What a difference a year makes? Last year at this time the William Byrd football team was hoping to improve off a 3-7 2022 season. They not only did, but they won the Blue Ridge District, finished 12-2 and made it to the Class 3 state championship semifinal game. That’s a turnaround of epic proportions.
This year, obviously, there isn’t as much room for improvement.
However, coach Brad Lutz hopes to feed off last year’s success to keep the ball rollin’ in 2024.
“Our program has worked extremely hard the last five years and, prior to last season, the only thing our program was missing was confidence,” said Lutz.
“The success our program earned last season gave our players a ton of confidence, and it pushed our program to work even harder. Our players also benefited from the extra month of practice, which will carry over to this season.”
The Terriers had a solid group of seniors who grew up in the program under Lutz, who is entering his sixth season as head coach and coming off a season in which he was named Region 3D Coach of the Year.
Byrd graduated three all-state seniors from last year’s team and seven all-region players, including
two Terriers who shared the Defensive Player of the Year Award, John Kiker and Doniven Davis, and Region 3D Offensive Player of the Year Israel Hairston.
Hairston, who is now at Virginia Tech, started for three years and saw some time his freshman year behind center as well. He’ll be hard to replace, but Lutz didn’t have to look far. His son Cannin, a junior, will be Byrd’s starting
quarterback.
Before you cry nepotism, trust that Cannin is the obvious choice and ready for the job. He was a standout in middle school and on the jayvee team and he has a strong arm and good size. If not for Hairston he would have been a solid varsity player last year.
Senior Jerrett Shepherd is the backup and freshman Ke’arion Burch has a bright future in the program.
“Coach (Ron) Hicks is really excited about the group of quarterbacks we have returning,” said coach Lutz.
In the backfield Byrd will start junior Jamez Toler at tailback with Shepherd and senior Jalen Toler also seeing time. Sophomore Thomas Purcell and freshman Gray Matthews are also in the mix.
“Coach (Andrew) Close did an outstanding job building depth at the running back position, which helped our offense tremendously,” said Lutz. “All of our running backs will get game reps, which will help those players be even more competitive.”
Cannin Lutz will have some talented targets to throw to with a mix of seniors Ethan Haston, Landon Martin and Kam McKee and junior Tate Kotz. Also in the rotation are seniors Shepherd and Braeden Young and juniors Justyn Rozenboom and Kevin Green.
Byrd has depth with senior Izayah Brown and juniors Andrew Reynolds and Ki Anthony Blake.
“Graduation took most of our receivers from last season, but Coach (Andrew) Mitchell used the off-season to develop our upcoming receivers,” said Lutz. “We’re very excited about this group.”
On the offensive line Byrd returns senior BJ Cheatwood at left tackle. He’ll be protecting Cannin’s “blind side” and he’s one of the best in the state. BJ was first team All-State and All-Region on the offensive line last year as well as the district Offensive Lineman of the Year.
Cyrus Adams, an All-BRD Honorable Mention lineman last year, returns at center. Senior Nick Bustamante was second team All-BRD last year and he’ll be the right tackle. Seniors Hayden Lish and Graylen Castleberry will be the starting guards, with Lish on the left and Castleberry on the right. All five starting linemen from last year return on the very important offensive line, and reserves include George Slusser, Greg Stiltner, Dominic Myers, Carson Bivens and Maurice Burnette.
“In 26 years of coaching offensive line, I have never returned an entire unit,” said Lutz. “Our offensive line includes two tackles that have started for four seasons. They are a very competitive group who works as hard as any group I have coached.”
Senior Aidan Kelly will start at tight end. Other tight ends and h-backs are Jonathan Rosser, who was all-district at “all-purpose” last year, Jahdai English, Blake Anderson and Purcell.
Avery Close coaches the tight ends. He was a standout tight end for Salem High who went on to play at the University of Richmond.
“Coach Close has developed a lot of depth at this position,” said Lutz. “When I arrived at Byrd we had one tight end in the school, and now we have four really dependable players at that position. The depth we have at tight end has allowed us to add to our offense, which has paid off.”
On defense Lutz is hoping to repeat last year’s success, when the Terriers had three shutouts in the regular season and allowed an average of 9.2 points per game.
