Football preview: Enloe tries to keep upward trend going with new coach

Turning around a Cap-8 football program is something David Green has done before. That’s good news for an Enloe program that wants to keep an upward trajectory after showing some promise last season.

The Eagles (3-8, 1-6) won three games – the most since 2009 – and lost three others by eight points or less.

“A few breaks here and there; they could have been a playoff team,” Green said.

Green, who replaces Steve Johnson after one year, had Leesville Road roaring from 2005-10. After a 1-9 season to start Green’s Leesville tenure, he led the Pride to a 51-15 mark over the next five.

“When you’ve gone through the struggles Enloe has gone through over the years, getting that mindset changed is probably the biggest part of (the turnaround process),” Green said. “You get used to not being very good year after year after year after year. There’s a bit of acceptance of that by players, community, parents, the whole thing.”

Green, who went 27-23 in four years at Burlington Williams High, has a smooth transition ahead. Both coordinators stayed on from last year, including offensive coordinator Jay Perdue. Perdue helped Johnson win multiple football titles at Burlington Cummings High.

“What I like to do and what (Perdue) likes to do are so similar all we’ve done is change my terminology to his terminology,” Green said. “That makes it a little easier on the players.”

The Eagles will have a talented group of running backs to lead the offense. Keyshawn Adams, a senior, is battling for the quarterback spot with sophomore Edwin De La Paz.

“We’ll be very good at our skill positions. In terms of running back and receivers – as good as I’ve coached,” Green said.

On defense, the Eagles were a disciplined group.

“We don’t have a lot of size, but we do have some speed and quickness,” Green said. “When I first looked at game film, one of the things I liked was that they were aggressive and how well they tackled.”

Green said the first step to a full turnaround process is for Enloe to beat a very good team. He recalls the moment that happened in his second season at Leesville, in 2006.

“Cary was a very good program at that time and we beat them in a very tough, very close game where we had to go down the field at the end of the game and win,” Green said. “And after we did that, we were off and running.”

Offense: Spread option

Defense: 4-2-5

Contributors: QB Keyshawn Adams; RB Jashon Estes; RB Tyler Barnes; FB/LB Antavius Marrow; WR Patrick Swayne; OL Kaleb Shaw; OL Stephen Hoffman; OL Michael Wells; DL/OL Tyree Thomas; DL/OL Dahryl Moses; LB Ian Tisdale; LB Hasan Lee; DB Jerrick Darden; DB A.J. Daodu; DB Larry Parker; DB Gerald Thomas; DB Marcus Harris.

Expected team strength: Backs and receivers.

Question mark: Offensive line.

Player they’ll miss the most: QB Cameron Lewis. Only 1,000-yard rusher accounted for 15 total touchdowns passing and rushing. No other player had more than five.

The main number: 12 – In its three wins, Enloe allowed just 12 points per game, including a 3-0 stunner against Southeast Raleigh. Enloe allowed 34 points per game in its losses.

The quote: Green: “When I got to Leesville 10 years ago, they were horrible. Their history was pretty much like this one. There are some differences, but there are a lot of similarities, and they had a lot of the same issues.”

Game to watch: Aug. 28 vs Rolesville. The winner gets a shot of confidence.

This story was originally published July 26, 2015 at 12:08 PM with the headline "Football preview: Enloe tries to keep upward trend going with new coach."