If you listen closely you can hear the grunts and groans of high school players training for the upcoming season. The sounds of helmets hitting pads, and the thud of the football as it hits a wide receiver in the numbers. The only thing missing is the sound of the band in the stands, and the cheers of the countless fans rooting for their team. It seems even the weather is crying out for the football season to begin.

Not to worry. The 2014 DeKalb County High School Tigers Football season is fast approaching and the team is hard at work, preparing to continue with the excitement and wins that were seen last year. The team has taken to the practice field over the past weeks, and is now in pads readying for the gridiron field.

Tigers Head Coach Steve Trapp sat down with the Review last week to talk about the team and how they look for 2014. "There’s a lot of excitement this year over our 2014 team," Coach Trapp said. "We only had three seniors last year, and this year we’ve got a lot of guys back. People should be familiar with them from what they did last season. Even with the roster turning over like it has, and all these guys back, we’re still putting in a lot of work just to try to make this the best season that we can."

Last season the Tigers had a winning season, with a mostly young and inexperienced team. But this year Coach Trapp said the team has many four-year players. "Twelve or thirteen of our seniors this year are four-year guys. This will be my 10th season, and I don’t know if I’ve ever had a senior group with that many four-year guys in it. We had a big senior group a couple of years ago, but a lot of those guys didn’t play all four years."

"We’ve just got a lot of experience out there," Trapp continued. "Even the guys that are not seniors that will be out on the field, like our quarterback and some other guys, got a lot of playing time and experience last year. There should be a lot of excitement around our program this season."

One face that will not be seen on the field this year was the Tigers’ star running back, Divonte Milan, who moved over the summer. Coach Trapp said there are several on the team that will fill that vacancy. "Jonathon Munoz came in toward the end of the year. He played a lot of defense for us last year, and did a very good job. He played a little bit of wide receiver, and he has worked really hard in the off season, not just for football, but for the other sports he plays as well. He has had a great spring and a great summer, so he will be playing both sides of the ball for us."

"Luke Boss is going to be our running back," Trapp said. "He missed one year due to an injury a couple of years ago, so he’s really not been turned lose yet. I’m really excited to have his potential to have a really good senior season."

"Up front, which is probably the strength of our team just because that’s where most of our experience is, on both sides of the ball with our offensive line and defensive line, we’ve got a lot of four-year seniors in that mode right there. The three guys that we lost, was a defensive lineman, a linebacker, and an offensive lineman. It’s not like a skilled position guy trying to replace that kind of position, but we feel really good about the guys we’ve got coming in and stepping up, playing some good roles for us."

As far as size, Coach Trapp says he is pleased with the lines. "I like what our team looks like. We look good in our pads. Our guys have worked extremely hard this winter, like we always do. As far as our weight lifting and conditioning this spring and this summer, our guys are going to be in shape and fit. This is high school, not the NFL. It’s not always about who has the biggest team. I’ll take a very disciplined team, that’s very quick and fast. If that tends to be a little bit smaller, then so be it, but I like what we look like as a football team."

Returning as the team’s kicker will be Matthew Poss, and Coach Trapp said he has worked hard for the upcoming season. "He kicked last year as a freshman. He’s back and has went to a lot of camps this year. His leg strength has improved quite a bit, but also look for him to play some different roles for us as well. He’s just an athletic kid, and he might be kicking the ball off as well as returning kicks. He actually had to play quarterback for us this spring, and we had him running the football quite a bit. He plays wide receiver back behind A.P. [Aaron Patterson] out there at X position, so expect him to do some for us on a lot of different areas on the football team."

One of the stars of last season, Tigers’ freshman QB Steven Jennings, will be returning this year hoping to lead the team to another winning record. Coach Trapp said that an experienced Jennings has been working hard and is looking better than ever. "He’s just a sophomore, and really didn’t play like a freshman last year, but he’s just very mature mentally for this game and just a great kid. He’s a great leader for this football team, and he’s also worked extremely hard and has been to some camps, working on his craft. He’s got a very live arm, and picked up some speed. He’s growing physically and maturing a little bit more. He’s definitely going to be a weapon for us."

"We’ve also got Aaron Patterson out there for us at wide receiver," Trapp continued. "He had a great year for us at wide receiver."

"Then, A.J. Mooneyham is coming back for us. He had a big year playing safety. We’re going to move him down, closer to the ball, at linebacker. He’s had a good summer."

"Then, we’ve got the Ball twins. Lance broke his ankle last year, and he’s still got some healing to do from that to get back to 100 percent. Lane is doing great. We’ve just got a lot of kids back, and we’re really excited and ready to get back out there on the field."

According to Coach Trapp, this year’s schedule will be a little different from last. Last season the team started with five home games, but this year the Tigers will start with two home games, then go on the road for six weeks. "We finish the season with three home games," Trapp said. "That’s not what I had in mind when the schedule came out. I only have control of half of that. The district schedule gets drawn out of a hat, and that’s how it happened."

"Our schedule will probably change a lot after this year. TSSAA has plans to realign all the districts, so our schedule will probably look quite a bit different after this season."

Coach Trapp said that a big part of the team is the fans and the support the Tigers get from the community. He said that the team is working hard to give DeKalb the season they want and deserve. "I really appreciate the community and all the excitement they’ve had. Everywhere I go people are asking about the football team. We’ve got expectations on these guys, and it’s good to know our community is behind them and has expectations as well. I just appreciate the community supporting us, the school system supporting us, the parents, and especially these guys that have been out here for about nine months, working really hard to bring some excitement to DeKalb County on Friday nights."

The Tigers’ first game will be at home, Aug. 22 against Warren County.