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A former Baylor quarterback takes over as head coach of a young Cedar Ridge program that's already a perennial playoff squad.
Cedar Ridge is coming off its first 10 win season so it's definitely not flying under the radar anymore.
Senior quarterback Garrett Sharp says, "It definitely puts us on the map."
The team is fine with its new status and has high hopes for the upcoming season.
"I believe we're gonna do it this year," senior linebacker Trevor Price says.
Head coach Shawn Bell says, "Walking into a situation like this a lot of times you're wanting to build and prepare for the future. Our goal is to win this year."
And Bell has the talent to achieve that goal. Bell inherits a team that shared a district championship and has 13 starters returning.
One of those starters is quarterback Sharp who accounted for 43 touchdowns after throwing for nearly 3000 yards and rushing for another 600 last season.
Bell calls Sharp a "tremendous leader" and says that Sharp is "a dual threat kid and in this game and this day and age that's what you're looking for. A kid that can not only get the ball into the athlete's hands in the air but can also do things with it himself."
Senior linebacker Trevor Price agrees.
"He's real important to this team. He can run or he can hurt you in the air. Either way you gotta have somebody on him at all times," Price says.
As for Bell, he may have a name you might recognize. It might sound familiar because Bell was a record setting quarterback at Baylor in the early 2000s when the Bears weren't that good.
Bell believes that going through those trying times wasn't necessarily a bad thing for him.
"Ultimately I think those years at Baylor, the ups and the downs, developed me to be a better man, a better husband and hopefully a better coach. So a lot of those trials from injuries that I had to losses that I incurred or being the backup quarterback here or there. I can relate to the kids that are in those same situations. I think it's definitely prepared me to be a better coach," Bell says.
"Coach Bell fits our program like a glove. He's a great coach. He's been doing so good with us. The transition's been tough, losing all the good coaches we had. We got some good ones. Can't complain with what we got," Sharp says.
Bell, Sharp and the rest of team say they're ready to show everyone what they're all about.