By By Matthew Nascone
Escambia County High School head football coach Kyle Davis and principal Carl Raley made a special appearance Tuesday afternoon at the Atmore Rotary Club meeting. Davis and Raley were guests of Rotary Club member Randy Nichols.
Davis informed the club members about what they should expect from this year's Blue Devils.
Davis said it should be a good year, and he is excited for what is to come in 2007-08.
"Since I have been the head coach here the program has gone up every year and this year is no different," Davis said. "We have a bunch of new coaches who are going to help us out this year."
Davis emphasized his point of the progress at ECHS by pointing out all the athletes who signed athletic scholarships last year.
"We had six kids sign college scholarships and coach (William) Casaday did a good job helping those kids," Davis said. "Colleges don't just give out athletic scholarships, you have to earn it with your play on the field and work in the classroom. And our kids care about academics."
According to Raley, Davis cares about academics as well.
"We had 13 boys graduate because of what coach Davis did with them," Raley said. "He worked with the teachers to get them eligible to play football and by doing so making them eligible to graduate."
Davis said the reason for his genuine care for the players is simple.
"I have my little girl at home, but I have 47 other kids who are over at my house studying or playing in my pool all the time," Davis said.
Davis said he will have a full staff this year to make sure the Blue Devils are doing the right thing on the field and instill that desire to do the right thing off the field as well. It is the first time in Davis's three years with the program that he will have a full football staff.
Raley made a point to say he would love to bring back the tradition that has made ECHS great through the years.
"We are going to bring back the 'A' to Escambia County High School," Raley said. "I don't know how we lost that, but we will now be known as Atmore's Escambia County High School. We want to bring back the pride to our school. You will see that 'A' showing up a lot this year."