‘The energy is insane’: Southern Boone enters year two under Tyler Tanner

ASHLAND, Mo. (KMIZ)

As the Southern Boone football team enters year two under head coach Tyler Tanner, there is a palpable energy and excitement in summer workouts.

The Eagles are set to wrap up that summer prep soon, as the high school football season is about one month away from kicking off. Tanner said this next week will all be about finishing the summer 'extremely strong,' so they're in a good place heading into the dead week, which runs from August 1st-9th. After that, he said they'll crank it up for practices in August.

"The offseason has been awesome this year," Coach Tanner said. "The kids have really, really bought in. They bought into the weight room, they're showing up every day. We pushed all of our football activities back to July and there's been more energy, [it's] more upbeat, more tempo and the kids are excited to be here. The coaching staff has been awesome, too, so yeah, year two is definitely taking off on a really good note, right now."

Southern Boone graduated a slew of standout seniors, following the 2025 campaign, including quarterback Mason Shearer, wide receiver and defensive back Jayce Troth, as well as running back and defensive back Hudson Talley and some others. However, the Eagles are not taking a step back in the leadership department.

Tanner has been thoroughly impressed with how his new group of seniors have stepped up, so far.

"Gosh there's a there's a lot of guys [that have stood out]...A couple of seniors that I want to shout out, like Aiden Williams. That that dude has been really, really good. He's our only returning senior lineman, so he is really, you know, anchoring that down and helping those guys around him become a lot better. He's always asking questions how he can get better. Brody Troth has been really, really good. He came to us a little bit late last year and he has done a great job of being being consistent. He's worked hard in the weight room, he's worked hard on the field and he's become a really, really good leader for us. You know, I think of a guy like Owen Britton, who played Mike linebacker for us last year. He was an all-district kid and he's doing a really good job at that Mike linebacker spot right now, getting his calls, making his reads and making everybody else better around him. I could go on and on about how much great leadership that I've seen this year."

That new group of Eagles seniors will hope to build on the foundation that was set during the 2025 campaign, when Southern Boone went 4-7 on the year and found their first postseason win under Coach Tanner in the district quarterfinals.

It's easy to see the excitement building for what they have in the locker room, out in Ashland. Senior center and defensive end Aiden Williams said it just has a different feeling, heading into this 2026 season.

"I feel like we're developing so much better than what we were last year. We're learning and even with like the freshmen, they're catching on to everything that we're teaching so quick, faster than everybody else did last year. So, it's just it's awesome to see that," he said. "The energy is insane. It's nothing like we had in years before. The energy has helped us keep so much more like passion and love and like we're playing together and not as like individuals. It's just helping us."

The chemistry that Southern Boone has built over this offseason will prove pivotal once kickoff arrives, as the Eagles have some new faces in key positions, including quarterback. After graduating Shearer following the 2025 campaign, Tanner has been splitting the reps between sophomore Kaden Reynolds and senior Graham McKin, who is in his first season with the program.

The Eagles are set for a joint practice at Moberly on Thursday and Coach Tanner said, once that wraps up, he'll have better idea of who will take the reins of the offense.

"[After the Moberly practice], we should be able to work a guy in primarily with the ones and then with the twos, but they've both been competing," Tanner said. "I mean, Kaden is a year older and a year end of the system, he's operating it seamlessly, he's picked up where he left off last year. Graham, this year, obviously, there's a lot being thrown at him. He struggled a little bit at first but he's really picked it up. I mean this past week was a great week for him. You could tell that he's really starting to see it, really starting to figure it out, figuring out some nuances of the offense."

Whoever does end up leading the offense in 2026 will be stepping into the shoes of a guy who carried a massive load for Southern Boone, in 2025. However, this year's starting quarterback won't have to do it all on his own.

"Mason [Shearer], I mean, he accounted for 1,800 yards for us last year, a big chunk of our offense. So, we're not going to be able to replace him with one guy. We have a lot of guys that are going to step up, a lot of skills that are going to step up, the linemen are going to step up and we're going to make up for his production in a lot of other ways with a lot of different guys," Tanner said.

"Composure, I think is number one," Tanner added, when asked about what the most crucial trait he wants to see in his starting quarterback is. "You know, he's got to be able to stay calm whenever things are going really, really fast around him and he's got to be able to keep the others around him calm, as well. You know, that type of leadership, whenever things are getting tight later in the game or in critical moments and you've got a quarterback that's calm, cool, collected and in control, I think that that says a lot. Both of those quarterbacks, Kaden and Graham, both are doing such a great job of leading through those difficult times."

They'll each have plenty of weapons to work with in the coming season, including wide receiver and defensive back Brody Troth, who is stepping into a big leadership role just one season after his older brother graduated.

Troth joined the team late last season, but emerged as a playmaker for Coach Tanner. Troth said he's excited for what he hopes people will see on the field from this team, this season.

"I think that the seniors have just brought a culture and brought leadership this year, especially for the younger guys. The younger guys have people that look up to and that's what we think we should be," Troth said. "I just hope [people] see like our culture, our culture is pretty good, and just how physical we are."

When Coach Tanner was asked the same question, about what he hopes people see from his team in 2026, he also noted the physicality piece. He said he's seen his guys be able to mix it up and be competitive with other teams in practices, this summer.

"Yeah, fast, physical and confident. Those are the three things that we're always trying to trying to do is play fast, play physical, play confident and that confidence part comes from us teaching better as coaches. That's something that we we always take accountability for, ourselves, is making sure that we say, 'okay, well how can we get our kids to be more confident? What do we have to do in order to make that happen?' You're starting to see that really come to fruition quite a bit with some of these guys. Really excited for this group. I can't wait to get to work in August. I'm telling you, this group has been amazing over the summer. They've been competitive, we've had some some really heated scrimmages and it's been a lot of fun, so I'm excited to see what this team can really do."

The Eagles will kick off the season on August 28 at 7 p.m. with a road trip to meet Kirksville.