Walkertown's first-year head football coach Tripp Honeycutt talks with his players as he wraps up the first day of practice on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
MARC PRUITT Staff Reporter
It didn't take Tripp Honeycutt too many film sessions to discover that he had a couple of dynamic playmakers on the roster at Walkertown when he was named head coach last December, taking over for a team that went 3-7 last season and missed the NCHSAA 2-A state playoffs.
"Well, that and having pretty much everyone in the community reaching out to me to let me know that there were two guys who needed to touch the football as much as possible," Honeycutt said with a laugh.
"It didn't take long for me to see that they were two guys who could be gamebreakers for us. So far this year, they have been just that. We're happy to get them the football whenever we can," he said.
Those two guys are senior receiver Mitrend Curry and senior running back Cam Kelly, both of whom have played essential roles in the Wolfpack's 3-0 start heading into Friday's game at North Davidson.
Curry has 21 receptions for 472 yards, which ranks No. 2 in the state for all classifications, and seven touchdowns. He also had 79 rushing yards and a touchdown run, an interception, and he returns kicks.
Kelly, a workhorse running back who packs plenty of breakaway speed, has rushed for 476 yards and seven touchdowns on 69 carries. He has run for 100-plus yards in every game this season.
Kelly's best performance of the season came last week, when he ran 35 times for 203 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-21 win against Forest Hills.
"We kept asking him every time he came to the sideline if he was OK, and he just kept saying,' Coach, I'm good. Let me take us home.' And he did. Our O-line was doing a tremendous job and we could sense that we were wearing them down up front. And Cam, we gave him the ball as much as we could in that second half and he delivered. He's just an absolute warrior."
Curry's breakout performance came in a 47-33 win against Salisbury, a team which advanced to the third round of the NCHSAA 2-A state playoffs last season. He had nine receptions for 248 yards and three touchdowns.
"He just went crazy in the fourth quarter," Honeycutt said. "I think he had 150 yards alone in the fourth quarter of that game. He's just explosive and elusive. We don't have to throw the ball down the field all the time. We can throw short, intermediate routes and he can make plays, turning a short route into a big gain because of his speed."
Honeycutt praised both players for their work off of the field as well.
"Both of those guys, they were at every spring workout and every summer workout," Honeycutt said. "They also played basketball last year, and often times, they would go to their basketball workout and then come and do football, too. They are competitors. They do everything right in the classroom, too, and they are both easy guys to coach. And everybody on this team loves them."
Both Curry and Kelly said that establishing a bond with Honeycutt was easy when he became the team's coach.
"We had him for PE class last year and he would take time to draw plays up for us on the board," Curry said. "I got really excited when I found out we would probably be throwing the ball even more this year. Everyone is together. Everyone is focused, more locked in now. I started to get more comfortable during spring ball and then over the summer, right before practice started. And I think the team is starting to see the success we are having from buying into everything."
Kelly said he took to social media to introduce himself to Honeycutt once he was named as the next coach and then was happy that he ended up in his PE class as well.
"We corresponded over (X, formerly Twitter) a few times once he got the job," Kelly said. "We established a pretty good bond from that, and that was strengthened when I had him for PE. He had everyone ready once practice started. He put a lot of work into getting us prepared. We still have things to do, but we have a lot more confidence right now. We want to get this one Friday so we can go into conference play undefeated."
Curry and Kelly also said that the emergence of quarterback Santana Garcia as the starter has also been beneficial to their success.
"Having that connection now has settled everything down," Curry said. "Everything's been clicking for us. Offense, defense. We're just playing with a lot of confidence."
"Our offensive line has been doing a great job up front, and now since Santana secured the starting job after the Atkins game (a season-opening 38-7 win), we've been rolling ever since," Kelly said.
Honeycutt added that the Wolfpack defense also has been doing a great job, especially in the last two games when Walkertown faced deficits in each and came from behind to win.
"How we responded to that adversity was key, because that's just something I hadn't been through with this group before that," Honeycutt said. "We were down nine in the third quarter against Salisbury, and then we scored a touchdown on the second play of our next drive. That really swung the momentum of that game. That showed me that this team had plenty of fight in it and that it wasn't going to quit.
"I knew there was talent in the building when I took the job. My job was to figure out the best way to get that talent shown, to try and build that winning culture and then keep it rolling," he added. "I love to see their competitiveness. You can see and feel the excitement in the hallways around school. Everything feels like it's coming together so far."
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