CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Miller Buccaneers kicked off the football season in style. Seventh year head coach Justen Evans hosted the programs’ inaugural Midnight Madness practice Monday morning, and it was loud at Buc Stadium.
"We just wanted to do something different this year," said Evans. "You know, the kids have worked hard over the offseason. It's kind of their reward to come out here and just the anxiousness and excitement about this season.
The drum line, cheerleaders and all of Buc Nation brought the energy to start what could be another good season as Miller returns 43 players to their roster, including 7 starters on offense and 10 on defense.
"We're going to be extremely fast this year this year not only with players, but with tempo," Trevor Long, Miller junior quarterback said. "We've been really working during all the offseason with our strength and conditioning due to (Bradly) Chavez and E.J., and they've done a great job."
There's a good quarterback battled between Trevor Long and Jaeydn Brown again. Evans said he plans on going with one quarterback this year. Miller's offense has a lot of skill players surrounding their quarterbacks, like Corey Holmes, Eathen Vela and the Taylor brothers Broderick and Roderick, but one area the Bucs focused on in particular was their o-line. All-State center Devin Cage alongside Keishaun Lewis will lead the veteran front.
"We got like 3 or 4 coming back (offensive line) and it's changed," Cage said. "You know we want to be more physical, more aggressive, more nasty when it comes to it. Really apply pressure when it comes to those big teams like PSJA (Pharr-San Juan-Alamo) and all that."
Last season, Miller finished as Area Finalists with 10 wins and 2 losses. They start the season hosting Rockport-Fulton at Buc Stadium on Thursday, August 24th at 7 p.m.
The Lady Bucs also participated in Midnight Madness. Their volleyball team is young with 8 returners and a new head coach, Chanta Gidrey, but middle blocker Julie Sandoval is excited about the energy she brings.
"She is not going to stop yelling, like not in a bad way," Sandoval said. "Yelling as in energized and it's very contagious."
