The Byrnes Rebels are coming off a year where they finished 10-2 overall and went on to win the difficult Region II 5A title by going 4-0 inside region play. They defeated Dorman in the opening round of the playoffs but then fell in the second round of the playoffs to Hillcrest.
The Rebels will look to build off that success and make a deeper run this season. It is worth noting that the Rebels are renovating their field and will not have any home games this season, so every Friday night they will be on the road it will be interesting to see how they do with traveling each week to play, especially with how they dominated at home a year ago, going 6-0 at Nixon Field.
Byrnes plays a fairly tough non-region schedule to prepare them for their region play. Their season begins on August 23rd against TL Hanna, the rest of the non-region opponents include Irmo and they finish the non-region schedule against Greer.
Region play begins for them on September 20th against Wade Hampton, the rest of the region schedule is Dorman, Riverside, Gaffney, Eastside, Spartanburg, and they finish up the regular season against Boiling Springs.
On offense, the Rebels have one of the best Running backs in the state with Tre Segarra, who rushed the ball 166 times for 1115 yards and 11 touchdowns. He averaged 92 yards per game and nearly seven years per carry, He also added 278 yards receiving with 4 receptions touchdowns. He is simply explosive if you get him the ball in open space watch out! Chances are he will take it a long way.
The Quarterback position will have a new starter as Andrew Stevens graduated so Zy Landrum has been getting the number 1 reps so it appears he will get the nod as the man behind center. The big question mark for the Rebels will be their offensive line this year so it will be interesting to see how the men up front hold up as they will be facing some lights-out defenses.
Byrnes lost their two leading Receivers from a year ago Chamarrus Bomar and Armoni Weaver, who transferred to Westside. They combined for 65 receptions 1,163 yards and nine touchdowns. So who will step up and be their leading receiver this year?That will be something to look out for.
The Byrnes Rebels will have to replace some very talented players on the defense with guys like Chris Foster and James Oates graduating. Those two combined for 207 tackles and 17 sacks. They also lost their second-leading tackler RJ Livingston, who also is playing at Westside this year.
Byrnes’s defense is usually always good but last year they were dominant can they continue that this year with having to replace a lot of talented? A guy that should stand out for the Rebels is Jaidyn Ferguson, who is 6 ft 2, 225 pounds. Ferguson is looking to have a bigger season this year as he put up some solid numbers as a Junior. He had 46 tackles and 5 sacks so the Rebels will need him to continue to get after the Quarterbacks and make some plays.
Overall, I do look for the Rebels to have a solid season, I do believe with so much turnover on the roster and some question marks I don’t see them winning this region but you can never count them out!
