Rocky Tallent will lead the Bulldogs on the gridiron for 2019 season

Posted April 17, 2019 at 12:37 pm

It took a little longer than the standard 30 days, but as of last month, Rocky Tallent will be the new head football coach for Clinton County.

Tallent is no stranger to the sidelines of Clinton County football having been a critical part in last year’s school record season of 9-1.

“I started with the graduating seniors this year, started third and fourth grade,” Tallent said. “This will be my fourth year at the high school.”

Prior to taking a spot on the sidelines as defensive coordinator, Tallent was the middle school’s head coach for three years.

“I always watched and I’ve wanted it since we were in school, but didn’t have it,” Tallent said. “It’s an extra opportunity for all the kids here now to get an education with a scholarship. We had two to sign last year. Any sport, no matter what it is, I want to support it. I love working with the kids and watching them grow up and watching the program build.”

Tallent said he has a vested interest in the program and the team with his past year’s participation.

“Even with just the kids, you get to know them and build a relationship with them,” Tallent said. “Ninety percent of the kids on the team have been at my house outside of football. I’ve played basketball with them and got to know them on a personal level.”

With the resignation of Jamie Miller in early January, Tallent applied for the position and he thinks having someone who knows the program and knows the kids will make the transition better.

“The kids are familiar with me and so that makes it easier for the big change,” Tallent said. “You’re looking at someone who has been here a long period of time, so that’s huge in my book as far as offense and defense is concerned. For the most part they are going to have the same defensive system because I was defensive coordinator last year. Offensively we are going to have some of the same stuff with some new stuff added in.”

Tallent said numbers are up as of right now and he feels optimistic with the start of spring practice beginning this week.

As far as a staff is concerned, Tallent said his staff isn’t set as of yet, but hopes to have them in place in the next two weeks.

“There are several things that have to go on in order to get everyone hired and get them set in stone,” Tallent said. “Spring practice starts today and we have some help to get us through spring practice, so we are going to move on through that and get to the hiring process.”

Tallent said he is really excited about starting this season and hopes to have just as good a season as the team did last year.

“I’m really excited,” Tallent said. “I’m excited about the change for district. That’s something that a lot of kids haven’t got to experience here because we’ve been out of it for several years. I feel confident that last year we could have had a chance to take district and maybe even hosted a playoff game and that’s really huge for the kids and the school.”

Tallent said his chances are pretty good in the fall with the players he has coming back even though a lot will be lost to graduation.

“I think the boys are really excited about playing district play,” Tallent said. “Of course we always play Metcalfe County and knowing that we can compete with them because we beat them last year, you are looking as us, Monroe County, Metcalfe County, Green County and Edmonson County. We pretty much know a lot about Metcalfe, Monroe and Green because we play them in other sports.”

Tallent said the only wild card in the district is Edmonson County, however, looking at last year’s scores with similar opponents, Tallent feels his team can compete with everyone in the district this season.

“I’ve always lived here, I grew up here, I’m a blue blood in the community. You will see me at baseball, basketball … about any sport going. I have two kids in the school system and support everything there is,” Tallent said. “To be honest, I thought it would mean a lot to the kids … to have someone they were familiar with as opposed to an outsider coming in. They will just pick up where they left off and it will be no different for them.”