Experienced Redhound Football team ready to make another playoff run

When the Corbin Redhounds run out of the locker room and onto Campbell Field Friday night, the 2021 edition will look very familiar.

Coach Tom Greer will again have Cameron Combs under center, and Combs will have Seth Mills, TreyVeon Longmire, Carter Stewart and Dakota Patterson among the weapons in Redhound arsenal.

“We have some shoes to fill, including three offensive linemen and running back,” Greer said. “Offensively, things don’t change for us. You have got to be able to run the ball.”

Greer said in addition to Mills, several of the younger players have shown they are ready to step up and help shoulder the load, including Seth Huff and Ethan Gregory.

If opponents load up defensively in an attempt to stop the Redhounds’ running game, Greer said he has confidence that Combs and his crew of receivers can make them pay.

“We want to be very balanced,” Greer said.

On the defensive side, Greer said the Redhounds are, once again, built around putting the defensive linemen and linebackers in position to make places.

While Corbin lost its two leading tacklers from 2020, Greer said multiple players, including Mikey Neal and Zayne Hammack have stepped up as players to watch.

The Redhounds will open the season Friday night with one of its toughest challengers in defending North Carolina state football champion Christ School, out of Arden, playing in the Cumberland Falls Pigskin Classic.

Greer said Christ School is a last-minute replacement for original opponent Rhea County, Tennessee.

Greer said both he and his players are looking forward to the challenge of opening the season with an opponent of that level.

“To play at a high level you have to play good football teams,” Greer said. “Win or lose Friday night we are going to find areas where we need to improve.”

The Redhounds are coming off of an 8-2 season that saw them reach the elite eight of the class 4A playoffs.

Despite that success, Greer said his players continue to show up every day, prepare and practice at a high level.

“We are constantly telling them to be focused where their feet are at, whether that is at practice or in the classroom,” Greer said.

While the district games will not begin until Oct. 8 at Knox Central, Greer said he is expecting it to be the typically tough battle.

“The district has four quality teams,” Greer said noting that while Corbin, Wayne County and Knox Central are the most talked about, Lincoln County cannot be overlooked. “If you don’t show up ready to play or look past somebody, you will get beat. It is going to be a challenge.”