FAIRLEA, W.Va. — Greenbrier East narrowly missed out on a postseason berth in 2020, finishing with a 5-4 record. Losses in three of their final four games left the Spartans on the outside of the Top 16 for the first time since 2017. Despite the late season struggles, head coach Ray Lee says his players handled a unique season as well as could be expected.
“Basically they came out with good attitudes,” Lee said. “They didn’t whine or anything about it. As long as we got to play, that was their big thing. Then when we got out and played, they gave that hundred percent that you ask for from them.”
“We played two games with only one day of practice,” said Greenbrier East senior lineman Jacob Wickline. “It is really tough to have Zoom meeting practices and then go out on Friday and try to perform at the next level. But all in all, we went out and had a pretty good year despite all that.”
The Spartan offense averaged 41 1/2 points per game last fall and that unit is led by junior quarterback Monquelle Davis. He is a returning starter and earned valuable reps two seasons ago as a freshman.
“Quelle is like a young Lamar (Jackson),” said Greenbrier East senior offensive lineman/linebacker Kamon Anderson. “That’s all I have to say. I love Quelle. He has definitely grown into an awesome quarterback. I am really happy that we have him.”
“He played quarterback quite a bit as a freshman. He wasn’t a starter but we moved him around quite a bit from quarterback to receiver,” Lee said. “He got some good field experience as a freshman. Last year, it wasn’t anything new for him. I think that is going to be a big plus for him this year. We are looking for big things from him.”
Despite some graduation losses, the bulk of the offensive and defensive lines return.
“Our offensive and defensive lines are going to dominate all year,” said Greenbrier East senior lineman JT Spencer. “It is experience, chemistry. We have been playing together for seven years. We are one of the best.”
“There’s a lot of experience coming back with Wickline, JT Spencer and Landon Hayes,” Lee said. “We lost two seniors last year but those three guys have been playing in our program since their freshman year. So we are looking for big things from them to be leaders across the front.”
While a return to the postseason is a clear goal for the Spartans, the process of improvement throughout training camp is the primary focus for Lee and his staff in August.
“We have been stressing each day with our guys to come out and get better every day. And then, pretty much the same thing, get better each week that you end up playing a game,” Lee said.