They have three All-Blue Ridge District defenders returning with English at linebacker, Shepherd at defensive back and Burnette on the defensive line.
Joining Maurice on the D-Line will be senior Greg Stiltner and junior Titus Beatty. Also in the rotation are Carson Bivens, Dominic Myers George Slusser and Bustamante. Will Satterfield coaches the defensive line.
“Coach Satterfield has built a strong returning defensive line,” said Lutz. “We graduated first team all-state Donnie Davis, but we are excited about the group that we have returning.”
Returning All-BRD English leads the linebacker with Anderson, Rosser and Rozenboom also slated to start and Purcell will see time. Brad’s brother, Adam, coaches the linebackers.
“We graduated first team all-state John Kiker, but Coach Lutz has two returning starters back and is also very excited about sophomore Thomas Purcell,” said Brad.
Shepherd returns in the secondary along with senior Haston, giving Byrd speed and experience. Young and Kotz will also start and backups are Reynolds, Jamez Toler, McKee and Martin. Former Byrd standout Reece Watson coaches the corners and Andrew Close has the safeties.
“Coach Watson and Coach Close have three returning starters back in the secondary,” said Lutz. “All three returning starters have college offers, including Ethan Haston, who has scholarship offers from VMI and UVA-Wise.”
Byrd graduated all-region placekicker Bricen Lancaster, who is now playing at Catawba College, but the Terriers have a capable replacement in sophomore Connor Whitehead. Versatile Shepherd will handle the punting
chores, and he gives Byrd an added weapon as he’s a threat to take off if he sees open space.
Lutz has expanded the coaching staff in his six years and has brought in some quality minds. Brad is the offensive co-ordinator and offensive line coach and the following are also on the staff: Andrew Mitchell-JV HC – JV
OC/Receivers and Slots; Adam Lutz-Varsity DC/Inside Linebackers; Will Satterfield-Special Teams Co-Coordinator/Defensive Line; Andrew Close-Special Teams Co-Coordinator/Running Backs and Safeties; Josh Camden-JV DC/JV Offensive Line and JV Outside Linebackers; Avery Close-Strength Coordinator/Tight Ends and Outside Linebackers; Ron Hicks-Quarterbacks; Reece Watson-Corners; Charlie Lutz-Operations; Kim Colls-JV Receivers/JV Defensive Backs/JV Special Teams.
Byrd also has two new members of the staff, Dajon Cardwell-JV Defensive Line and Sam Cosnotti-JV Offensive Line.
The Terriers have looked good in two preseason scrimmages. They went against Glenvar and Pulaski at Glenvar two weeks ago and last Friday they traveled to Radford to take on the Class 2 defending state champion Bobcats in a benefit game.
“Our coaches were very pleased with the benefit game against a quality opponent like Radford,” said Lutz. “After the Glenvar-Pulaski scrimmage our varsity and jayvee team had a lot to work on. We had a great week of practice and our players made huge strides on both sides of the ball. We benefitted by being challenged by a really good passing team, and facing an odd front defense that used a lot of blitz pressure against us.”
The Terriers will open tonight in Bedford against Liberty. Byrd beat the Minutemen in last year’s opening game, 72-0, and Liberty went on to a winless season. However, Lutz is taking nothing for granted as his team showed how things can turn around in one season.
“Coach (Daryl) Robertson and his staff are working extremely hard to grow a program at Liberty,” said Lutz. “They play in one of the toughest districts in the state, so they are battle-tested each season. From what we have seen on film, they are much improved since last year, and we will have to improve this week to prepare for them. It’s our third week on the road, so that will add to the toughness of this week’s game.”
Byrd plays the same teams as last year. This season the William Fleming game has been moved from the end of the season to the sixth game and the other four district games are pushed back a week, with the regular season ending at home against Northside.
Byrd’s first home game isn’t until week three when Christiansburg comes here. It’s a challenging schedule but Byrd looks to be one of the contenders in the Blue Ridge again with playoff aspirations.
“In football, every team in our district is a playoff contender,” said Lutz. “Two of the six district teams played in their regional championship game. It’s a tough district that forces you to play really well to find success.”
