KERMIT, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – A new season brings a new chapter for Kermit High School football. It begins with former Alpine head coach John Fellows taking on the reins for the Yellow Jackets. 

Fellows inherits a team that held a 4-7 record last season that landed them third in District 1-3A Division 1. 

With camp underway, Coach Fellows said it always feels great starting a new season, and building a team is what he is looking toward. He calls building relationships and trust amongst his players the number one thing. 

“It’s been going good. Since he’s got here, we built a relationship with him. He’s just a good guy, he shows us how to care and have energy for our team.” Adrian Briones, senior linebacker and receiver, said.

Senior halfback and defensive end Bryson Bennett also described the atmosphere at Kermit as more of a team and that it feels like a brotherhood in the making.

Expectations for a season remain high for Fellows with the first step of winning a district championship. And when it comes to that mindset, both Fellows and his players have the confidence in accomplishing that.

“Feeling confident, our offense is going to be rolling pretty fast this year,” Briones said coming into camp. “Our defense is going to be rallying pretty fast.” 

If there was one aspect of the team that Fellows saw as a weak point, it would be his depth, joking that nobody would be complaining about playing time this year.

Although this is Fellow’s first season with the Yellow Jackets, he has 16 years of head coaching experience under his belt and looks at every year as a learning lesson to improve upon. But the way the Yellow Jackets coach measures success is through preparation. 

“I think we have the will to prepare and be the best we can be, the success, the wins, all of that will come,’ Fellows said.

The Yellow Jackets’ begin their season on Aug. 25th at Miles High School. Kermit is picked to finish third again in District 1-3A Division 1 behind Brownfield and Denver City.