Alabama News Center 2023 football preview: Huntingdon College
Mike Turk coaches the Huntingdon Hawks. The team is coming off a nine-win 2022 season, but Turk says his goal for each of his teams is simply for that team to be the best it can be. (Huntingdon College Athletics)
Mike Turk’s goal for each of his Huntingdon College football teams is for that squad to be as good as it can be.
“I want each group of guys to realize their potential,” the coach said. “I really thought that last year’s team had an opportunity to do that. I really felt like, at the end of the day, in a lot of ways we did.”
The Hawks lost a tight opening game to a top 10 opponent before reeling off nine wins in a row.
“We were able to get through our conference schedule undefeated, which I thought was a heck of an accomplishment,” Turk said. “Then you’d like to get out of the playoff field and advance. We got what I would call a tough draw in the first round. We got sent to Mary Hardin-Baylor, the defending national champion.”
Huntingdon lost that playoff opener 54-0. It was disappointing, the coach said, because he thought his 2022 squad was as good as some of his teams that had advanced before.
“But at the end of the day, I was proud of the group that we had,” Turk said. “I was proud of what they were able to accomplish over the course of the season. Certainly, it was a lot of fun and an enjoyable season.”
College football season is approaching, and Alabama News Center is previewing the 2023 season. Next up is Huntingdon.
Alabama News Center: What are the prospects for this season?
Mike Turk: We have a fair number of guys back from last year’s group that have played a lot of football for us. On the defensive side of the ball, we’ve got probably seven guys who started for us. I count eight guys that have started games for us before that are back and then several guys that are behind them that have played a lot of ball for us. Experience level is pretty high on the defensive side of the ball with what we have returning. Obviously, that’s exciting for us to have that kind of experience. … I count seven guys on the offensive side that have started games for us. The biggest issue that we have really is, offensively, we’re replacing our quarterback. Our quarterback was a really good football player for us. The kids that we have that are going to battle for the job this fall are not very experienced with game reps. Any coach anywhere in the same situation would be a little apprehensive because our game is so quarterback dependent now. But that’s going to have a lot to do with how we are offensively.
ANC: What is the strength of this year’s team?
Turk: I would have to say probably the experience level we have on defense. Basically, like I said, there are eight guys that I consider to be returning starters that are back. Then there are the guys that I don’t consider to be returning starters who are actually all guys that really have played a fair amount of ball for us. We’re probably in a little better situation on the defensive side just from an experience standpoint.
ANC: Who are your team’s standouts?
Turk: Defensively, we have so many experienced players back. Tucker Spence and Casey Peppers are our two inside linebackers and guys that have been starting for a number of years. We’ve got a couple of guys (in the secondary) that we would probably lean on and that would be Miller Park; he’s actually a fifth-year guy. He’s one of our safeties, and … a lot’s gonna fall on his shoulders as far as making sure we’re in the right checks. On the offensive side, we have most of our receiving corps returning from last year (and) most of our running backs are back from last year. (Wide receivers) Tyler England and Connor Bradford are guys that are gonna have to play well. And then there’s (running back) Kahari McReynolds, who has been starting for us really since his freshman year. He’s solid as a rocket and had a really good year last year. We’re gonna be counting heavily on him, I’m sure.
ANC: What game(s) do your fans have circled on your schedule?
Turk: Birmingham-Southern comes here in Week 2. We open with Berry this year, which is different. The last couple years we’ve played a nationally ranked team, a top 10-type team from out of region. Two years ago, we played Wisconsin-Oshkosh and last year we opened with Linfield. Those were obviously big, big games. Now we’re gonna open with Berry and probably will open with Berry for the foreseeable future. That’s a regional … out-of-conference game. We bump into those guys on our recruiting trail all the time. Then we have our usual conference schedule right on down through the end of the season. As we found out last year, even though we went undefeated in our league, we had three or four games that were right down to the wire. We were able to do it, but it doesn’t get any easier. That’s for sure.
ANC: What is your lingering question?
Turk: That’s obviously at quarterback. We’ve got several guys that are back from last year that have limited and varying levels of experience. None of them is what I would consider to be an experienced football player. With what we were able to do in the spring — or the lack thereof — it’s really hard to make that decision until the bullets are live in the fall. We’ve got to figure that out quickly. Offensively, we’re gonna have to play to our quarterback’s strengths. In order to do that, we’ve got to know who that is.
Alabama News Center is posting season previews for all 16 college football programs in Alabama. Read previews for Birmingham-Southern College, the University of West Alabama, Jacksonville State University, the University of North Alabama, the University of South Alabama, Tuskegee University and UAB, and look for a new football preview each weekday until the 2023 season begins.
