Bob Jones Football Coach Kevin Rose with seniors Brandon Alexander and Derek Marion (Record Photo/Lindsay Vaught)

From Madison Living magazine September 2015

MADISON- Kevin Rose enters his seventh season as Bob Jones head football coach with a career winning percentage of .791. With 57 victories he is the schools all-time winning coach. Rose and Bob Jones open the 2015 season Friday night against Decatur at Ogle Stadium.

A decade ago, Decatur regularly beat Bob Jones but Rose is 6-0 vs Decatur and Bob Jones is coming off a season where they were ranked No. 1 in 7A for two weeks.

“We’ve put a good product on the field our first six years and we expect that to continue,” Rose said.

“The focus of a good football program is that players don’t define you. Reggie Ragland was a great player here and is now at Alabama but we kept winning after Reggie left.

People told me we wouldn’t win after the schools split or when Reggie graduated but we have.

Our players understand when you become the starting quarterback or receiver or safety there is a standard you are expected to play to. As a team there is a standard. Our expectations are extremely high and we expect you to meet them or exceed them.”

Rose hit on a subject many point to this season. Bob Jones top three receivers all graduated and will play in college this season.

“We don’t go around saying we lost our top three receivers from last years team. We expect the next three players to step in and make the same type contribution.”

Milkhi (pronounced Ma Ki) Stewart, Derek Marion and Jonathon Moss are the wide outs being counted on this season.

“It is critical to the success at Bob Jones to have someone coach those 10th grade kids and build relationships with them and keep them engaged,” Rose said.

Bob Jones had some lapses on defense last year. They gave up leads against Florence and Tuscaloosa County, both losses.

“We’re going to be a much better football team than last year. We played a lot of young kids that weren’t ready to play 7A football and we gave up too many points. Our defensive line will be greatly improved and that can make your defense better than any other position. Jeffrey Benton and Demarus Clark are bigger, faster, and stronger and mentally they can process information much faster. We have a lot of experience on defense that we didn’t have last year,” Rose said.

The defense returns eight starters including safety AJ Harris (6-foot-1, 190 pounds) one of the top players at his position in the nation. Harris had 5 interceptions last year.

Junior Brady Polson returns at quarterback. He went 5-1 in six starts last year.

He threw a touchdown pass on his first series. He led to team to road wins at Buckhorn, Austin, and Huntsville and home wins over Grissom and Hazel Green.

“Brady has had a great summer. He’s gained a lot of confidence. He has grown to about 6-foot-2. Mentally he has grown up. Our team looks to him as a leader and voted him team captain,” Rose said.

“I need him to make the routine plays. He needs to be efficient getting the ball to the play makers; Miles Strickland, Milkyl Stewart, and Brad Anderson. Guys who can take it the distance.”