Hold the Line: Eight linemen leading the way for the Redhounds this season

The Corbin Redhounds football team enjoyed much success during the first half of their 2022 campaign, going 5-0 and securing wins over opponents such as Pikeville, Pulaski County and Somerset.

During their five victories so far this season, the Redhound offense has amassed some impressive numbers. Quarterback Kade Elam has thrown for nearly 700 yards, and has rushed for just under 300. Meanwhile, Cameron Combs has rushed for over 400 yards, and Carter Stewart is currently averaging over 50 yards a game receiving.

Of course, it takes talented skill players to compile stats such as these, but the fact of the matter is they could not do what they do without the blocking ability of the big boys on the front line.

Luckily for Head Coach Tom Greer and his staff, the Hounds have been benefitting greatly this season from a seasoned and hard-working group of offensive linemen who recently took the time to speak about their experiences on and off the field at CHS.

Junior Hayden Baker said that it takes a lot of discipline to be a successful lineman. “You have to learn things like proper hand placement, and footwork,” he explained. “A lot of it is also your mentality. You have to be ready to go out and hit somebody.”

Baker also said that he and his fellow lineman teammates like to bond off the field, as fellowshipping and developing a deep sense of community is key to being able to play will together on Friday nights.

Junior Franklin West said that there is a certain amount of respect and responsibility that goes along with playing football at Corbin, and he is happy to be in a position where younger players look up to him and his friends on the team. When asked about what the experience has been like so far this year in particular, he said, “It has been great. I feel like we really play well as a team. We work well together as a unit.”

Sean Brummett, one of the seniors on this year’s team, thanked the many coaches who have helped him get to this point. “I’ve had a lot of great coaches,” he said. “Coach [Brent] Jackson (Corbin Middle School) is a great coach, and Coach Greer is really great as well. He’s helped all of us in so many ways.”

Speaking about lineman coach Jeremy Hart, Brummett said, “If I ever need anything, Coach Hart is always there to help me out.”

“When you play here, the coaches all want to win,” Brummett added. “You have to match their energy and intensity. It is super competitive, but also a lot of fun.”

Junior Nate Grigsby brings a unique perspective to playing on the front line, being smaller than many of his peers in those positions. It has not hindered him, however, as he explained that, “You just have to keep on working. You’re going to get knocked down, but you have to come back stronger and better. I’m a smaller guy than many other playing these positions, but it doesn’t matter. You just have to be physical, and you have to want it more than they do.”

Sophomore Keegan Reeder may be the youngest in this current group of linemen, but he certainly has the size to make up for it. When asked about what the team needs to do in order to continue their success during the second half of the season, he said, “We just have to keep on working, and giving it one hundred percent every day. We have to be more physical than the other team, and play for each other.”

When asked specifically about the Hounds’ next opponent, Simon Kenton, Reeder said, “This will be a big game, so we will definitely have to continue bringing the intensity.”

Junior Kolby Gambrel said that he and the rest of the Corbin offensive line unit will be studying hard in coming days, trying to identify the techniques utilized by their opponents. “We want to memorize the things that they do so that we can hopefully achieve a better block, and win that one-on-one,” he explained.

“We have to be eager, be ready, and be focused,” added junior Zach Howard. “You have to be ready for any opponent, and you do that by working out, getting bigger.”

Howard said that he and the other linemen focus a lot of their time on four main lifts while in the weight room – bench press, squats, dead lift and power clean – as these all target muscles used most when pushing other guys around down in the trenches.

Finally, senior Eli Bolton said that his experiences so far at Corbin have been “awesome,” adding that he always knew while growing up that he wanted to play football as a Redhound. Of course, he wants to keep that going for as long as possible now that he is in his final year at CHS, but he knows that it will require a lot more work for he and his teammates to achieve their collective goal of making it back to the KHSAA state championship tournament finals.

That work will continue this week when the Redhounds go on the road to face a 6A Simon Kenton team that has had the last two weeks off. Their last two games were back-to-back losses, falling to Southwestern and Beechwood in the same week (Sept. 3 and Sept. 9).

With two losses followed by two off weeks, the Pioneers will no doubt be fired up and ready to send their fans home happy this Friday night. The team looks to be strong in the run game, so they will likely be relying heavily on their talented backfield as they seek to avenge a 56-24 loss to Corbin from one year ago.

Kickoff for the Redhounds versus the Pioneers is set for 7:30 p.m. at Simon Kenton High School.