Vickers leading Dadeville turnaround

Dadeville quarterback Eric Vickers isn’t very big — just 5-foot-8, 165 pounds.

But what the senior may lack in size, he more than makes up for in athletic ability.

And he has the numbers to prove it — 1,213 passing yards through six games, along with 18 passing touchdowns. Throw in 303 rushing yards and four touchdowns, and you have a player with an astounding 1,516 all-purpose yards and 22 touchdowns with at least five more games to play.

Oh yeah, and the most important numbers — 6-0 record, 4-0 in Class 3A-Region 3 and a No. 7 ranking in Class 3A for a team that went 0-10 in 2007.

“It’s been a lot of fun so far,” Vickers said. “My (offensive) line’s done an excellent job blocking and the receivers have done a good job getting open and finding space for me to throw the ball.”

Vickers started his football career at Horseshoe Bend, but transferred to Dadeville last year where he quarterbacked during the Tigers’ winless season.

But Vickers said he and his fellow seniors had an idea 2008 would be different — especially after head coach Richard White made sweeping changes in offensive, defensive and work philosophy.

“This year’s seniors got together after our junior year and we made a pact that our team would win over eight games,” Vickers said. “We got all the players we could, got them out in the spring, got the new offense working and we all could see that this would work for us.”

While the “Tony Franklin System” may have been a bust at Auburn University, it’s worked wonders for Dadeville. And Vickers has prospered in the Tigers’ new spread formations.

“We knew he was more of a spread-type guy because of his running ability,” Dadeville head coach Richard White said. “It was an easy decision to switch to the spread because of him and because we had some speedy wide receivers.

“So we went up to a Tony Franklin clinic in Nashville, Tenn., came back and started showing some videos to the kids. You could see their eyes light up and you could tell you had them right then — and it’s worked well.”

But the offense wasn’t only thing White changed after the Tigers’ winless season.

“The kids all knew there was going to be changes —and we changed everything,” White said. “We changed the helmet color, bought new jerseys, changed the way we work out in the summer, changed the way we condition, change the way we practice — and the kids have all bought in to it since Day 1.

“And they knew they had to make these changes.”

The major overhaul proved to be successful in the first week of the season when Dadeville snapped its losing streak with a 15-6 win over Reeltown.

That victory helped jumpstart the year that has seen wins over then-No. 2 Trinity and a huge win last week at Montgomery Academy.

“Beating Reeltown was big and then we got a big win over Montevallo,” Vickers said. “From there we started thinking we might have a shot, and then we beat Trinity — that gave the whole city of Dadeville confidence.

“We’ve been just rolling along since then.”

Both Vickers and White, though, say there’s no satisfaction for the Tigers yet, and certainly no big heads.

“That’s what that hill is for over there,” White said, pointing to a large red-clay hill rising some 20 feet above Dadeville’s practice field. “We had to put the offensive line on the hill (Tuesday) to get their attention and after that they understood and started knocked the defense off the ball.

“You still do have to get their attention from time to time because they’re teenagers and their minds are here one minute and off on some girl the next. But these guys have stayed grounded and stayed humble and pretty much focused the whole season.”

Dadeville will attempt to keep its record clean on Friday in a 3A-Region 3 matchup with LaFayette (3-3). The Bulldogs are coming off a thrilling, 28-21 win over Montevallo that put them back in position for a playoff berth.

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