33 Teams in 33 Days: Bayside Academy Admirals

DAPHNE, Ala (WKRG) — High school football programs along the Gulf Coast are honing their skills in spring practice. WRKG’s “33 Teams in 33 Days” continues touring local practice sessions with a look at Bayside Academy.

The Admirals enter the season with a lot of enthusiasm after finishing 8-3 in the very tough Class 4A Region 1. Bayside Academy dropped down to Class 3A in the most recent AHSAA reclassification. They will play in Region 1 alongside Monroe County, Flomaton, Hillcrest-Evergreen, Cottage Hill Christian, Excel and T.R. Miller.

Barrett Trotter enters his second season at the helm. This time last year, Trotter was getting the know the student-athletes and installing the new schemes. With a year under their belts, Trotter is pleased to see the team’s progress.

“It is nice to be able to step on the field and some guys have some recall, obviously from what you were doing last year and it’s not starting from scratch,” Trotter said. “We got to build a great base and foundation last football season. So now going into this year, it’s really up to these young guys to pick up the slack.”

The players have responded with hard work in the offseason. Trotter opted to do a skill development practice style with several players out for spring sports. He praised their desire to continue developing in the offseason.

“We got kids that want to improve on what we did last year and that shows and their work ethic in the meeting room, out on the field, in the weight room, those little things that make a football team great,” Trotter said.

The players that were on the gridiron expressed their excitement to play even better in year two in the new offense and defense.

“We mostly want to get everybody, all the new people and upcoming freshmen on board with the program and get all the concepts down for our spring installs,” said tight end Miles Uter.

“The second year in the system with coach, I feel like we can make an exponential leap,” quarterback Sammy Dunn added. “Last year being the first year, we had to put some stuff in and had a couple of growing pains. Now, with a year under our belts and going into our second year, I feel like we can keep growing. We’ve got some athletes catching the ball and running the ball for us. I want to know the offense back and forth and have everybody on the same page and making sure that we go into the season strong”

2023 Record (notable wins):

• 8-3
• St. Michael 27-21 (OT)
• Escambia County 38-14

Key Players:

• QB: Sammy Dunn – 1,800+ total yards, 18 touchdowns
• TE: Miles Uter – 217 yards, 4 touchdowns
• WR/DB: Bo Anderson – Avg. 9.1 yards per reception, 2 touchdowns
• DE/LB – Billy Neill – 123 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 forced fumbles

Key Matchups:

• vs. St. Michael (8/23)
• vs. Flomaton (9/20)
• vs. T.R. Miller (10/25)

Who’s next:

The next installment will feature the Blount Leopards . Follow along with WKRG’s “33 Teams in 33 Days.” Each team will be featured during the 6:30 p.m. newscast on the weekdays and during the 10 p.m. newscast on the weekend.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRG News 5.