New coach but same expectations for Russellville football team in 2024

The 2024 high school football campaign should prove to be an interesting one for the Russellville Golden Tigers. That’s due in large part to the vast changes the team has undergone since last season.

To start, the Golden Tigers have a new head coach to lead the program this year. Dustin Goodwin, entering his eighth season as a head coach, compiled a 36-39 record over seven seasons at Plainview High School and Chelsea High School before heading to Class 7A powerhouse Thompson High School as an assistant for two years. After former Russellville head coach John Ritter, who led the Golden Tigers to four region titles in his six seasons at the helm, departed for Decatur in January, it was Goodwin that Russellville tapped to replace him.

But Goodwin is no stranger to Russellville. From 2008 to 2010, Dustin Goodwin served as an assistant under his father, Alabama High School Sports Hall of Famer Doug Goodwin, who led the Golden Tigers to two state championship appearances during his four-year tenure. It was during that first stint nearly 15 years ago that Goodwin came to realize what a “special place” Russellville is.

“I was fortunate enough to come out of UNA and get hired on dad’s staff at Russellville,” Goodwin told assembled media at the Football in the South Scoreboard Show Media Day in July. “We had an exceptional staff and some really good players and the support was great. So, I’ve known for a long time, since that experience, that Russellville is a special place.

“Being back, coming back, 14, 15 years later is a neat experience,” he added.

Goodwin’s arrival at the end of February has also, naturally, brought a change of atmosphere and philosophy to the program. The difference has been noticed by the players.

“A lot of things are different from last year from our offensive standpoint and defense,” senior wide receiver and defensive back Jah Williams said. “We run different stuff and the stuff we run this year is better than what we ran last year.”

“The way we run things, everything’s going fast-paced,” senior offensive lineman Neyland Baker added. “I think we’re in a better situation with leadership roles and coaches leading us in the right direction.”

Perhaps the biggest change for the Golden Tigers this season—maybe even bigger than the change in leadership—will be the players on the field.

“We’ve got a ton of new faces,” Goodwin said. “We lost around 24, 27 seniors; returning three on offense and four on defense, so a lot of fresh faces everywhere.”

One big loss for the Golden Tigers was at the most important position on the field—quarterback. Harrison Burch, a two-time all-region and all-area player and a Class 5A All-State Honorable Mention quarterback last season, graduated and took his talents to Kentucky Wesleyan. Burch was the second-leading rusher and threw for 1,766 yards and 15 touchdowns in his senior campaign. That’s production the Golden Tigers would love to match or surpass, but the competition to fill that void behind center is tight heading into the season opener.

“There’s competition for everything that we do and the quarterback position is no different,” Goodwin said. “We have last year’s returning backup, sophomore Tripp Cleveland, and freshman Whit Goodwin who have been splitting reps throughout summer and fall camp. Both have done some really nice things and both will find their way on the field.”

According to one source inside the program, Goodwin has been tight-lipped even with his staff about which of the two will start the opening offensive drive against Deshler on August 23rd, but it was clear the competition will be decided on the field.

Other open positions on the field, Goodwin said, will be filled by players with different levels of experience.

“It’ll be a mix (of experience), to be honest. We have 18 or 19 in this year’s senior class and a lot of those guys have worked their way into the rotation. However, some of them are really inexperienced, so we’ll just have to see how that goes,” Goodwin said. “It’s hard to say we’ll have ‘this many’ seniors starting just because everyone is still a little unknown.”

Trial by fire may be the fate of most who hit the field Friday night, but there are a handful of returners that the Golden Tigers can look to for experience and leadership.

On the defensive side of the ball, Russellville has four returning starters: senior defensive backs Zay Hubbard and Jah Williams, junior defensive back Ben Pounders, and senior linebacker Paxton Wray.

“Being that those guys have experience playing on Friday nights, I would expect them to be the guys others can look to for energy and production,” Goodwin said.

One other returner to the defensive side, this one on the coaching staff, is assistant coach Paul Czervionke. Last year under Ritter, Czervionke was a defensive backs coach; this year under Goodwin he was elevated to defensive coordinator. Goodwin and Czervionke coached together on the same staff during Goodwin’s first stint at Russellville. Goodwin said it was his relationship with Czervionke and Czervionke’s energy that led him to make the decision to promote him.

“Being able to work with him before I know how he prepares,” Goodwin said. “Ultimately we want to be defensively sound, make people earn what they get, and have a fighting mentality where we hit the field with excitement and get the ball back to the offense as fast as possible. I think he’ll help us do that.”

On the offensive side of the ball, two of Russellville’s returning starters are big boys up front.

“Our two returning starting offensive linemen, both tackles, are Eddie Velasquez and Neyland Baker. Both of those guys have been in the fire, so to speak, and we expect them to perform at a high level up front,” Goodwin said. “With the other three (linemen) up front, they’re going to be a big part of how well we’re able to move the ball this season.”

