Cougars look to maintain last season's success.
For Clayton Varnum, this season will be all about maintaining the progress Durant’s football team made last year.
Last fall, the Cougars went 8-4, won the district championship for the third year in a row and lost to the team that would eventually win the state title.
Then, 25 of the team’s athletes graduated, leaving this year’s roster sparse.
“I don’t want to see a drop off,” he said. “When you lose a lot of seniors, you lose a lot of production, you lose a lot of leadership.”
So that’s been the focus in the off season – maintaining the success from the 2024 season rather than using this season as a rebuilding year.
The returners, Varnum said, didn’t get as much time on the field in previous seasons, so this year could be many of his athletes’ first time playing varsity games.
And that means they’ve got big shoes to fill.
“There’s an expectation of winning,” Varnum said. “There’s an expectation of, we don’t have down years.”
Last season, the Cougars went 8-4 and won all three of their district games.
His expectations for his team go beyond the field – his athletes need to maintain good grades and step up as leaders.
“Sitting in that expectation is not easy.”
He said it can be easier to meet those expectations when following in the footsteps of upperclassmen. Now, they have to be the leaders.
But Varnum wouldn’t put these expectations on his athletes if he didn’t know they could meet them.
“You can see how much they can handle,” Varnum said. “If they can handle it, you give them more.
Heading into his fifth season as Durant’s head coach, Varnum said it’s all about finding that line, prioritizing communication, and training the leaders.
One of those leaders Varnum is expecting to stand out this year is senior Landon Collins.
“He’s bringing the most production to the table,” Varnum said.
Senior running back Michael Gibson is already receiving praise from his coaches, Varnum said weeks before the season started.
Aside from showing strong defensive skills as well, he’s proving to be a reliable leader in the effort he puts in.
Senior Colin McClellan is who Varnum calls a “legacy player,” following in the footsteps of his older brother Cade, who graduated from Durant in 2021 and played for Western Carolina.
“It’s nice when you have older guys on the offensive line who can anchor,” Varnum said. “People know you win games in the trenches.”
And Varnum added he’s excited to see everyone on his team play, looking to the vocal leaders in practice to guide the team on Friday nights.
“We’ve got guys all over who are going to do a good job,” he said.
His coaching staff has also seen some changes since last season, with a handful of coaches retiring and junior varsity staff taking on the promotion.
“The language is the same, the terminology is the same, which is huge,” Varnum said.
He is hoping the consistency in training will translate to consistency on the field.
That discipline, Varnum said, has really been shown in the weight room throughout the spring and summer.
He said his guys aren’t allowed to miss practices for “frivolous reasons” – they show up.
Part of the discipline is in the relationships being built on and off the field.
The players form their own workout groups that stick together throughout training season, rather than being assigned a group based on their position.
“When you’ve got across-the-aisle relationships going on, it just kind of webs the team nicely,” he said.
Varnum said he has never seen a team as willing to hang out with each other as this year’s group is.
He sees this especially after a tough practice where the players “go after each other on the field,” but when they come back to the locker room, he said it’s like it never happened.
“You don’t always get that, but I think with this crew, we’ve been very fortunate to have those relationships forged,” he said.
He also said these relationships lend to balance within the players’ lives, encouraging them to find hobbies and other skills to excel in because their football career can end quickly with one injury.
While Varnum is using football to teach relevant life lessons, he is also being taught by other coaches, keeping him accountable and holding him to the values he teaches.
The 2011 Durant graduate and former player said he doesn’t have specifics he wants to improve on from last year – he just wants to replicate the same success.
While he’s focusing on one game at a time, Varnum said the matchups against rivals Plant City and Newsome are always a challenge.
“I don’t care who’s better. I don’t care what the record looks like. It’s never going to be easy,” he said.
He added that his schedule is brutal and every district game will be a must-win if the Cougars want to secure their fourth consecutive district title.
