Taylorville football Coach Jeb Odam is hoping a fun group that enjoys each other will lead to success for his program in the fall of 2022.

Numbers in the program were down in the fall of 2021 and Coach Odam explains they revamped the culture of the program this summer. He feels very good about those adjustments coming into this fall. 

To balance the rigors of the summer demands for athletes that are involved in multiple sports, Coach Odam points out they started doing 6:30 am practices and workouts and unbelievably enough, the kids really enjoyed that.

While this group isn't particularly strong at one aspect of football and one position isn't a strength over another, Coach Odam enjoys this group of kids and he especially likes that they enjoy each other. He is hoping those intangibles will lead to success for the team this year.

Coach Odam hopes for his team to be physical and balanced when they have the football. Leading his alma mater, he admits he would like to sling the ball around the field the entire fall but recognizes you have to be able to run the football in Illinois high school football. He appreciates that his defensive coordinator has an aggressive approach on that side of the ball.

The Tornados open the season at Mt.Vernon.