By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

CEDAR BLUFF – When he was a high school football player at Gaylesville, Cole Murphy was known for his toughness. Now as a first-year head coach at Cedar Bluff, Murphy’s mission is to reinvigorate the Tigers’ toughness.

The 30-year-old Murphy was hired as Cedar Bluff’s new head coach back in February. Following a short coaching stint at Spring Garden, where he was an assistant on the football staff and the Panthers’ head baseball coach, Murphy made his way to Class 6A McAdory in McCalla, where he was an assistant football and baseball coach with the Yellow Jackets.

With Murphy on the Yellow Jacket football staff, McAdory earned the Region 4 runner-up and finished with a 7-4 record in 2024. Last season, McAdory went 7-3 and lost in the first round of the 6A state playoffs at Spain Park.

Speaking of the postseason, that’s something the Tigers have been thirsting for in recent years.

Since going 13-2 with a Class 1A state runner-up in 2015, Cedar Bluff has posted just one season with eight wins (2016) and hasn’t had a winning record since a 6-5 mark in 2021. They haven’t won a playoff game since 2017 and have missed the postseason the past two years following back-to-back 3-7 seasons.

For a return to the way things used to be at Cedar Bluff, Murphy said it all starts by being physical.

“That’s the main goal for us, to show how physical we can be,” he said. “It’s all built around being physical.”

So far, Murphy’s coaching style has been well received by the Tigers.

“My first impression is he has a lot of energy,” senior center Cayden Garrett said. “He’s strict, but he loves when we have aggression when we’re playing.”

“He has a very strict standard, and he expects us to live up to that standard,” senior quarterback Fischer Young said. “We’ve all bought in. I’m excited.”

Murphy said the Tigers have worked hard throughout the summer.

“For the most part, the older guys still remember the Cedar Bluff athlete: always competitive, physical, stuff like that. They want to get Cedar Bluff back to that. They’ve done everything I’ve asked them to do; going full speed, working hard, showing up when they need to. Up to this point, I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Murphy said he loves to run the football, so expect to see plenty of carries for sophomore twin brothers Jamison and Jeremiah Miller, along with senior Sam Payne. Garrett, along with senior Saw Jordan, will anchor both the offensive and defensive fronts.

“Our O-line is really big for a 1A school,” Murphy said. “We have about seven or eight guys we can rotate around. We just want to find a way to utilize them and get the twins and Sam Payne the ball so they can run it.”

When the Tigers do throw, senior Zach Jones will be one of their top targets. Jones will also double as a defensive back, as will Jamison Miller.

Jeremiah Miller will anchor the Tigers’ linebacker corps.

“We just want to find a way to put our guys in position to help us make plays so we can be successful,” Murphy said.

“We have to have energy, and for the most part, we’ve brought the energy every single day. That makes things go a lot easier, especially when you’re young. If you’re flying around and having fun, the mistakes you make are a little less detrimental when you’ve got somebody behind you flying around too. If all 11 are flying around and one misses a tackle, there’s another one right there.”

The Tigers have moved back down to Class 1A for the next two seasons. They will compete in Region 8 alongside familiar foes Gaylesville, Spring Garden, Appalachian, Ragland, Valley Head and Woodville.

After a jamboree at home against Etowah and Saks on Aug. 14, Cedar Bluff’s toughness will be tested during the first two weeks of the regular season on the road against Class 2A opponents West End of Walnut Grove (Aug. 21) and Gaston (Aug. 28). The Tigers will open region play at home against Ragland on Sept. 4.

Following an open week Sept. 11, Cedar Bluff hosts Valley Head and Class 2A Ider on Sept. 18 and 25 respectively.

The Tigers open October at Spring Garden (Oct. 2) and at Woodville (Oct. 9) before returning home to face defending region champion Appalachian on Oct. 16. Cedar Bluff renews its rivalry with Gaylesville on the road on Oct. 23 after a two-year hiatus, then closes out the regular season against another county rival at home in Class 2A Sand Rock.

“We have to keep momentum going. We can’t just stroll through the season,” Garrett said. “I feel like we kind of did that last year. We won the first game, then we were kind of off and on. We just need to keep momentum going throughout the whole season and I think we’ll have a good season.”