By Erik Harris, sports editor
ALABASTER — With a little more than a month remaining until kickoff, the Clay-Chalkville Cougars took center stage for Birmingham Area Football Media Days on Monday at Thompson High School.
From left to right: Lamar Croskey, Drew Gilmer and Khalib Johnson represent the Clay-Chalkville football team on Monday at Birmingham Area Football Media Days from Thompson High School. Photo by Erik Harris
Head coach Drew Gilmer was joined on stage by quarterback Khalib Johnson and cornerback Lamar Croskey, both rising seniors for a group that finished at 11-2 last season following a Class 6A quarterfinal loss. Gilmer, who’s gathered a 44-10 record in four seasons at the helm, believes his 2021 Cougars have the tools to build a special run.
“One thing that makes these guys great is they want to be coached,” said Gilmer. “That’s one thing that separates the great ones from the average. The great ones want to be coached and these guys want to be coached and they want to be pushed and when you’ve got a group like that, they’re fun to be around.”
Clay-Chalkville fans can expect plenty of fun this fall thanks to an experienced offensive unit, which looks capable of scoring with the best of ‘em. The Cougars return All-Tribune performers at running back (Edward Osley) and wide receiver (Marquarius White) along with a Louisville commit at quarterback (Khalib Johnson).
“It’s a special group, I think we can take what we did last year and we can build on it,” said Gilmer. “There’s a lot of stability on that side of the ball with the coaches coming back, so there’s a chance for us to improve.”
Johnson, a 6’2” senior, threw for 1,923 yards and 19 touchdowns last season on top of another 235 yards and five scores on the ground. He says he wants to grow as a leader in this his final prep season under center.
“We’ve got a lot of pieces coming back, it’s a veteran group,” said Johnson. “I feel like we’ve got all the talent this year, it’s just going to be about holding each other accountable — that’s the biggest thing.”
His favorite target last year, White, recently verbaled to Tennessee, continuing a trend of CCHS receivers moving on to Power 5 programs. T.J. Simmons signed with Alabama’s Class of 2016 and Nico Collins signed with Michigan’s Class of 2017.
“They’re different football players — he’s different than Nico and T.J., but he has that ability,” said Gilmer of White. “He’s a dynamic playmaker. The more times we get the ball in his hands, the better we’re going to be. We’re expecting nothing but great things from him as a senior.”
Clay-Chalkville has won at least 10 games in each of Gilmer’s four seasons as head coach. This year’s squad will, once again, compete in Region 6 alongside Gardendale, Pinson Valley, Jackson-Olin, Jasper, Minor and Mortimer Jordan.
“Our goal is to play 15 weeks and in order to do that we’ve got to develop some depth at a lot of places,” said Gilmer.
