passing yardage last season than they did in 2012 when they were 11-3.
The running game, however, declined by nearly 2,900 yards.
Davie County
Davie’s coaching additions are Alex Tesh, a former South Stokes coach who is working mostly with the jayvee offensive linemen, and Blaine Nicholson, a new math teacher who was a student assistant at East Carolina. Nicholson is working with defensive ends.
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UNDER THE TREE: Davie staged its annual “Merry Hitmas” party on the first day of contact drills. That’s a tradition that goes back to the 1990s. Merry Hitmas included a dance contest between the offensive and defensive units. Predictably, it ended in a tie.
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CADE PARADE: Davie’s outstanding back Cade Carney, a junior, is being recuited by a lot of people.
He has offers from East Carolina, Georgia Tech, UNC, N.C. State and Wake Forest.