The Muskegon football team won a fifth straight regional championship in 2020, and the Big Reds lost to eventual division three state champion DeWitt in the semifinals.
The program is excited about what it accomplished this summer in anticipation for the 2021 season.
"We've had some really good football teams but I think the truth behind what we do is the relationships that are built in an offseason," 12th year Muskegon head coach Shane Fairfield said. "Not having an off-season a year ago, our guys really didn't know each other, they know each other but it wasn't that brotherhood."
The unquestioned leader of the team is senior Myles Walton who is making the move from slot receiver to quarterback.
Walton will be a fourth year starter in the defensive backfield for the Big Reds which is almost unheard of in a program with so many good players.
"Being here for four years, you are really in deep thoughts because I played my first varsity game when I was 14," Walton said. "I was only 5'9, 160 pounds, now I'm 5'11, 185 pounds. I came along way."
Muskegon has a bunch of guys to replace from 2020 but that is nothing new.
The hope is the younger players are ready to step up and fill the void helped by the few returning starters that have guided them.
"First and foremost that they are there at every event that we have, paying close attention to the starters, so that we have no problem trusting them when it's time for them to get in and do their job," senior slot and safety Damari Foster said about the younger players who will be asked to play big roles in 2021. "They stay close, they ask a lot of questions, and they watch up and look up. So we are trying to be good role models for them."
The Big Reds are scheduled to open the season at East Kentwood on Friday before hosting Cass Tech in Week Two on Friday, September 3rd.
