The crowd erupted, and the band trumpeted as senior Austin Hailey caught the ball in the end zone for a touchdown against North Crowley last November. Unfortunately, this would be the final scoring play for Prosper football’s 2023-2024 season. Now, entering a new era – “The Ship” has new ambitions for the new season.

Prosper football will kick off their season on Aug. 29 in Austin against Westlake.

“Westlake is a perennial powerhouse in Central Texas and we’ve never played anybody from that Austin area,” said Special Teams Coordinator and Outside Linebacker Coach Coby Richards. “We’ve been studying film and working all summer, preparing for that game, and I’m anxious to see their scrimmage film and go to work.”

Prepping for this year’s matchups, the team has been practicing weekly in the offseason.

“Our biggest focus for this offseason would have to be the outside linebacker room,” Richards said. “We lost a lot of experience last year, so it’s really the outside linebacker room that is our big question. If those guys step up and have a good year, we’re gonna be in a good position.”

With the exit of quarterback Nathan Tenbarge last season, Prosper will promote junior quarterback Braedon Imhoff.

“I like his positivity. Whenever I notice Braeden does something wrong, he overcomes real quick, and that’s a huge positive,” Richards said. “He’s a good player, and he’s had success at every football level. I’m anxious to see him play.”

Keeping the ball on the offensive side, the Eagles have a very talented offensive line with players such as senior Logan Cahill, junior Jaden Kremlin, and senior Connor Carty. Richards told me if this offensive line can work together as one cohesive unit, Prosper’s offensive line should be dominant.

“I hope that our biggest success this year comes from our offensive line,” Richards said. “We have five guys that are all Power-5, Division I-offered players. If our offensive line can hold up and give our offense the time to get into a good rhythm to overcome our inexperience, then we are really good.” 

With just eight days until the season kicks off, head coach Tyler Moore and “The Ship” have set ambitious goals and plan to head into the year with high hopes. A final component that will be key to Prosper’s offense this season is in their rushing game.

“It’s probably the deepest running back room we’ve had a number of years,” Richards said. “We’ve had good running backs, but we’ve never had three good running backs at one time. Between those three guys we got a lot of explosive guys who can take the ball score from anywhere on the field so it should be good.”