State of the Program ... Tallassee (AL)
Tallassee (AL)
Head Coach: John Mask (entering 23rd season)
Staff: Dustin Cook, Jake Baker, Nic Taunton, Mark Griggs
Tallassee qualified 4 for the 5A-6A State Tournament a season ago and the Tigers now make the move to the newly split 5A class this season. Brendan Emfinger has graduated, but the Tigers return Christian McCrary and Land Bell (Bryant Hathcock was listed as a freshman but is not listed to return) … each of whom qualified a year ago as either a freshman or sophomore. Meaning this is a young squad with a ton of upside. Bell and McCrary each won matches in Huntsville and will look to climb onto the podium this season. The Tigers also return 6 others with post-season experience - so the expectations should be pretty high.
Rutland Phillips and Mason Nelson return down low for the Tigers with Land Bell, Ethan Jones and Christian McCrary handling the lineup from 138-152/160. The Tigers will need some new faces to step in from 120-132. Caden Griffith, Jude Rogers, and Micah Cole will look to take care of the top part of the lineup and keep an eye on freshman Nollin Addeo who could make some noise up top as well.
“We are excited about the upcoming season. We must raise our standards in every area and work to get better. I am looking forward to starting practice in November, our goal this year as a team is to qualify all 14 wrestlers for the state tournament.”
NOTE: All mentions of placers and qualifiers in the body are based on the 2021-22 season. If a wrestler placed higher or lower in a previous year it is not captured above.