Raiders kick off season under motto ‘Why not us?’

In the varsity football locker room at Hurst L.D. Bell High School is a poster. The players pass by it every day, each one pausing to take a look, though they’ve seen it many times.

It’s an inspirational message — of sorts.

The poster lists a breakdown of District 5-6A and the playoff possibilities as predicted by a local media outlet. It mentions the usual powerhouses, Southlake Carroll and Euless Trinity, along with Flower Mound Marcus, Lewisville Hebron and Lewisville.

Across the prognostications are written the words Why not us?

That is the theme adopted by the Bell football team this season. Though the Blue Raiders are coming off of back-to-back 1-9 seasons, second-year coach Mike Glaze has instilled in his players a belief that their fortunes could change this season.

“That’s our motivation, every day,” said senior cornerback Devunte’ Dawson. “We feel like it’s our time to shock the world.”

Both Dawson and senior offensive lineman Donovan Gladden are entering their third and final varsity season. Gladden said, quite honestly, he is tired of 1-9 seasons.

“We are extremely hungry,” Gladden said. “That poster shows us people give several reasons it shouldn’t be us. But we can give several reasons it should be us.

“Everybody has become closer on this team. We have all put in a lot of extra hours of work. And we are just a better team than we were last year.”

Gladden also disagreed with the philosophy that because the Raiders have not been contenders in recent years there is no pressure on them.

“There is and there isn’t,” he said. “There’s no pressure in that everybody is expecting us to have another horrible season, but there is because Coach Glaze has been here a year now and it’s time for us to do better.”

Glaze said he got the idea for Why not us? from a conversation with a former L.D. Bell player.

“His junior year he was in the training room and they’d been 5-5. The trainer told him that one day there’s going to be a class come through here that is going to change things,” Glaze said. “I thought about it awhile. It stuck with me. I kept hearing this and seeing it. Nobody’s talking about us. Why not?”

Glaze isn’t just being inspirational. There is ample reason to believe the Raiders will be improved this season. They return nine players who started at one time or another on offense and 10 who did the same on defense.

There’s significant depth on both the offensive and defensive lines. This is especially important, considering the Raiders will have a new starting quarterback this season, senior Chrishaun Daniels (6-3, 192 pounds) or junior Austin Brougham (6-2, 185), a move-in from Arlington Lamar. Brougham is more of a true passer and Daniels the better runner, Glaze said.

Senior Christion Nealy (6-3, 185) will be the lone two-way player for the Raiders, Glaze said. He will see action at both wide receiver and defensive back.

“He’s good enough to be a game-changer on both sides of the ball,” Glaze said.

Nealy is also one of two Bell players to be named among Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine’s Top 300 players to watch. The other is senior offensive lineman Brendon Weatherspoon (6-4, 305).

Also, senior Dequalon Hill has been moved from defensive back to wide receiver as Glaze believes he can make an impact at that position.

Glaze said the team returned 50-plus seniors, something that could play a major role in the turnaround. In fact, he said that could be the team’s top intangible.

“We’ve got a bunch of seniors and they want to be successful. They’re a great group, and they’re hungry,” he said.

Glaze also noted the importance of a full offseason. Among the positives were a strong spring performances and boot camp, along with qualifying for the first time to the Texas State Lineman Challenge, finishing fourth.

“You look at all the character development, the familiarity with players and coaches, that goes a long way,” he said.

Glaze said he also understands the poster listing perennial powers Southlake Carroll and Trinity. And though he is confident his team will be much-improved, he acknowledges they still have to do something to grab attention — win.

“Trinity and Southlake, if I was a reporter, I’d say the same thing. Historically, they’re the most talented teams in district,” he said. “The missing ingredient [at Bell] is you’ve got to have some success someplace.

“But if we do the things we have learned to do, play at Raider speed, execute, take care of the ball, the scoreboard will take care of itself. This team is ready to show what they can do.”

This story was originally published August 22, 2016 at 11:18 AM with the headline "Raiders kick off season under motto ‘Why not us?’."