No program is more evidence of this than the Aledo Bearcats, who have been turning productive spring workouts into victories in the fall. A dozen state championships — including 11 since 2009 — support this.
The Bearcats wrapped up their spring practices last week with their annual spring game. A total of 166 players turned out, including 48 seniors-to-be, 53 players who will be juniors, and 65 who will be sophomores.
“I think spring went well. We got a lot of work in and were able to work on some new schemes offensively and defensively to try and improve our overall team,” said Bearcats head coach Robby Jones. “The off-season months going into spring were some of the most productive that we have had with big gains in the weight room.”
Jones is entering his third season at the helm after more than two decades as an assistant — including offensive coordinator from 2009-2022. He is 28-2, going 16-0 with a Class 5A Division I state title in 2023 and 12-2 this past season.
Chief among the areas of interest in the spring and off-season is the quarterback position. A battle for the starting position opened up when all-state signal caller Gavin Beard (69% completions, 35 TD, 5 interceptions) transferred to All Saints.
“The QB competition is still going strong. Both Nash McElree and Lincoln Tubbs did some good things during the spring,” Jones said. “I think we will know more about who the starter is once we get to the fall and they both have more time to work with the main group of receivers.
“We had four of our top receivers out most if not all of spring (from two sprained ankles and two pulled hamstrings), so that made it difficult on both QBs, and we had to be careful with Lincoln for most of the spring because he was competing in the state track meet while going through spring ball.”
Tubbs ran on the Bearcats’ 4x400-meter relay that finished fourth at state and ran a school-record time of 3:15.01.
Running back is also a focal point following the early graduation of all-stater Raycine Guillory (1,502 total yards, 27 TD), who signed a letter-of-intent to play for Utah in the fall. Jones said senior-to-be Kaden Winkfield (995 total yards, 13 TD) has emerged as the frontrunner, but he was also impressed with the performances of seniors-to-be Brady Powell (489 yards, 7 TD) and Rudy Moya. Junior-to-be Jeremiah Johnson, who was limited in the spring after coming off an injury in the fall, is also expected to be in the mix when he is 100% in the fall, Jones noted.
“The running back group has several guys who can be contributors for us next season,” Jones said.
“With seven returning starters on defense and six on offense, we knew going into spring who most of the starters would be,” Jones continued.
At linebacker, Jones said senior-to-be Chase Wilburn (62 tackles, 10.5 for loss, 2 interceptions) has been moved to the middle, so the team is looking for two starters at the outside linebacker positions. Incoming senior Ryland Haley and incoming juniors Cole Cox and Kaedon Weaver — along with others — are still fighting it out for those spots, he added.
Jones stated that just because spring drills are over, there is still a lot to do before the fall.
“The focus going into the summer is to get healthy,” he said. “We ended spring with probably six starters not practicing because of injuries. So, we need to get those guys healthy and work together as a team all summer during the Performance Course and skills.”
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