We’re four weeks from the kickoff of the Kentucky high school football season on Aug. 23, and coaches are searching for answers as their teams toil through two-a-days.
Trinity ( Cla ss 6A ) and Christian Academy ( Class 3A ) enter the season as defending state champions, but both teams will have new faces in several key spots.
Mal e is searching for a new quarterback to replace Kolter Smith, and Central running back Cortez Stone enters his senior season with several milestones within reach.
As the start of the season approaches, here are five questions we are monitoring:
With sophomore quarterback Zane Johnson, top wide receiver Jeremiah Lynn and three linemen returning, Trinity’s offense should be just fine as the Shamrocks begin defense of their state title.
But what about the defense?
Trinity lost its top seven tacklers and returns just three starters from last year’s unit that allowed 12.2 points per game and posted three shutouts. The returning starters are senior end Bailey Vance, senior linebacker J.C. Wilson and sophomore cornerback Sekou Kamara.
There are no cupcakes on a Trinity schedule that begins with back-to-back trips to Lexington to face Bryan Station and Frederick Douglass, meaning the new starters — including several sophomores — will have to learn under fire.
“Defense is a concern starting the year,” Trinity coach Jay Cobb said, “but could be a strength at the end of the year if the young players develop.”
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Male quarterback Kolter Smith passed for 2,447 yards and 34 touchdowns last season but now is a freshman at Georgetown College.
Junior Jordan Williams and sophomore Tyson Kinsel both have experience running Male’s offense, but coach Chris Wolfe has another interesting option at quarterback.
Senior Antonio Harris, who has committed to the University of Louisville as a defensive back, has been taking snaps this summer and could become the leader of the Bulldogs offense.
Wolfe envisions Harris adopting a similar role as former quarterback Garrett Dennis, who rushed for 1,121 yards and accounted for 51 touchdowns (34 passing, 17 rushing) while leading Male to the Class 6A title in 2018 .
“Antonio is an elite athlete … and he can throw,” Wolfe said.
Harris played wide receiver last season, catching 25 passes for 620 yards and 11 touchdowns. Wolfe said junior Colin Jefferson projects as the top receiver this season.
“He’s made that big jump that we see a lot of times from a talented kid to his junior year,” Wolfe said.
As a wide receiver and safety, Christian Academy’s Connor Hodge was one of the state’s top two-way players last season and earned first-team All-State defense honors from The Courier Journal .
With his brother, Cole, headed to East Carolina University, Connor is taking over at quarterback for the Centurions for his senior year.
Connor Hodge played quarterback during middle school but moved to wide receiver as Cole Hodge commandeered the signal-caller spot the past three seasons.
“Connor is an elite athlete, and I think everybody saw that last year,” CAL coach Hunter Cantwell said. “He’s just dynamic with the ball in his hands. … No matter what the defense does this year, he’ll be touching the ball on every play.”
Connor Hodge, who also has committed to East Carolina, led the state with 11 interceptions last season and also ranked first in the state with 114 receptions, second in the state with 1,494 receiving yards and third in the state with 23 touchdown receptions.
He’ll have plenty of talented receivers in the passing game this season, led by seniors Trey Cotton and Bryce Wilson and sophomore Ja'Hyde Brown.
Cotton saw limited playing time last year because of a sports hernia but is “back and flying around” this summer.
Central senior Cortez Stone will be in the hunt for Mr. Football honors this season and could become just the second running back in Louisville history to reach 7,000 career rushing yards.
Stone enters this season with 5,439 career rushing yards and 70 touchdowns and is chasing another former Central back — Ace Wales — in the record books. Wales rushed for 8,213 yards while at Central from 2008-11 and ranks third in state history behind Johnson Central’s J.J. Jude (8,633) and Fort Knox’s Derek Homer (8,224).
Stone is one of 10 returning starters on offense for a Central squad that finished 7-6 last season after falling to Christian Academy, 52-13, in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A playoffs.
Stone is considering scholarship offers from Austin Peay, Ball State, Cincinnati, Eastern Kentucky, Louisville, Miami (Ohio), Purdue, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee State and Western Kentucky.
Seven Louisville-area schools — including Class 6A members Ballard, Manual and Pleasure Ridge Park — will have first-year head coaches this season.
Matt Kuehn takes over a Ballard program that went 10-4 and reached the Class 6A state semifinals last season. Kuehn was the head coach at Bullitt Central for six seasons (2016-21) and spent the last two years as an assistant at Ballard.
Keith Eckloff is the new head coach at Manual after spending the previous five seasons as Seneca’s head coach. Brandon Dunn, who played seven seasons in the NFL for the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans, is the new coach at PRP , his alma mater.
The other first-year head coaches in the Louisville area are Kenny Davidson (Seneca), Josh Jaggers (Shelby County), DaMarcus Smith (Valley) and Corey Thompson (Waggener).
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Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Follow on X @kyhighs.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: As KHSAA football 2024 season approaches, 5 burning questions for Louisville-area teams
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