Velasquez, standing at 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds, alongside the 6-foot-3, 290 pound North Alabama commit Baker will, working with the other linemen, attempt to open up running lanes for Russellville’s other returning offensive starter Cameron Phinizee, one of the best running backs in the state of Alabama. Last season as a sophomore, Phinizee rushed for nearly 2,400 yards, averaged 8.9 yards per carry, and scored a whopping 40 touchdowns on his way to Class 5A First Team All-State honors. This year the dynamic 6-foot, 190 pound back is on many preseason short lists for the Alabama Mr. Football award. No doubt Phinizee will once again play a major role in the success of the Golden Tiger offense.

“He’ll be a big part of our offense and rightly so—he’s earned that right,” Goodwin said. “If we have the ability to run the football like we want to then he’ll be a huge part of our offense. It would be crazy for him not to be.”

But the Golden Tigers can’t rely on Phinizee to make every play. Goodwin said others will have to step up if the offensive is going to move the ball down the field effectively this season.

“We can’t hand the ball to him 50 times a game the entire season. He’s going to have to have some help,” Goodwin said. “That’s what this spring and summer and fall camps were about, figuring out the best ways to take some of the burden off of him so he can still be highly productive without having to carry the load 50 times a game.

“We feel good about some of the guys we’ve been rotating on the field, but it’s still early and there’s still a lot to learn, so there will be plenty of opportunity for guys to get on the field,” he added.

In Goodwin’s offense the Golden Tigers will look to spread the ball around the field, utilizing the strengths of his players and exploiting the weaknesses of the opponent.

“Initially you try to figure out what your guys are best at and what your quarterbacks are best at. After that we want to attack with our best players, get the ball to our best players,” he said. “Using matchups is probably the best way to describe it, but there’s a multitude of ways we do those things, so to say that there’s one specific thing we’re going to do every Friday night, that wouldn’t be a correct statement. But we do like to identify who our playmakers are and give the best opportunity to be successful.”

Another change for the Golden Tigers this season is to the region they play in. Russellville moved to Class 5A Region 7 this year after winning the Region 8 title the last four seasons. Alongside Russellville in Region 7 is Ardmore, East Limestone, Fairview, Lawrence County, Priceville, and West Point. Some in the media have picked Russellville to finish at the top of the region standings and make the playoffs in Goodwin’s first year, but the head coach has a more cautious stance. Wait and see.

“I think it remains to be seen,” Goodwin said. “If we were returning 15 or 20 starters or if I was here last year and knew exactly how everyone was going to respond to every situation, then I might have a different answer. But being that it's my first year and we’re replacing a lot of people I think right now we still have a lot to prove.

“We won’t know anything until we get into the season,” he added. “We have to worry about getting a little bit better every day and throughout the season every Friday night, and getting peak performances in terms of offensive and defensive production every week. If we do that then I think we do have a pretty good shot of having a good season in our region. However, if we don’t, then the opposite could be said.

“We certainly expect to perform at a high level and have a good season and that’s what we’re going to shoot for, but as far as everyone else on our schedule our job is to focus on us and continue to improve and fix our mistakes and operate on a high level.”

Russellville’s season opener will once again be at home against rival Deshler on August 23rd. The two teams, who have met every season since 1988, both have rich traditions and the contests are always hard fought. The series, which dates back to 1923, is led by Russellville by the slimmest of margins, 47-46-4. For Golden Tiger fans a win against Deshler would mean another year’s bragging rights and a cheery start to the Dustin Goodwin era, but for Goodwin himself he sees the game as an excellent opportunity for new and inexperienced players to cut their teeth.

“Every game is extremely important, first off, but to be able to play a quality opponent that has a rich tradition like Deshler is something anyone would be excited to be a part of and we certainly are,” he said. “More than anything else we’re excited for our kids to get the opportunity to compete, see how these new guys take on their new roles, and who we’ll be able to rely on for the remainder of the season.”

Whatever happens week one, some of the questions going into the season will be answered, and a win would bode well for the fortunes of the Golden Tigers going forward; but it will take more than 48 minutes to know just how far this squad can go. Goodwin said he’s eager to see what this team can achieve.

“The one that’s unique about high school athletics is that you can take a group of ordinary people, for the most part, and come together, having one heartbeat and believing they can achieve extraordinary things,” he said. “If everyone buys into that and you have good leaders and expect certain things out of your team then you can achieve great things.

“A lot of that is going to be determined by our leadership, our senior class, and our other leaders on the team,” he added. “We have to have one heartbeat and believe in one another, keep the distractions out, and continue to strive to get better and believe in what we’re preaching. If we can do that then, like any other team, we can have a really special season.”