#HSFT20 Stop #4 — Smithville Seminoles

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SMITHVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) — “We always come prepared, come to fight, we’re always in games, every game in and out.” senior WR/OLB Blake Williams said.

That’s the expectation for the Smithville Seminoles each season.

The 2020 season is no different, except that the Seminoles have a new but familiar head coach: Chad Collums.

“It’s home,” Collums said. “It’s where I want to be. It’s what I loved to do and where I want to be doing it.”

Collums served at the helm of Seminoles football from 2014 to 2016 before leaving to take over the football team at Raleigh High School.

After former head coach Michael Campbell left to become the offensive coordinator at Itawamba AHS, Collums said the Smithville job was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

“Coach Campbell’s done a lot in the last three years. What he was able to do, stepping in and building off of what he did. It’s a good situation to be in,” Collums said.

“We’ve known him a lot. So it’s easy to bring him in,” Williams said.

“There’s better energy,” senior DT Dayton Hitt said. “It seems like we’re a different team this year. More ready and more prepared.”

Preparedness is vital when going up against a stacked 1A division. Although Collums spent the last few seasons in 3A, he knows teams like the defending state champions Nanih Waiya bring the same type of competition level.

“Stepping into a situation where I’m in a 1A school but I’m in a region that’s a juggernaut also. There are great teams in this region.”

“It’s a lot of competition for sure with very good teams but I think we’re ready,” Hitt said.

Smithville is approaching the 2020 season with a defensive first mindset. The hope is that approach will set them apart from the other teams in the division.

“I’m expecting a tough year. Every week you have to go in with that mentality and know it’s going to be a dogfight out there,” Collums said.

“We’re just going to line up and hit you. A lot of teams don’t do that anymore. A lot of them get ready. We’re going to overpower them,” Hitt said.

Smithville has its sights set on match-up number one of the season, at home against Belmont, on August 21st.