Consistency the name of the game in new era of Hickman football

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

When the Hickman Kewpies travel to Marquette on week one of the high school football season, it will be a full circle moment for first-year head coach Justin Conyers. He has plenty of experience in the coaching world, but the 2024 season will be his first time coaching in his house.

Conyers was a member of the Hickman class of 1999 and during his time playing football for the Kewpies, the program won three district championships. He knows what winning looks like at his alma mater and said it is great to be home.

"You never say never, but I didn't see it in my future, you know, especially whenever I was at Rock Bridge, then going to Battle and then back up to Hallsville. I just didn't see this opportunity ever arising for me in my head coaching career, so it's one of those things where it truly is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you can't let those opportunities go away because you never know when this job will be available again," he said.

Coach Conyers will be tasked with turning around a program that went 0-10 through the 2023 season. But, the former Hallsville head coach has experience getting teams back to winning ways. In fact, he just did it for the Indians.

When he was hired to take over in Hallsville in 2019, the Indians had won three games the year prior. After one season under Conyers' leadership, Hallsville went 10-3 and won a district championship. Obviously, change never happens overnight, but Conyers knows the culture he wants to inject into his alma mater.

"I think we have a ton of potential," Conyers said. "The big thing we're trying to create is we're trying to create that positive culture and we're trying to create consistency. Those were the things that I thought we lacked a bunch of whenever you watched film, is really celebrating our own team success when we have those successes and then learning how to do that day-in and day-out."

Hickman will have a young team for the 2024 season, as 11 seniors will take the field for their final seasons in purple and gold. With a class of about 40 sophomores, Conyers said he embraces that youth. A lot of young guys will have to mature quick and make players for the Kewpies in 2024, which will set this program up for the future, as well.

There's a lot of talent in that senior class, but tight end Brock Camp, specifically, has been a fun player to watch for quite some time.

"You go back and you watch all the film and you're like 'look at this guy.' You know, he's 6-foot-7, he's 240 pounds. I watched him play basketball numerous times this summer and just seeing the abilities that he has. You're thinking, 'how can we utilize him in more than just one role and how do you get that guy the ball?' You know, you got to find multiple targets and that's what I told him," Conyers said.

Conyers added that the key to his success at Hickman came in getting the buy-in from players like Camp. He said if you can get those leaders to follow and trust you, then more will follow.

"When you get your big time athlete and your high flier names and you get those guys to buy-in to what you're selling, that builds the culture," Conyers said. "[Younger] guys are looking to those guys to see how they are going to do, how are they going to perceive us."

Hickman will begin a new era on Friday, Aug. 30 with a trip to Marquette. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.

They'll hope they can emulate some of the magic that fans saw 20 years ago, when the 2004 Kewpie football took home the program's second state title. Interestingly enough, the school actually announced it will be hosting a special Hall of Fame induction ceremony for teams like that 2004 squad.

You can find a full list of the teams being honored below.

• Baseball - 1990, 2005
• Girls Cross Country - 1980, 1981
• Girls Track and Field - 1981
• Boys Cross Country -1998
• Football - 2004
• Girls Swim and Dive - 1991, 1995, 1996
• Boys Tennis - 1994

The event will be held on Friday, Sept. 20. The school said if you know or were a member of one of these teams please reach out to Athletic Director Jen Caine at (573) 214-3000 or jcaine@cpsk12.org by September 16.