[LeeCoUKFan]

Clay County (WYMT) -- Same face, new territory. The Clay County Tigers will have the same head coach as last season, which is some consistency they have not had in recent years.

"This is the first year in the last three that our team has gone into spring practice with a head coach for spring practice," second-year head coach Evan Napier said.

With 72 percent of the offense returning, Napier is excited about the experience he has to work with this season. Quarterback Ryan Holland and running back Sam Carr combined for 28 touchdowns in 2012.

"This will be is their third year starting,” Napier said. “They started as freshman as well and they've got a lot of games under their belts and our kids respect them, our kids respond well to them.”

“Having the quarterback back for the next two years is basically like having another coach during the game, which makes our job a lot easier as coaches."

There is a hard-nosed mentality focused on improving on the defensive side of the ball, and a combined 10 starters are back on both sides.

"Last year was a lot different than this year,” senior defensive back Phillip Sester said. “We had guys that didn't want to be there, didn't want to work hard. But everyone works hard, everyone wants to be here and I say we should have a pretty solid defense."

Clay County will open up its schedule against Perry Central – one of the four teams they beat a season ago. And with everyone coming together, the opener could be one of many wins in 2013.

"It's a lot better out there this year,”senior wide out Joseph Gray said. “Everybody is really coming together as a team and is playing as one team than worrying about themselves. We're coming together this year. We're really clicking."

http://www.wkyt.com/wymt/sports/sportsov...95951.html