Coach Mike Vallery talks about Bulldog football season

Bulldog coach, Mike Vallery spoke to Lions about current and past players. School is back, fall is rapidly approaching and this means football — Kilgore High School football, that is, and Mike Vallery, head coach for KHS was at the Lions on Thursday.

Vallery spoke not only about football, but about numerous accomplishments by KHS students in all sports. He said he also wanted to emphasize just how well these students were doing academically.

"Playing right here at Kilgore College, Chase Fisher and Xavian Sanders, Eddie Jones, Britt Mitchell, Michael Huey and Dominique Jones are playing at the University of Texas, Wayne Daniels and Nick Sanders are at TCU, Lon Roberts and Vince Cano are at Louisiana Tech, Frank Reddic is at Texas State, Cody Gatewood is at Sam Houston State, Colby Rosen is at Missouri Southern and Shawn Edwards is at Midwestern State," said Vallery.

But the real reason Vallery was at the Lions was to talk about the 2009 Kilgore Bulldog football season.

"It is said a lot of times by coaches about how young their teams are, but for the Bulldogs this season it is sort of an understatement," said Vallery. "On the varsity team this year we are returning two offensive players and three defensive players that were starters last year."

He said he has 10 sophomores starting on the varsity squad.

In last week's Carthage game, Vallery said one player was having a little trouble understanding punt team and punt re-turn team, which created a couple of penalties. "We go over special teams and every other aspect of the game on Thursday, but when our players actually take the field, under those Friday night lights, young players react differently," said Vallery.

Vallery said he expects the team to give the fans some exciting games this season as the Bulldogs face Hallsville, Marshall, Gilmer and Palestine in upcoming weeks, then meet Lindale, Whitehouse, Henderson, Jacksonville and Nacogdoches in district play.

In four weeks, the Bulldogs will have their week off and Vallery will be headed back to Ouachita where a special reunion has been planned for the 1989 state championship team, which he coached. Vallery said he is looking forward to that.

Vallery also touched on recruiting and how now days colleges are starting to recruit even earlier. "We have one sophomore player that has already been recruited by a Big 12 school," said Vallery. "I tell players their first concern is academics, so they will be in good standing when they graduate and with any good player they will get better, so they should look at that offer is being the start of things to come."

One question addressed to Vallery was the condition of the field and how it was holding up. "A field's condition and its deterioration has nothing to do with how much the field is played on — it can be played on 24- 7 and still hold up. It is the ultraviolet rays that causes the deterioration," said Vallery. "I am looking at a way to extend the life of our field, which is done by taking rubber out. But the G-Max factor will remain the same."