Swansea head coach Brent Wilder is going into his first year as the program's head coach following his tenure as an assistant at Saluda.
As practice has commenced at the school, it's become clear that 2020 wide receiver Mikey Jones, one of PalmettoPreps.com's top 25 wide receiver prospects, has taken on a role as a leader.
"Mikey’s going to be our best player," said Wilder. "I’ve been real impressed with him. He gets after it every day. We’re going to have to move him around the get him the ball. He can run, catch, he can be a jet sweep guy, he can go up and get it. I knew who he was going in, but I didn’t know just how good. Then, as a kid, he’s pretty special."
The team has a few other players with potential to play on the college level somewhere, pending strong senior seasons.
One is defensive lineman Kenya Macon. Ditto for 6-foot-1, 230-pound running back Jaquay Mills. Offensive lineman Jaden Johnson could also see some opportunities come his way.
Stepping in at quarterback this season will be Pelion transfer Pryce Whitten.
Wilder likes what he has seen from Swansea's front four on defense thus far. He and his staff will let players, for the most part, focus on one side of the ball or the other as opposed to having them play both ways.
"I think defensively our front has a chance to be pretty good," he said. "We have some returning players there. We have two guys that didn’t pay in the past that will be out. Our entire defensive line can be pretty strong. Defensively, we’re going to be pretty sound all the way around."
Wilder, an offensive line coach by trade, pointed to the front five as a unit that needs to get better heading into the season.
"We’ve got to get a lot better than what we were last year. Not very consistent there and that's my job," he said. "I’ve got to get them right. We've had a great summer as far as buy-in. We have to get a lot stronger. Hopefully, we can protect long enough to throw it around long enough offensively."
