25 teams in 25 days: St. Stanislaus Rock-A-Chaws

Our fifth stop on this seasons 25 teams in 25 days takes us to a high school introducing a new head coach. We head to Hancock county and visit with the St. Stanislaus Rock-A-Chaws.

The Rock-A-Chaws are no strangers to winning, coming of back-to-back nine win seasons, but this year’s team is different and has a new leader – and many new faces on both sides of the ball who are looking to repeat past success. New head coach Tate Thigpen says preseason workouts are important as a young players gain key experience.

“A lot of it is team building,” Thigpen said. “We graduated a lot of starters, a lot of guys who contributed heavily to our program, so trying to get these young guys sped up a little bit. Getting them to where they can contribute and make all that come together.”

Leadership is always an important quality for a successful team to have, but when you are a young team like the Rock-A-Chaws will be this coming season it is all the more important. Seniors Henry Nunmaker and five-star senior kicker Evan Noel understand their roles as seniors will be amplified during their final high school season.

“It’s very important, you know, there’s not a lot of us out here at all,” Nunmaker said. “Most of the other seniors who are out here didn’t even play last year. I think there is only two or three of us who have played all four years. So, yeah, it is very important.”

“We’ve got to make sure they are working every day,” Noel said. “They just need to understand the plays and stuff. Out here we just tell them what to do, tell them how to do it, just to make them better and ready for the season.”

Noel, who is an Arkansas Razorback commit, says that even though they are a young team, they have a group of guys whose chemistry runs deep and knows what they want.

“I’ve been growing up with all of these guys, so its fun going through my entire high school career with them,” Noel said. “This is our last one, so hopefully it is going to be good.”

Coach Thigpen says that summer workouts are nice, they are important, but there is nothing quite like playing under the Friday night lights as the regular season begins in late August.

“Well, I mean, that’s everything, when you get the pads on that is when you find out what kind of team you have,” Thigpen said. “7 on 7 is great for learning the little things but until you put the pads on you don’t really know for sure. So that is a big step for us, I am really looking forward to it, and I know that the kids are too.”

Coach Thigpen and his players will get the opportunity soon enough as the St. Stanislaus Rock-A-Chaws will open their 2024 season on the road against Forrest County Agricultural on Friday, August 20th at 7:00.