‘Intensity and Effort’ of importance for Bearcats in anticipation of season-opener

Published 2:44 pm Tuesday, August 15, 2023

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The Bearcats open the regular season Friday against Eagles Landing Christian Academy (ELCA). ELCA is an AA private Christian School in McDonough, GA.

The Chargers will be a “tough competitor,” according to Head Coach Jeff Littleton. He described ELCA as a program with a “rich tradition,” backed up by the program’s four consecutive single A private state championships from 2015-2018. 

“We’re going to have to play our best,” Littleton said. “We match up well if we’re playing at our best, and we execute what we gameplan to do.”

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Littleton said he will focus on intensity and execution in practice this week. 

“You win Friday night Monday through Thursday by preparing,” Littleton said. “You do that with intensity, and you do that with execution.”

The Chargers have two three-star recruits on their squad: Senior offensive tackle Favour Edwin and senior running back Brandon Hood. This season is Edwin’s first playing football. The 6-8 290-pound Tackle was born in Nigeria and moved to the United States in 2021 with hopes of playing college basketball. 

“The thing is, every gym we went into, the referee’s like, ‘Hey son, do you play football?’ The other dudes, ‘Hey man, do you?'” Edwin described in an interview with FanNation’s Brooks Austin. “So everybody, they’ve been putting it in my head right from when I stepped into the States. Like, ‘Man, you should try this.'” 

Edwin has five offers on the table, most notably one from Alabama. Hood has 19 offers, including LSU, Michigan St., Penn St., Tennessee, Auburn and more.

“One person is not going to make a difference in a game of eleven people,” Littleton said about preparing for the matchup. “You’ve got to make sure your technique and fundamentals are sound.”

Littleton said he’s looking forward to the season starting and knows that the early, out-of-conference games are essential to building the team into the best it can be.

“First game of the season, you know, we’re going to make mistakes,” Littleton said. “We want to make sure we make them with 100% effort so we can overcome a lot of those mistakes.”