By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

With a new-look coaching staff leading the way, the LaGrange Grangers will share the field with the Hardaway today in their spring game.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Callaway Stadium.

Chuck Gibbs is back for his second season as LaGrange’s head coach, and he’ll be joined by a handful of new coach.

“We’ve got six coaches with college experience coming on,” Gibbs said. “So it’s a different dynamic.”

Since Gibbs took over as head coach, a key focus has been on improving the program’s strength and conditioning program, and he believes major strides have been made in that area.

“Our rising juniors and seniors are up 65 percent in strength in a year,” Gibbs said. “Dexter (Fitzpatrick) was the only kid we had in the 1,000-pound club last season, and now we’re at 15.”

The Grangers went 2-8 in 2018, but they were competitive in nearly every game, and they closed the season with a come-from-behind 16-14 win over the Shaw Raiders.

That came on the heels of a 2017 season where the Grangers didn’t win a game.

While there are some key players to replace from last year’s team, Gibbs has a good idea of what the lineup will look like when the season begins in August.

“We’ve had a really good spring,” Gibbs said. “We’ve got a couple of positions that are question marks, but everything else is set.”

After the spring game, the Grangers will prepare for their summer program that will include daily workouts as well as camps and seven-on-seven competitions.

Then on Aug. 23, the season begins with a game against Heard County, which won the Class AA state championship last year.

“I’m excited for this fall,” Gibbs said.