JOHNSTON — After a very successful season in 2008, the Strom Thurmond Rebels finally hit the gridiron again, for Spring Practice over the past two weeks.

Approximately 100 young men came out for the varsity and junior varsity squads.
There have been a few changes to the coaching staff with the departure of Doug Painter. Louis Scott will take over as Athletic Director and defensive assistant.
Chad Leaphart will take the reins as Offensive Coordinator.

The Rebels return 10 starters from the 12-1 team of last year. Rising sophomore Raleigh Yeldell will lead the offense this season as quarterback. Yeldell saw substantial playing time at the QB position last year and when he wasn’t taking snaps, he was playing wide receiver.

Over the past two weeks, he showed why he is ready to take over quarterbacking “fulltime” with his arm strength, accuracy and mobility.

Entering the 2009 season, one question mark was going to be the offensive line.
But, Kyle Christie, Vince Phillips, Jonathan Williams, and Trey Caines have looked very solid over the past couple of weeks. Coach Sawyer credits this showing to how hard these guys worked in the offseason; hitting the weight room hard and getting stronger.

Defensively, the Blue Steel boys look to continue their hard-hitting and stingy ways with Cassius Hillary, Dominique Scott, Octavious Brown, Deikory Williams, Martinez Gallman, Alex Clark, Marcelis Thompson and Tyler Glover.

If spring practice is any indication of fall performance, this defense could be hard to score on.
Gallman, DeMarkus Smith and Nick Williamson will be some of the offensive weapons Yeldell will utilize, along with baseball standout Dez Davis.

Davis has made his way from the diamond to the rectangle and should make a positive impact for the Rebels this fall. The running backs should be a strong point again this year, as the Rebs have a few speedsters lining up in the backfield.

Head Coach Lee Sawyer, now going into his sixth season as leader of the Rebels, says “this team has talent and potential but they have a ways to go. We will have to see how much they improve and mature over the summer and time will tell just how good they are.”

His overall assessment of spring ball was positive, but he says they still have a lot of work to do and must continue to improve.

Coach Sawyer is second all time in wins (52) and winning percentage (80%) at ST, behind Keith McAlister (91) wins and winning percentage (82%).