And even though his team looks different, his approach and expectations are the same.
“We want to be disciplined,” he said. “We definitely want to see that on the field. We want to see maximum effort from our guys, and we want to see them be purpose-driven.”
Varnum added that those fundamental goals lead to wins, regardless of how it looks on the field.
First Last Position WT Year
1 Kairee Barnum DB 6′ 1″ 165 JR
2 Ryan Porter WR/DB 6′ 2″ 160 SR
3 Mason Newton TE 6′ 0″ 170 SO
4 Ben Hodnett RB 5′ 10″ 145 JR
5 Remus Randall DB 5′ 11″ 160 SR
6 Sam Themar QB 6′ 0″ 183 JR
8 King Rivera WR 5′ 11″ 160 SO
9 Maurice Kenne RB 5′ 10″ 168 SO
10 Michael Gibson RB 5′ 6″ 173 SR
11 Jontrel Washington OL 6′ 3″ 220 JR
12 Landon Snapp TE 6′ 1″ 185 SR
15 Braylon Lott QB 6′ 3″ 182 FR
20 Derrye Randall DB 6′ 1″ 155 JR
21 Tyson Ramsey WR 5′ 11″ 160 SR
22 Darius Vaughn LB 5′ 7″ 157 SR
23 Ian Mercer LS 6′ 0″ 180 SR
24 Caleb Waters DL 6′ 0″ 215 SR
25 Machi Mack LB 5′ 10″ 195 JR
26 Noah Patell WR 5′ 8″ 155 SO
27 Jayden Jefferson DB 5′ 11″ 164 SR
28 Adrian Quinones RB 5′ 7″ 187 JR
33 Paul Dilley DL 6′ 1″ 210 SR
35 Colby Holcomb DB 5′ 11″ 145 SO
36 Quoddre Davenport DB 5′ 11″ 150 SO
40 Cayden Baker LB 5′ 8″ 160 SO
42 Jeremy Cannon LB 5′ 11″ 175 SR
44 Jeremiah Stanley LB 5′ 10″ 182 LB
48 Om Patel DL 5′ 10″ 185 JR
49 Cody Rice DL 5′ 11″ 170 JR
50 Seth Bobos OL 6′ 0″ 255 JR
51 Colin Keen OL 6′ 0″ 215 JR
52 Gabriel Gibson LB 5′ 8″ 195 SO
53 Sean Arias OL 5′ 10″ 245 JR
56 Colton Knitz DL 5′ 10″ 205 SR
57 Jeh’Cire Hargrett DL 6′ 1′ 200 SR 59 Colin McClellan OL 6′ 3″ 252 SR
62 Cole Keen OL 5′ 11″ 213 SO
63 Gavin Pinner OL 6′ 0″ 240 SR
66 Aiden Caldas OL 6′ 0″ 250 SR
68 Kaemon Nemeth OL 5′ 11″ 218 SO
71 Rick Zarzoza DL 6′ 0″ 285 JR
72 Landon Collins OL 6′ 3″ 305 SR
74 Josh Rabel OL 6′ 4″ 287 SO
78 Tyler Arias OL 5′ 10″ 304 FR
80 Roddre Davenport WR 6′ 0″ 156 SO
88 Mekhi Miller WR 5′ 8″ 130 SO
89 Daniel Rios WR 6′ 1″ 157 SR
90 Omar Zreik LB
92 Raul Lopez DL 6′ 0″ 175 JR
99 Justin Davis DL 6′ 2″ 280 SO
Head Coach: Claybo Varnum
QB: Luke Hardiman
OL 6′ 3″ 252 SR OL: Alex Wood
OL: Jon Finley
OL: Greg Presseau
RB: Rene Torres
WR: Kyle Belack
OC: Jackson Barwick
DC/LB: Randy Baker
LB: Greg Barwick
DB: Brodie Gonzalez
DL: Brian Brothers
DL: Scott Varnum
