Blackmon ‘juiced’ about opportunity at Enterprise

New Enterprise High School football coach Ben Blackmon met with his team for the first time on Jan. 18 after he was officially hired as the new head coach.

At his initial meeting Blackmon preached about his players bringing the “juice” – or enthusiasm – every day to the program and that he was “juiced” about leading the team.

“I think that sets your day apart,” Blackmon said. “That’s a vital core value is to have energy every single day. Anything you do you have to put your whole heart into it.”

Blackmon said his decision to come to Enterprise after a successful seven years at Spanish Fort – including a state championship – was about being able to better his family.

“In this state in my career I think a change like this and the opportunity to better my family was big and that’s ultimately what it came down to,” Blackmon said.

Blackmon will earn $125,000 annually on a 240-day contract at Enterprise, which is an increase of the $115,000 per year salary that former coach Rick Darlington made. According to AL.com, Thompson head coach Mark Freeman is the highest paid coach in the state at $130,000 per year.

Blackmon told his team he wanted to continue to build on what the program has accomplished in the past but said there would definitely be changes, as well. One of those changes will be on the offensive side of the ball as Blackmon will be converting Darlington’s “single wing” offense to some version of the “spread,” which Blackmon has been known for.

“We’ll do some version of the ‘spread’ whether it’s ‘spread’ to run or ‘spread’ to pass,” he said. “We’ll evaluate the talent here and go from there.

“We won the state championship in 2015 throwing (the ball) around and in 2019 we ran ‘triple option.’ We’ll do what our kids can do well.”

The Wildcats will return no players with playing experience at quarterback in 2022 but will boast two all-state running backs in incoming senior Mykel Johnson and incoming junior Amare Griffin. Both Johnson and Griffin surpassed 1,000 yards rushing in 2021. Spanish Fort’s 2020 team – which ended as Class 6A Runner-Up – averaged 30 points per game and all-state quarterback Brendon Byrd threw for 2,055 yards and 25 touchdowns with 845 yards and 12 touchdowns rushing.

Blackmon said he spoke to Darlington during the interview process with Enterprise.

“I talked to him over the Christmas break during this whole process,” Blackmon said. “He was a nice guy and I really appreciate him helping me out.”

Defensively, Blackmon said he wanted the defense – which has run out of a base 3-4 over the past several years – to be able to be multiple.

“We’re a multiple scheme, we want to be able to play out of both an even and odd front but we have to be able to stop the run no matter what we do,” Blackmon emphasized. “In high school football you have to be able to run the football and you have to be able to stop the run. That’s who we are and what our identity is going to be.”

During his first meeting with the team Blackmon presented his core values to the team, which include work, integrity, love, discipline, competition, attitude, toughness and spirit. He included this values in a moto that will be posted in the locker room, “I Am A Wildcat,” and had the team recite it, as well.

“I am a Wildcat. I will work hard with integrity and love my brothers, coaches and school,” the motto reads. “I will use my self discipline to out compete my opponent. I will project positive attitude through my body language and believing in myself and team. I will exude toughness in the face of adversity and will play with a spirit of passion unknown