GRIDIRON GLANCE ’25: Early Longhorns

August 23, 2025 at 5:29 am Derrick Stuckly

EARLY – After serving 20 years as an assistant, Marvin Wilson’s debut as a head coach comes as he takes over the reins of the Early Longhorns football program, which is looking to return to the postseason after a string of four straight playoff appearances ended with a 1-9 mark in 2024, including a 0-5 record against District 5-3A Division II foes.

“I’ve learned through 20 years under some great coaches and head coaches,” said Wilson, who for the previous three seasons served a defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at Brownwood. “You learn stuff that suits you. You take the good from everybody and mold your way. I’ve haven’t been the head guy before, but I’ve been the second in charge for a lot of years under Chuck Lipsey and Keith Woolf and those guys.”

Joining Wilson on staff are offensive coordinator and receivers coach Ryan Jackson, defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach Derrick Stacks, running backs coach Bryan Clark, offensive line coach Heath Tullous, tight ends coach Ty Palmer, quarterbacks coach Scott Tello, defensive line coach Greg Vaughn, secondary coach Tyler Vaughn, and assistant secondary and linebackers coach Tyler Sattler. Wilson stated he will also coach the inside linebackers.

Regarding some the philosophy changes the Longhorns have experienced since Wilson took over, he stated, “Our kids have been working hard since we’ve been here and I’m excited to see what the future holds. We’ve completely switched things in the weight room and we’ve had some big gains. They’re excited, they want to win.”

The Longhorns have tested themselves against some of the best competition in the area during the preseason, with scrimmages against Class 3A Division II Wall and Class 2A Division II Albany, both Top 10 programs expected to compete for state championships later this fall.

“I feel pretty positive,” Wilson said. “Our kids are working their tails off. Everybody’s reads are getting better, their feet are getting better, they’re going where they’re supposed to go, but sometimes we still overthink a little bit. Wall is a very good team and our kids competed well and played hard against them. Then against Albany, two of the last three years they’ve won it all and they came in and were solid. We were very physical with them. We may have been wrong on the places we went, but we went hard. Sometimes just playing hard, you can make yourself right in the end. We’re taking the steps you’re supposed take in scrimmages.”

With a new coaching staff often comes a change in offensive and defensive schemes, which is the case in Early. As far as the progress of picking up the new systems, Wilson said, “Are you ever where you want to be? No, we still have work to do, but our kids are making the progress they need to be making. Offense we have a ton on, but we’re still finessing that, same with defense. We have to continue to get better with our eyes and our feet where we go, and then getting physical when it’s time to get physical wherever we’re headed.”

As for what is gelling the most quickly, and what still needs work, Wilson said, “Our o-line is doing a pretty good job, but we still slip and miss somebody here and there. We have to continue to work our feet, work our eyes, work our hands. Our receivers, for the majority of the time we’re running the right routes and sitting where we’re supposed to, but sometimes we butcher a little bit of that. Quarterback and running backs, those guys are starting to mesh pretty well. Defensively, we still have to get our eyes right. Our secondary, they want to peek in the backfield and we can get lost on a play that can give up a touchdown. We have to fix all that.”

The Longhorns return nine starters on each side of the ball from a 2024 squad that averaged 21 points and 332 yards – 166 passing and 166 rushing – per game, while allowing 41 points and 408 yards – 274 rushing and 134 passing – per outing.

Key returnees for the Longhorns include offensive linemen Will Speck, Riley Barton, Rhett Smith, and Rhett Williams, with the addition of Ben Wilson. The receiving corps features returnees Andrew Reedy (67-914, 7 TDs receiving; 195 rushing yards, 8 TDs), Jaxson Stockman (9-87, TD) and Brennen Rasor, with the addition of Stone Ratliff (9-137, TD). And in the backfield, Cameron Love (778 rushing yards, 5 TDs) returns at tailback while newcomer Caden Wilson takes over at quarterback.

Other candidates to see time at the skill positions include receivers Aaron Mendoza, Darryl Watkins, Skyden Stoddart, and Miguel Brunette; running backs Brandon Walker, Logan Jackson, and Brayden Schafer; and tight ends Angel Marquez, Mario Vasquez and Aiden Driskill.

Up front, Braedyn Peek, Grant Stacks, Eli Pallette, Kaden Burleson and Weston Harrison could vie for playing time as well.

On the defensive side, the same players listed for the offensive line are battling to be among the rotation on the defensive front.

Schafer (39 tackles, 1 fumble recovery) and Marquez (42 tackles, 2 fumble recoveries) on the inside and Walker and Vasquez (93 tackles, 3 fumble recoveries) on the outside are expected to man the linebacker positions, while a combination of Reedy (30 tackles, 1 interception), Stockman, Wilson, Ratliff and Rasor (25 tackles, 1 fumble recovery) will see time in the secondary. Mendoza, Watkins and Brunette could also be sprinkled in along the back end, with Walker (24 tackles), Stoddart, and Love being in the mix at linebacker as well.

The Longhorns open the season at home against rival Bangs, the only team they defeated in 2024, followed by three consecutive road contests against Hamilton, Junction and Peaster, and the pre-district finale at home against Comanche.

As for the goals over the first five games, Wilson said, “You want to win every game you play, that’s our goal, but we’ve got to continue to get better at everything we do. By the time we hit district, we need to be 99.9 percent finessed, going on 100 percent. We’ve got some dang good people coming up. We have to go make ourselves the best we can in those first few games.”

Regarding the importance of starting better in pre-district play than a year before to be better prepared for the District 5-3A Division II slate, Wilson added, “It’s a whole lot better to have success early for your mentality, your mind being at ease, and then you start believing in yourself. If we don’t have success early, we still have to figure it all out. It’s still about us and continuing to get better. But I would love for us to go have great success early and build on that for the future.”

The Longhorns, who are picked to repeat as the sixth-place team in 5-3A Division II by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, open league play at home against Tolar, visit Clifton, host Brady, head to Eastland and welcome Dublin in the regular season finale.

“I haven’t looked that far yet, but I know we’ve got some good teams in our district and some well-coached teams in our district,” Wilson said. “Right now, I’m telling these guys things are about us. It’s just about us and then the opponents, we’ll figure out later, let’s take care of us. But the district is going to be a tough district and hopefully we’ll be ready for it and put ourselves in the top part of it.”

As for what it will take for Early to make a playoff push in 2025, Wilson said, “Everybody’s going to say the same things, starting with we have to stay healthy. But our team chemistry is pretty dang good. Our kids enjoy each other, which is good because when you get frustrated with each other, at least you know you’re going to be good with each other, so that’s a big positive. But we have to continue to get better at everything we do, day by day. Offensively, defensively, we have to continue to get better.”

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EARLY LONGHORNS 2025 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

August 29	Bangs	7:30 p.m.
September 05	at Hamilton	7:30 p.m.
September 12	at Junction	7:30 p.m.
September 19	at Peaster	7 p.m.
September 26	Comanche	7 p.m.
October 03	OPEN
October 10	Tolar*	7 p.m.
October 17	at Clifton*	7 p.m.
October 24	Brady*	7 p.m.
October 31	at Eastland*	7 p.m.
November 07	Dublin*	7 p.m.