Our final High School Football Preview is the Spartanburg Vikings who last year went 6-6, defeating Dorman for the 3rd straight season before falling to JL Mann in the 2nd round of the 5A Playoffs.
Let’s start with who they lost:
On Offense RB Trey Harris and WR Ra’el Senghor graduated as well as 2 OL who had starts.
On Defense, 7 DL including Damion Coates are gone. The 7 DL counted for close to 200 tackles and 15 sacks. Starting Safeties Charles Woodruff and Shrine Bowler Demario Bookhart are gone and 2 OLBs Kaleb Williams and Bennie Littlejohn have graduated as well. The Viking Defense was one of the best I’ve ever seen in my years of covering High School Football and they guys lost played a huge role.
Returning:
On Offense – Senior QB T.J Johnson returns, however suffered an injury in a scrimmage and will miss some time. Last season he accounted for 1949 total yards in 8 games with 13 total TDs before getting hurt against Gaffney and missing the rest of the season. Jr Trey Burke will start the season at QB, he started the last 4 games of the 2023 season going 2-2.
Sophomore RB Trenton Lynch is back and Viking fans will love to see what this kid can do. As a Freshman he ran for just under 800 yards and 4 TDs without starting a single game. He’ll start every games this year. Senior Ath Calvin Choice will get a ton of carries as well as once again he’s one of the best athletes on the team.
Wide Receiver may be the deepest position for the Vikings. Senior Justin Rice received several D1 offers during the offseason after catching just under 50 passes for 5 TDs as a Junior. There’s a ton of depth here with Sr. Calvin Choice, Jr Zeke Bell Boyd, Jr Torrean Davis, and Sr Zy Williams Bond. TE Joshua Hodge will play a ton and expect him to catch more passes in 2024.
The OL has 3 returning starters in Seniors Trey Weathers, John Hammond and Travis Miller. The Vikings are much bigger up front this season especially at Guard.
On Defense – One of the best LBs in school history is back for his Senior year. Cam Smith has over 230 tackles in his career at the Varsity level. Fellow middle LB Peyton Jones is back who last year had 84 tackles and 12.5 tackles for a loss. On the outside, CJ Woodruff and Quez Smith are expected to start, each had about 30 tackles last season.
The secondary has a lot of familiar names back…Quincy Haywood will start at Safety along with Don Kinard who had 2 INTs last season. Seniors Jarious Mosley and Elijah Roseburg will start at CB.
Only Cory Cheeks has experience on the DL who last year had 20 tackles and 2 sacks. Expect a rotation of new players including Kam Singleton to be in the mix.
Finally Junior Kicker Will Love will do all the kicking for his 3rd year in a row for the Vikings.
