BERKELEY PREP BUCCANEERS
Last season: The Bucs won twelve straight, clinched the district championship and were a game away from the Class 3A state championship, but fell on the road in the state semifinals to eventual state champion American Heritage.
Key losses: ATH Nelson Agholor, DE/TE Reggie Barnes, QB Destin Nichols, WR/DB Christian Hardegree, DB/WR Vic Pellegrino, FB/LB Schyler Miles, LB/DL Basil Jackson, TE/DE Tyler Davis, OL/DL Kenny Barrett, K/P Justin Vogel
Key returners: RB/DB Chris Williams, QB Brad Mayes, FB/LB George Pennington, OL/DL David Wright, OL/DL Rob Payne
Spring Game: vs. Admiral Farragut, May 18
Spring outlook: Contrary to popular belief, Berkeley Prep will field a football team this season. But there is a bit of rebuilding going on.
Berkeley coach Dominick Ciao often talked about how special his senior class was last season and having to replace those players is going to be very difficult. Seniors led in all but one of the major statistical categories.
The biggest loss is Agholor, who signed with USC and was a true athlete in every sense of the word for Berkeley. Agholor (2,376 all-purpose yards) accounted for more than half of the Bucs offensive output last season.
Rising senior Wright was the lone underclassman to lead a stat category last season. He led the team with 8.5 sacks. Williams showed a lot of promise last year rushing for 402 yards and four touchdowns, second to Agholor. And Mayes will replace Nichols as the starting quarterback, but he has been splitting time with the Bucs baseball team this spring.
Sound bite: “We had 14 great seniors who led us and did a tremendous job on and off the field. They put the standards in a different place for us. They did a tremendous job and we’ll miss them. They did something special here. They left their mark here and our young people know that. They know that their chinstraps better be buckled and ready to go. People are looking at us differently.’’ Coach Dominick Ciao