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Summer Grind: Gibbs Eagles

Gibbs is coming off its best season since 2010. Last year, the Eagles won the Region 2-5A championship, going 7-3 in the regular season and winning a playoff game for the first time in five years.

But that was last year.

"Every team stands on its own," said Gibbs head coach Brad Conley, entering his tenth season running the program at his alma mater.

"One of the things I've said to this year's group is, 'what do you want your legacy to be? That in your junior year you won the region? Because everyone's going to come back and ask you then, 'well what'd you do in your senior year?''

"It comes down to, who are you as a person and what are you going to settle for?"

Those seniors include all five starting offensive lineman, led by Tennessee commit Ollie Lane, a 4.0 student.

"You don't have to tell him twice how to do something. It was fun last year to watch the light bulb come on for him and him to play with that passion and energy," Conley said. "I think that's what, other than the fact that he's six-foot and 290, that's what people began to see, that he played so hard."

"He has got to take that to another level. When people know that you are going to be that kid going to an SEC school, you're going to get their best every Friday night and what you did last year, is not going to be good enough."

Gibbs opens the season at home Friday on its new turf field against Austin-East. The Eagles are a part of the reworked Region 2-5A which now includes Carter, Central, Sevier County and Seymour in addition to last year's members, Halls and South-Doyle. The top four teams in the region standings will make the playoffs.

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