Todd County Central's head football coach Darrell Keith (center), senior Sydney Johnson (left), and junior Bryce Nolan talk with members of the media Saturday, August 4, 2018, during the Paul Gray Prep Sports Media Day at 643 Sports Bar and Grill. (Bac Totrong/photo@bgdailynews.com)

Offensive linemen could highlight the strongest position groups for teams in southcentral Kentucky.

Glasgow senior tackle Tanner Bowles absorbs most of the attention, but Glasgow and Edmonson County have plenty of reasons to feel secure about the offense at the line of scrimmage.

Bowles, an Alabama commit, rightfully garners that respect by ranking 27th on the 247Sports national ranking for offensive tackles in the Class of 2019.

Area coaches and players gathered Saturday at 6-4-3 Sports Bar and Grill for the annual media day event and discussed those offensive strengths.

“Obviously everyone knows about Tanner Bowles,” Glasgow coach Jeff Garmon said. “He overshadows. If Tanner wasn’t there, we’d be talking about some of these other boys a bit more. we’ve got some size and strength there.”

Glasgow will play its last season in Class 2A with three seniors on the offensive line who have started since they were sophomores. Four of these linemen stand over 6-foot-1 and bench over 300 pounds.

Bowles leads that charge standing at 6-5, 285 pounds, Connor Taylor stands at 6-3, 270 and Peyton Gibbons rounds out the Scotties senior o-linemen at 6-1, 260. Sophomore Tad Shelton will line up on the opposite side of Bowles at tackle with a 6-3, 270-pound frame.

Bowles is a 4-star recruit who committed to the Crimson Tide in April.

He held offers from 12 Power 5 schools between the Southeastern, Big 12, Big 10 and Atlantic Coast Conferences.

“He’s probably the hardest worker we have on the team,” Garmon said. “He spends an enormous amount of extra time in the weight room every day and he’s taking care of his body. He’s constantly doing things in his mind to make him better.”

Edmonson County graduated 80 percent of its offense from last year’s 6-5 squad, but returns four of its five offensive linemen.

Senior Logan Hagan can’t be missed at 6-5, 330 pounds. Sophomore Jace Condor stands at 6-3, 275. Daniel Pereria returns as the starting center and Devin Smith will step into a consistent starting role.

“Good group and they know what they’re doing,” Wildcats coach Nathan Smith said. “I think they’ve done a good job. There are different types of football players. Some are really intelligent, some are really athletic. We’ve got good smart kids on the offensive line who help each other out and know what to do and make adjustments in the game.”

Raiders get new look

As if Warren East’s blue turf field didn’t draw enough attention, the Raiders will be even louder by appearance this fall.

Warren East will sport a new look with an all-yellow home uniform with blue helmets. The Raiders will wear yellow tops and bottoms with blue trim and white numbers.

“I think this is more new school,” Raiders coach Jeff Griffith said. “When I first saw it last year, I saw the L.A. Rams and the color rush. I said, ‘Man, we would look good in that all yellow on our blue field.’ I asked some of the guys and they said let’s do it. They were pretty excited. I think it’ll be a good look for us.”

Warren East and Bowling Green are transitioning to Adidas uniforms this fall after Russell Athletic announced last year it would cease production of athletic uniforms. Russell Athletic is a brand of Fruit of the Loom Inc., headquartered in Bowling Green.

Warren East and Bowling Green have partnered with H+W Sports, which will supply Adidas brand team gear. Warren Central will enter its third year wearing Nike brand uniforms through BSN Sports.

South Warren and Greenwood are also BSN Sports schools. The Spartans will wear new Nike uniforms this fall while Greenwood will wear its Russell uniforms this year before transitioning to a new look in 2019.

Franklin-Simpson learns to handle expectations

There’s a different vibe at practice in Franklin nowadays. Of course, winning a state championship can do that for a program.

As the defending Class 4A state champs, the Wildcats have a new focus to the beginning of the season that hasn’t always been evident in previous preseasons.

“I think they’re more focused than we were last year in terms of learning how to practice at a really high level,” FSHS coach Doug Preston said. “I did a lot of yelling last summer and they know and they’ll tell you the truth.”

Preston watched his Wildcats get steamrolled in the second half of last year’s opener against Elizabethtown and put the downfall on a lack of preparation leading up to the game. It served as a wakeup call, and the Wildcats won 12 of their next 14 games on their way to a 35-21 title game victory over Johnson Central in Lexington.

Franklin-Simpson returns plenty from that squad, highlighted by championship game MVP Tre Bass and offensive lineman Jack Randolph, a Louisville commit.

“Who knows how we’ll start this year?,” Preston said. “We’ve got new guys on the defensive side, but I think they understood the lesson and learned that last year, so our practices have been very focused.”{&end}