Huntington returns key skill players, depth along the line

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The Huntington football program will be looking for a seventh straight postseason appearance in 2017 as the Highlanders are coming off of a 7-4 campaign from a season ago.

It was an extra-difficult final loss in 2016 for Huntington, falling in the opening round of the playoffs 31-28 to South Charleston — a game where the Highlanders led 21-6 and had a fourth-and-goal effort stopped just short, at the one-yard line, late in the fourth quarter.

“To be honest, it was probably a little bit of a down year for us,” said Huntington coach Billy Seals. “It was the first year we had been hit by the injury bug.

We got to the first quarter of Week 2 and three of our top four offensive players were gone for the year,” Seals continued. “We had to make some adjustments, but we still made the playoffs again and we look to improve upon that record this year.”

Huntington lost four starters defensively and five offensively from last year’s team, including North Carolina signee Billy Ross along the offensive line. But there’s still plenty of depth returning for the Highlanders up front.

“If we lined up and played today, we would start four juniors and a sophomore,” Seals said. “We feel like this offensive group on the offensive line could be one of our better ones.

We’re big and we have athletic ability,” he continued. “We feel like we could be really good on the offensive line and we feel like our defensive line will be really good as well – we’re going to be long and athletic.”

The Highlanders are led along the line by 6-foot-6, 275 pound junior Darnell Wright who has a multitude of high Division I college scholarship offers. Some of those include West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Ohio State, NC State, North Carolina, Nebraska, Maryland, Marshall, Louisville, Kentucky and Florida.

Wright is rated as a four-star prospect by Rivals.com.

“He’s one of the best lineman in the country,” Seals said. “His strengths are his length and athletic ability. He does such a nice job on pass protection. His run blocking has to get better and it will with age and a little more experience.

“He’s only played the offensive line one year, so last year was all new to him,” Seals continued. “He’s taking the recruiting process with a grain of salt – he’s enjoyed it and his visits, but he’s solely focused on Huntington football right now and realizes he has a long time before he has to make a college decision.”

Wright will help pave the way for leading rusher Jadon Hayes who returns for his senior season as well for the Highlanders.

“Jadon (Hayes) was a 1,400 yard rusher last year and we rolled him after we had injuries to the receiver and quarterback positions,” Seals said. “He also plays defensive back for us and is getting some FCS looks. He’s a really, really good athlete and he’s a competitor – that’s what we love about him.”

While quarterback Luke Zban returns for his senior season, another offensive weapon back in the mix for Huntington will be 6-foot-4 senior receiver Mikal Dawson.

“Mike (Dawson) is another kid who got hurt in the first quarter of the second game last year,” Seals said. “Many people don’t know about him, except on the basketball end. But he’s a really, really good football player, too.

“Shymeik Burger has been a three year starter for us and we have a young linebacker Brocton Blair and Andrew Spears back,” Seals said. “We have all of those guys back who have played a lot of time for us in the past. It’s a pretty experienced group and we’re looking forward to getting to play.”

The Highlanders have a schedule that features its typical Mountain State Athletic Conference gauntlet, along with the addition of Kentucky power Belfry to open up the season.

“There are no gimmes in the MSAC and then you add Belfry to the mix,” Seals said. “But it is what it is. We had nine games and were looking for a game – we’ll play anybody and we’re not going to duck anybody. We’re going to continue to play tough competition all of the time.”