OUT & ABOUT
Kilgore's Jermaine Roney (3) tries to get free from Palestine's special teams on a kickoff return last season. Roney is among the talent returning for the Bulldogs, who did lose a lot of starters to graduation. (File Photo)
Friday Night Lights return to the Kilgore area BY MITCH LUCAS mlucas@kilgorenewsherald.com
A
successful under Wood elected to remain on. But there will have to be a new collection of young talent to step up, if the Bulldogs are going to make the playoffs for a somewhat-staggering 26th
new chapter for Kilgore High School football is probably the biggest headline as the 2021 football season starts, but there’s plenty of storylines that abound with kickoff at the end of the month.
Clint Fuller takes the reins of the Bulldogs’ football program,
after the coaching retirement of Mike Wood, who remained with
time of the last 28 years. Kilgore lost a lot of talent to graduation: record-setting quarterback Dalton McElyea, record-setting running back Tray Epps, dependable receiver Cade Pippen, just about the entire offensive line, members of the defensive front like linebackers Eli Caruthers and Brian Brown, linemen like Kaden Kenney and
Kilgore ISD as athletic director. Fuller, whose father Phil coached
Brantley Propes, and all-everything defensive back/wide receiver/
at Kilgore College during several seasons in the 1980s, returns
return specialist Donovan Adkins.
to his old stomping grounds older and wiser, after serving as
But the Bulldogs almost always have an excellent re-stock in
an assistant coach for many successful programs, including
their junior varsity, and should this time, hopefully helping that
as defensive coordinator for perennial state title contender
loss of talent along the offensive line. Quarterback Da’Marion
Pleasant Grove.
VanZandt got some playing time last year, and has the size — and
Fuller, who brings a tremendous amount of energy to the job, didn’t have to find many assistants. Most all of the assistant coaches and teachers who have helped make the Ragin’ Red 6 Etcetera | August/September 2021
the arm — to allow the Bulldogs’ passing game to keep growing. Then there’s returning standouts like Jermaine Roney and Matthew Tyeskie, receivers who are poisonous to defenses if they
