CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Carroll Tigers are moving up to UIL 5A-DI District 15, but they'll face a familiar foe in Veterans Memorial, plus Flour Bluff and a few Valley teams. One thing the Tigers do bring back is their experience and leadership on both sides of the ball. Plus, they have over 40 seniors.
"So we're making sure that nobody's slacking, making sure everybody is doing the right thing, no helmets off and making the standard higher," said Carroll senior safety Dashaun Porter.
Carroll's defense is going to be hard hitting and physical this season.
"I'm real excited about the secondary. We got a lot of people returning," said Carroll senior linebacker Aiden Ben-David. "We've got a lot of new people that should be strapping everything up. They've been strapping everything at practice too. The D-line we should be good. They're recharged and reloaded."
The Tigers work one-on-ones with the starters throughout the season, which helps Carroll's strong receiver corps. Their top three guys include Steven McChester, Braylen Swanson and Ignacio Arellano. They're all guys that help make senior safety Dashaun Porter a better defender.
"It's like iron sharpens iron," Porter said. "It's real competitive and we like to get on each other and stuff."
They're not the only skill guys that can cause havoc. Last fall near the end of the season, junior running back Sebastian Robles started heating up.
"We expect a big season from him. He's got it all. He's got the vision. He's a tireless worker. Great work ethic," said Carroll football head coach Cal Neatherlin. "He's got the speed and the power, so he's everything that you want."
Last fall Carroll fell in the first round of playoffs with a (6-5) final record. Their goal is to start of strong and make a deeper playoff run.
"I think we got a good set of kids," Neatherlin said. "Some people are going to be shocked by how we play this year."
Carroll kicks off the season on Thursday, Aug. 27 at 7:05 p.m. against Gregory-Portland at Buccaneer Stadium. It's our Game Night South Texas live TV matchup on KRIS 6.
