Huge thank you to Jenny Collins Millsaps for letting FYN Sports use her pictures!

The Black Knights are a much different football team than they were 4 months ago. Looking down on the practice field yesterday and not seeing Nathan Collins was a hard pill to swallow. Not to mention the loss of Lex Hooper, Rossi Wachacha, Candler Edwards, and Wade Hamilton just to name a few. Obviously the Black Knights have some holes to fill, but they just may have the personnel to do it, and to do it effectively.

RETURNERS

Cuttler Adams and Kage Williams are going to be household names for the Black Knights the next 3 years. The Sophomore duo will be near impossible for opposing teams to prepare for offensively, and they also add an element to the defense that has perhaps been lacking.

Adams could be one of the best football players to walk the halls of Robbinsville High School when it’s all said and done. One of the few players in the state with speed and power, he is going to be one of the main reasons why Robbinsville will still be competitive after all they have lost to graduation.

Carlos Wesley, Carson White, Drake Hill, and Diego Lopez are the returners on the offensive line for Robbinsville. Wesley is one of the top lineman in the conference, and will help solidify the Knights run game.

Ben Wachacha will take over for Rossi Wachacha as the leader of the Black Knight defense. Wachacha was crowned a state champ in wrestling just weeks ago, and I would look for him to bring that same intensity from the mat to the football field. He is going to be a problem for opposing QBs.

Another returner for Robbinsville that may get overlooked is Junior Wideout Brock Adams. Adams was the Black Knights second leading receiver last year, and will be option one heading into the 2021-2022 season. He, along with Kage and Cuttler, were named to our FYN Sports new-comers of the year award list last year.

QB SITUATION

The way I see it, if everyone is healthy they have 2 options. Roll out the Senior Dasan Gross who has been able to learn under Nathan Collins for the past few years. Or roll out one of your Sophomores in Christian Phillips or Donovan Carpenter and let them be your guy for the next 3 years.

I think the obvious answer is to go with Gross. He has looked good in 7 on 7 action this year, and he has a good rapport with Brock Adams, who will be the Knights top wide receiver option. This offseason it seems like he has grown a lot and i’ll say it again, he has looked really good in camp. Gross is also the only QB on the roster that has in-game varsity experience. Granted his experience is only limited to 5 passing attempts, as he’s 2/5 for 110 yards in his career. But oh yeah, those 2 completions were both 50+ yard touchdowns.

I believe that Gross has earned his spot under center this year, and he will be the one leading the offense come August 20th.

Schedule

The way things sit now, Robbinsville will only be playing a 9 game schedule. With Rosman leaving the conference and some other scheduling conflicts, the Knights were only able to schedule 4 non-conference games. They will open up their season at home against a 3A school in Asheville High. Asheville was a playoff team last year, going 5-3 and losing to Weddington in the first round of the playoffs 42-0.

After playing 3A Asheville at home, the Knights will travel to Brevard to take on the Brevard Blue Devils who play in the 2A West Conference. Brevard was 4-3 last year, with close games against Mount Heritage and East Henderson.

Speaking of Mountain Heritage, the Cougars are the next team the Knights have on their schedule. On September 3rd, Robbinsville will travel to Burnsville to take on the 2A State Runners up. Heritage was 7-2 last year and made it all the way to the 2A State Championship where they eventually lost to Reidsville 35-6. If they haven’t figured it out by now, this game will shoe the Black Knights what they are made of.

Their 4th and final non-conference game will be played at home against Smoky Mountain on September 10th. Smoky Mountain was 2-5 last year, but they played in some really tough, close games. They are also a 3A school, so they definitely have the numbers on their side.

Between non-conference and conference play, the Black Knights will have 2 weeks off. Thats either going to be a really good thing or a really bad thing. The Knights may need 2 weeks off to recover from their daunting non-conference schedule. OR they could really be hitting their groove and be extremely rusty after having weeks 5 and 6 off heading into conference play. Only time will tell.

After having 2 back to back bye weeks, Robbinsville will open up their conference schedule against Swain County at home. It’s no secret that Swain had a rough year last year, going 2-4 and losing to Robbinsville 38-6 at home. I would say though, with Neil Blankenship back at the helm, things have to be looking up for the Devils. Rusty or not, I don’t see the Knights struggling too much in this one at home.

The Knights will then travel to Cherokee to play a much improved Braves team.

Then, Robbinsville will travel to Murphy to play the defending State Champs. Everyone knows the buzz that will surround that game after last years slobber knocker in the Western Regional Championship. This will probably be the game of the year in the conference as it seems to have been for the previous 5 years.

Robbinsville will finish the regular season at The Big Oaks, as Andrews and Hayesville will come to Graham County on October 22nd and 29th.

The schedule that the Knights have this year is definitely not a favorable one. If they can enter into conference play 2-2 I would say they would be content with that. It is very possible for Robbinsville to start the season 4-0, but it is also possible that they could start it 1-3.

They have so many holes to fill, and there are so many question marks surrounding this team that it’s just hard to predict what they are going to look like come August 20th.

Don’t get it twisted though. When it comes time to play on Friday nights, the Black Knights are always going to bring it.