Bainbridge Bearcats head coach, Jeff Littleton spoke at the Chamber Connect luncheon on Thursday to give fans a preview of what to expect this season.

Littleton began by saying how excited he was for the 2019 Bearcats, just as he was for the 2018 team. He noted that each year the team is different and the makeup and composition is different.

“Last year we knew we were young and we took some bumps and bruises at the beginning of the season, but it came out really well,” Littleton said.

Littleton explained the reasoning behind this might be because of the new policy that they adopted last year, which is quit trying to be the best.

“Don’t focus on trying to be the best, just focus on trying to be a little better every day,” he said. “If we get better one percent each day, then that’s all you can ask for.”

Littleton said this year’s team is focused on the process of getting better each day and have put in a lot of work in the off season in order to make their own mark on the field this year.

Littleton did acknowledge that they only have 15 seniors and lost a lot of offensive and defensive linemen, but they have an entirely different group of people now.

“We are going to struggle early on, but we’ve made a lot of strides in the weight room over the summer and we are really excited about this group,” Littleton said.

During the summer, the team traveled to camps and competed against some of the best schools from Georgia, Florida and Alabama. In two of the camps, BHS finished in the quarterfinals of the seven- on – seven passing.

“We’ve never been able to compete on that high of a level,” Littleton said.

Additionally, the team traveled to Troy, where they competed against 29 other teams and made it to the championship. They eventually lost against a team in Winter Park, Florida, but were still proud of how they showed up.

While Littleton is proud of how far the players have come over the summer, he did admit there are some areas that they need to work on.

“You’re only as good as the team is,” he said. “Talent will only get you so far, you have to push in the same direction as everyone else.”

Littleton said he knows some of the players are still riding on the high from last year’s state championship win, but they can’t continue to do that. He wants them to develop leaders and come together as a team, so they can know that champion feel for themselves.

“The difference between mediocrity and excellence is commitment,” Littleton reiterated. “It’s up to these guys to commit to that standard we’ve set and if they don’t we won’t achieve that level of success we did last year.”

Littleton looks forward to seeing who steps up and takes on the challenge of becoming a leader. Once that takes place, he knows the team can be unstoppable because they have talent and are excited. He saw the excitement in their first day of practice in pads on Thursday morning.

He invites everyone to see this talented bunch at their first home game on Friday, August 23 against Seminole County at the renovated Centennial Field. The game begins at 7:30 p.m.