Outlook. The 2019 Tigers showed lots of improvement winning six games and began to bring back memories of the glory years way back in 2000, but 2020 was a very difficult transition as Breckinridge County struggled to only three wins and scored about half as many points as the year before. Coach Brent Hottell will bring back six starters on offense and seven on defense, so there could be reason to plenty of optimisim in 2021.
Tigers need to get better. Breckinridge County will look to improve on their offensive output (139-points in eight games) and to that end the return of quarterback Kiyren Watkins will help. As a junior, Watkins threw for 665-yards and seven touchdowns and he will have junior runningback Micheal Johnson, who rushed for 503-yards and five Touchdowns. Watkins was the team’s second leading rusher with 449-yards and five TDs. With Zion Breeze gone, senior James Spitzer will be the most dependable receiver (17-catches for 189-yards-1-TD). The OL will undergo several changes with Johnathan Walker and Cole Nash returning. The Tigers rushed for 1,296-yards which was 500 less than in the 10-game schedule in 2019. They will have to improve on that number and the passing game which put up 634-yards compared to 861 from the previous season could be better as well.
Defense should improve as well. The Tigers allowed 296-points in eight games (150 were in the two Owensboro games) last season compared to 225 in 2019 in 10-games. The defense must show some improvement as it gave up more yards on both the ground and through the air. The DL will return Jackson Austin (DT), Zech Martin (DT) and Jonathon Walker (DE) and has Michael Johnson as a second DE. The Linebackers will return Daniel Shain and Liam Clark and Michael Yakubovich could step in as the 3rd LB. The secondary will lose Breeze, but James Spritzer, Danny Jackson shifting to Strong Safety, Kiyren Watkins at Free Safety and senior Izaiah Perks at corner.
Kicking game. Sydney Tucker should return and should add on to her 11-17 PAT numbers.
Summation. Improvement has been a slow process at Breckinridge County however, but the past several seasons, Hottell has brought a program that had averaged about two or three wins to their highest win total since the glory years back at the beginning of 2000. Taking that next step has been slow, but there was some progress shown in 2019 and 2021 could be another stepping stone to surpassing that mark.
The Schedule could be a winner. The Tigers will begin the season on August 20th at Hancock County (6-2) and then a home game against McLean County (3-2), then two straight on the road against Butler County (2-5) and then Anderson County (0-9) before a home game against Owensboro (12-1) before ending September at Graves County (7-3). A home game against Muhlenburg County (2-5) before a road game at Ohio County (1-7) and then ending the season against Edmonson County (4-4). Breckinridge County will face four teams with winning records and with a little luck could show some major improvement with this schedule.
