Leopards Start Football Practice Season With Experience and High Expectations
The Fayette County Record
Led by some of the most high-profile college recruits since J.K. Dobbins was in a La Grange uniform, the Leps officially began football practice forthe 2022 season Monday.With seniors like Texas A&M cornerback commit Bravion Rogers and Baylor lineman commit Jaren Woods leading the way, the Leps have some top shelf talent and the state hastaken notice.La Grange is ranked No. 24 in the state in the preseason rankings by Dave Campbell’sTexas Football.“I’m excited, I can’t believe the first day is here – football season in La Grange, Texas, what else could you ask for?” said La Grange head coach Matt Kates during a break in Mondayafternoon’s workout.Kates is entering his school record 13th season leading the Leps. They went 7-5 last season. “It’s been a good day, we’ve got 90-plus kids out here (across all high school levels). We might get to 100. It’s a good problem to have a helmet shortage,” Kates said. “We’re going to go into every game thinking we have a chance. These kids believe that, and considering the schedule we have, that’s a heck of a feat. We can’t worry about results, but stacking good days over and over. If you have enough talent and do the right things, the winning takes care of itself.”
The Leps will have a large senior class to rely on – 20 kidsstrong.“That’s a good number in 4A Division 2,” Kates said. “We’ve got some skill kids that are special but we’ve got some great hogs (linemen) that are seniors too, and it’s going to be a seniorladed lineup on both sides of the ball. They know they have to play a lot of football this year, all this conditioning is important, but this year so vitally important, because we’re going to have so many kids going bothways.”
Here are the returning alldistrict players from last year forthe Leps:* Grade level is what these students were last season, whenthey won these awards
Return Specialist- #9 JakobeWilkerson Jr.WR- #1 Bravion Rogers Jr.
DT- #67 Cooper Imhoff Jr.
DE- #71 Anthony Weikel Jr.
OLB- #9 Jakobe Wilkerson Jr. ILB- #11 Andrew Faske Jr.
Corner- #1 Bravion Rogers Jr. WR- #7 Jaxon Cooper Jr.
DE- #58 Jaren Woods Jr.
Corner- #26 Thai Scott So.
Honorable Mention: Guard - Hayden Splawn, Jr.
Safety - Phillip Arceneaux, Jr.
CB - C.J. Davis, Jr.
The Leps will hold an instraquad football practice Saturday morning at 9 a.m. at Leopard Stadium that’s open to the public.
Then next Friday the Leps will play their first scrimmage at El Campo before hostingYoakum in a scrimmage ThursdayAug. 18.