There is excitement in the air in Lower Afton as Chuckey-Doak is less than two weeks away from kicking off the 2026 football season.
The Black Knights finished 2025 4-6 (1-4) with a very young roster. The same young roster is now full of returning talent hungry to build upon last year’s lessons. Billy Kaylor is back as Chuckey-Doak’s Head Coach for his fourth season with the Knights.
After a playoff appearance in Coach Kaylor’s first season in 2023, the Black Knights have missed the playoffs the past two seasons. With the goal of making the playoffs always in mind, the Black Knights also have the simple goal of improving week-by-week in order to reach that ultimate goal in mind.
“Obviously we want to make the playoffs. Obviously we want to host a playoff game if at all possible. But we’ve got a tough run, a tough schedule with some really good football teams on there. We’re going to take it one week at a time. The goal for us is continue to improve,” Coach Kaylor said.
Quarterback Kiptyn Ball is back after his second full season at the position. Ball stepped in for an injured Dom Atchison. during his freshman season and has stayed at the quarterback position ever since. He comes back as an upperclassman with a full year of starting experience under his belt.
“He had a good summer. He’s just a junior and has had a lot of snaps in the last two years. He’s had a pretty good summer and we’re excited to see what these couple of scrimmages look like and how we mesh as an offense. We’re glad to have him back,” Coach Kaylor mentioned.
The backfield will host returning veteran Marcus Britt who split carries with Brayden Greene last season. Greene has moved to wide receiver on the depth chart and will play on the edge alongside Skylar Davis and Braxton Lowe.
Last year’s standout star in middle school, Brody Myers, will suit up as a freshman and play valuable minutes at the high school level this season. Myers played quarterback last season, but will sit behind Kiptyn Ball and see the field in other areas.
“He had a really great career at the middle school. He’s gonna have a really great career for us. He’s a big tall kid. About 6’5” as a freshman. He’s gonna play all over the field for us. Just a really talented kid,” Coach Kaylor mentioned.
One player Coach Kaylor coined as a potential breakout candidate this season is Avery Parkey. “I think he’s gonna introduce himself to the county and to the region this year,” Kaylor stated.
Kaylor named Conner Hall, Caleb Stamper, Skylar Nelson, and Brody Myers as other breakout prospects.
The Black Knights feature seven seniors on this year’s squad. Those seniors are Greene, Anthony Johnson, Samuel Johnson, Sean Rayon, Caleb Stamper, Spencer Nunley, and Conner Hall.
The junior class is much larger with 11 players in the group of 11th graders led by Ball. The group features Skylar Davis, Landon Brown, Jaden Britt, Mason Henderson, Marcus Britt, David Chapman, Lance Turner-Armstrong, Wyatt Barber, Chris Bible, and Hayden Painter.
A cast of six sophomores will wear the black and gold this season. The sophomore group consists of Avery Parkey, Cobe Love, Braylon Fox, Braxton Lowe, Nathan Casillas, and Colt Shull.
And rounding out the list of players includes 11 freshmen. Myers leads that list of freshmen followed by Joseph Leeper, Israel Collazo, Brayden Brown, Mikey Karriker, Zaden Schacke, Reid Cogdell, Skylar Nelson, Conley Woodby, TJ Greer, and Bret Grooms.
As mentioned earlier Kaylor will lead the Black Knights in his fourth season. He is joined by defensive coordinator Jason Hensley, assistant coach Devin Dye, and assistant coach William Hensley.
Chuckey-Doak will compete in Region 1-3A and play last year’s Class 3A runner-up Gatlinburg-Pittman, Unicoi County, Johnson County, Pigeon Forge, and Claiborne in a stacked region. The Black Knights will compete for the County Cup again with the trio of South Greene, North Greene, and West Greene on the schedule. The other non-region opponents are Sullivan East and Volunteer.
Chuckey-Doak begins the regular season with North Greene in Baileyton on August 21.
