The summer sun continues to scorch during practice, but the area’s high school football programs are looking toward the fall season that is less than a month away.

And while the general consensus among the area coaches and players who gathered for Sunday’s 10th annual Paul Gray Football Media Day at Bowling Green High School was that dealing with the heat has been a constant battle this month, the promise of that Friday night season opener on Aug. 22 is motivation enough to keep putting the work in.

Sunday’s event, attended by 13 area schools this year, offered coaches and players the chance to discuss their teams, expectations and goals for the coming season.

For some, there’s change in the air. South Warren moves into Class 6A for the first time in program history, while Warren Central and Barren County drop down to 5A, Franklin-Simpson moves up to 4A and Edmonson County jumps up a spot to 3A.

South Warren coach Brandon Smith said he got a few concerned calls from friends and colleagues over the Spartans’ move up, but it’s a challenge Smith relishes after previously leading the program to one state championship in Class 4A (2015) and two titles in Class 5A (2018 and 2021).

“I’ve always kind of had it in the back of my mind that it’s something that I’d like to try before it’s all said and done,” Smith said. “Now I didn’t realize that our school would get to that point, but I mean 6A’s the best football. And I’ve had the unique pleasure of when I started out we were 3A, so I’ve been with the same school from 4A to 5A to 6A. Some guys get upset when you say it, but there is a difference. 4A is better than 3A, 5A is better than 4A and so on. Kind of the same thing in terms of the SEC and their argument — that’s not to say that a 4A school can’t beat a 6A, it’s just the depth of the class. The middle of the road schools in 6A are better than 5A. The so-called bad teams are better than the bad teams, and so on and so forth.

“It is the best and that’s what you want to do if you’re a competitor. You want to see what you’re made of and you can find out if you can compete and play in the big boy class.”

BIG SHOES TO FILL

A trio of accomplished quarterbacks within Warren County must be replaced this season with the graduation losses of Warren East’s Dane Parsley, Bowling Green’s Deuce Bailey and South Warren’s Bryce Button.

Parsley was a four-year starter for the Raiders at quarterback and a solid performer on defense and in special teams as well, a dual-threat option who punished opposing defenses through the air or on the ground.

Warren East coach Tanner Hall said sophomore Xavier Isable, a transfer from Bowling Green, is looking like the next man up to take the quarterback spot.

“The way Xavier is going through the summer, it’s very much like he’s dissecting the defense one play at a time — very accurate passes with a very smooth (delivery), understanding what’s going on at a young age as a sophomore.”

At Bowling Green, the Purples have to replace their own four-year starter in Bailey, who led his team to three straight Class 5A state finals including back-to-back championships in 2023-24.

The Purples have a three-man battle for the spot this summer, with rising junior Embree Dotson returning to vie with senior Jaxon Strautman — a transfer from Frederick Douglass who served as the Broncos’ starting QB last year — plus rising freshman Anthony Davis.

“Yes, Deuce Bailey has walked out of the building and we wish him the best,” BG coach Mark Spader said. “But we’ve got a rising junior in Embree Dotson that’s been a part of our program — his dad’s an old Purple — and we had a move-in, Jaxon Strautman. He has settled in. I say I’m pretty impressed … he’s going into his senior year and you always worry about a guy changing schools and transitioning, but just a few weeks in you would have thought he was a Purple his whole life. Then we have a really promising freshman quarterback in Anthony Davis. I’m not sure that he has the maturity right now, but he has some skills. So we’ll go through camp with them and see which one of them is going to step up and take that job.”

South Warren had three fantastic seasons with Button running the offense, but now must choose a replacement.

“I do think we have a unique situation,” Smith said. “Most years at most high schools, there’s kind of an obvious choice of who’s going to be next or if you don’t have the obvious choice you just try to find somebody that can do it. I feel like we can choose a guy. We have two guys, Chase Bell and Camden Page, who are more than capable at that position.”

NOT A FAN

A new state law that took effect in June is complicating the ability of coaches and players to communicate.

Senate Bill 181, which requires a traceable communications platform that will serve as the only method for a teacher to contact a student electronically, leaves many familiar forms of communication like email, text and social media banned for use by teachers including coaches and even volunteer staff.

Allen County-Scottsville coach Brad Hood, while specifying that he spoke on his own behalf and not for the school district, said “it’s a terrible law” that could force coaches to ignore messages from players or risk career repercussions.

“You wouldn’t believe over the last 20 years, not only being in one spot but being a head football ooach, how many pictures of first big deer on opening morning of gun season that I’ve gotten,” Hood said. “On first vehicles, on first turkeys … prom, homecoming. And they’ve taken all that away. I understand what they’re trying to do. But also, 89 kids their whole life have known me as coach Hood. And hopefully by this point and I still have 89 of them around, they trust me. Now they get put in a situation where they need me and I can’t answer the phone or I could lose my job.”

HIGH PRAISE

Trevy Barber is poised to rewrite the record book at Bowling Green.

The rising senior wide receiver is coming off a stellar 2024 season when he tallied 79 catches for 1,327 yards and 22 touchdowns. That brought Barber’s three-year total as a Purple to 210 catches for 3,253 yards and 47 TDs.

“I think he’s a Mr. Kentucky (Football) candidate,” Spader said. “He’s going to break most of the receiving records of our school this year and he’s coached by the guy who holds them, Nacarius Fant. So it’s a pretty unique situation.”

Barber is taking all the extra attention in stride.

“I’m blessed to be in this position,” Barber said. “I just want to take it all in. I feel like I’ve been doing this for a minute, so I think being able to compete with some of the top-notch guys in the state is a blessing.”

NEW SURFACE

The trend toward converting football fields from natural grass to synthetic turf continues in the area as South Warren is the final school in Warren County to switch to the surface.

The Spartans aren’t the only program in the region making that change. At Metcalfe County, the Hornets are getting accustomed to the new playing field after years on the natural stuff. After 25 years of playing home games at a nearby city park, Metcalfe has a brand-new football stadium including that turf field and an indoor facility.

“The turf is a huge difference from the grass field that we’re used to,” Metcalfe County senior running back Andrew Hills said. “It’s a whole different climate out there. It’s a whole new thing, getting used to turf when you’re used to grass. It’s harder on the ankles, it’s harder on your mobility. It’s a lot harder on the kids getting used to it, but I think we’re moving in pretty well.”

ON THE MAP

Hart County built on an impressive stretch of football under head coach Chad Griffin last season. Back-to-back, one-loss seasons in 2023-24 boosted the Raiders’ three-year mark to 34-5 as they’ve risen to become a powerhouse at the Class 3A level.

Griffin’s son and Raiders assistant coach Dylan Griffin has helped document the whole transformation with an X (formerly Twitter) account, @HartCountyFball, that rates among the best high school accounts around.

Dylan Griffin is a former college assistant football coach with a number of stops including Louisiana Tech under Skip Holtz.

“We’re blessed that my son has done that for us,” Griffin said. “I credit a lot of that to our success. No matter what, winning will but you on the map. But social media — I’m not a social media guy, my wife and kids don’t like me on social media because I’ll mess it up. So I don’t think about that kind of stuff, but it’s been great. It’s put us on the map.”