The football team has had some big changes this year which will be very crucial to their performance. In the offseason, their offensive coordinator Leigh McWhorter left for the head coaching job at Parkland. Coach Matthew Reyes was brought in from El Dorado high school to fill the offensive coordinator position.

“There are many reasons why I wanted to come to Franklin. Franklin has consistently been the standard for high school academics and athletics in El Paso. The challenges at Franklin are much different than other schools in the city. There is an expectation to be the best, beat the best, and settle for nothing less,” Reyes said.  “The expectations, and pressure of being a coach and teacher at Franklin are exactly why I wanted to be here. In my brief time at Franklin, the actions and work ethic of the students, teachers, and coaches have all solidified my decision to come to the west side. I am looking forward to becoming part of the Franklin community and experiencing its tradition of excellence. Go Cougars!”

Assistant Coach Gabe Blanco also left for the defensive coordinator position at his alma mater Coronado. Coach Albert Ulmer was brought in to be the Offensive Line coach, he came from Americas high school. He knows what expectations there are having played at Franklin during his playing days.

“I’m hoping to make an impact by not only helping them as a coach, but I want to help them with life lessons too,” Ulmer said.

The lineup has changed drastically from last year with there only being two returning starters on offense and five returning starters on defense. Juniors Shay Smith and Jordan Morales the new quarterback and running back look to bring a lot of firepower to the new offense this year.

“Good leadership, leading by example, executing plays, making sure everyone is on the same page, and scoring a lot of points is how we’re going to bring firepower to the offense,” Smith said.

The two returning starters are Senior receivers Beau Sparks and Ben Bolhmann who look to be the two primary pass catchers of the new offense. With Coach Reyes bringing complex plays to the offense, our nifty players are excited and ready for the season.

“Coach Reyes brings a lot of new concepts and they’re complex, so it’ll mess up other defenses with a lot of explosive plays,” Bolhmann said.

Seniors Beau Sparks, Yahir Ramirez, Noah Alverez, Elliot Varela, and Peter Mosqueda are the returning starters on a changed defense. The defense has changed from a base cover 2 defense to a base cover 3 defense. This means our defense will have to fly around because this defense is based on speed.

“The new defense will help performance by putting more speed on the field. We will run a 3-3 stack this year, basically we took a defensive lineman out and replaced him with another safety. Our size up front is not what we are used to at Franklin, but our strength is our skill players. This defense also allows us more flexibility with alignment and different fronts we can give the offense,” defensive coordinator Horner said.

Coach Bowers is still the JV head coach and defensive coordinator, he also is the Varsity cornerback coach who has high expectations for all his players.

“I’m always excited about the upcoming season because it’s always exciting to see how the players have progressed and to see them compete against other schools,” Bowers said.

Coach Moncada is stepping into a new role as the primary Freshman coach this year. He will still control the Freshman offense and be the Varsity Assistant Receiver’s Coach.

“I’m excited about this upcoming football season because we have some key pieces that worked hard over the offseason so I’m excited to see them on the field,” Moncada said.

Even though many aspects seem new and changed our Franklin football team, they should not be doubted because they have the ability go undefeated and make a run in the playoffs.