Who are the players Beckley has lost this preseaso

[Bluefield_Rules 46]

I read an article on Beckley football this morning where Coach Lilly was quoted as saying they had lost two or three would-be starters due to poor grades and another would-be starter has transferred. Who are the players Beckley has lost? I had heard that M. Ali is no longer with the team, true?

[bluefieldRocks 14]

I know they had that RB , wessly walker i beleive his name was. He played for Bluefield in middle school

[Beckley_WWHS 10]

The two that were lost because of grades are Blaine Mayo and Kevin Starkey. Losing Mayo hurts the worst. He is a running back with a lot of shiftiness. He was quite a player in middle school. He scored 4 TD's in the last game of his 9th grade year at Beckley, his first varsity action, and a lot of people took notice. Mayo has/had a ton of talent and potential. It is a shame to see.

 

Starkey will be a 10th grader and has/had a ton of potential in both football and basketball. He can't seem to get his priorities straight though. He would have started at linebacker and been the backup QB. He was also ineligible the second semester last season on the 9th grade basketball team.

 

I'm not really sure what to expect from Beckley after losing so many seniors. They do have a very good line, probably top two or three in the state. I think the line is the most important thing. Other than the line, the only other player returing with significant experience is Marquel Ali at running back and safety which is probably his best position. There are a couple other running backs that I think will do very good and surprise some people. The biggest question mark to me is the defense. We lost all of our linebackers and basically everyone else outside of Ali and a lineman or two.

 

Overall, young and inexperienced are a couple of good words to describe the team, but there is quite a bit of talent. I don't see any reason this season's team can't develop into a good, competitive football team and be somewhere between 8 and 16.