HOWELL’S COVE- The new look Talladega County Central Fighting Tigers basketball team tip off their season against the Munford Lions tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Clarence Marble Gymnasium. The Fighting Tigers are only returning one player with significant playing time from last year’s number one ranked team that reached the Regional Final in Montgomery.

“This year is going to be a year where there is a lot of unknown,” TC Central head coach Cornelius Brown said. ”They have a new crop of players coming in. We have to learn the system pretty fast. A couple of players that we expected to be ready to play they are not going to play due to football injuries. So I have four guys out because of football injuries. I only have one experienced player coming back and that’s Cameron Duncan. There are a lot of unknowns as far as this season is concerned. I am optimistic. the guys are working hard, they are practicing hard, they are listening and they are learning. But, at the same time, they don’t have long to learn, because we open up this Thursday.”

The Fighting Tigers lost four of their top five scorers from last season’s team, including All-State performers Dion Duncan and Eric Garrett. Duncan averaged 19 points per game last season while Garrett averaged 17 points per game.

“Anytime you lose players that were in the All-State conversation such as Dion Duncan, who made second team All-State last year- three times All-County, Brown said. “Eric Garrett who made honorable mention All-State last year. Any time you loss players that are in All-State conversation that is a significant lost. So we have big shoes to fill, so we will see how it goes.”

Brown will be looking for senior Cameron Duncan to do his damage down low instead of on the perimeter. Brown believes that Duncan is going to have to be on his game if they are going to be successful.

“Cameron is going to have to play all five positions,” Brown said.” He is going to be versatile for us this year. We are inexperienced everywhere, but we are really depleted on the box, because all of the players that I just mention that are not playing because of football injuries, all of them play on the post. He is going to have to go down there- he is undersized- he is going to have to go down there and really rebound for us, get stick backs for us, really play a role that he has never been asked to do. He is going to have to come up big for us to be successful. He definitely is the straw that stirs the drink so to speak.”

Brown believes that he has a handful of players that have the potential to step up and make a impact on this season’s team.

“We have young man that sat out last year; his name is Rory Jackson,” Brown said. “He is a shooting guard. I really expect big things from him. We have a sophomore point guard Eric’s little brother (Tyree Garrett)- I expect him to play big for us as well. We have two brothers Tevin and Terrell Garrett. I really expect them to step up and give us a spark off the bench as well. There are some young men that are in the program that has potential, but you know as well as I know, potential always doesn’t equal production. So that’s what we are really hoping for and believing in God that will take place that all the guys that are full of potential will transcend into production.”

The Fighting Tigers will also be without their two assistant coaches from last season. Lamorris Walker is now an assistant coach at Northwest Shoals Community College and Arcardia Garrett who is in the Armed Forces.