The Baker Hornets open the 2026 high school football season with a target on their backs after claiming their first Region 1 championship since 1989 a year ago, and head coach Eric Scott says the program’s foundation is strong enough to withstand significant roster turnover.
Baker finished the 2025 campaign 9-3, capped a run to the second round of the Class 7A playoffs before falling to Opelika, and delivered just the third region title in the West Mobile school’s history. The season extended a remarkable three-year stretch under Scott, during which the Hornets have gone 26-9 overall — the best three-year run the program has produced — and earned a final state ranking in four of the last five seasons after collecting only one ranking in the decades before that.
Replacing the group that made it happen will be the Hornets’ biggest challenge this fall. Baker graduated a trio of its most dangerous offensive weapons in Khatori Marion, Speedy Wheeler and Joshua Jones from an attack that averaged 31.8 points per game, eighth-most in Class 7A a year ago. The defense loses just as much production, with Ronald Reed, Ashton Stokes, Keandre Pettway, Carmelo Taylor and Jerrod Grissom all gone from a unit that ranked eighth in the classification by allowing only 18.7 points per game.
What Baker does return is arguably the most important piece on the field: a proven starting quarterback. Senior Tate Graham threw for more than 2,800 yards and 27 touchdowns against just seven interceptions last season, and Scott is counting on that experience to steady an offense that will otherwise look considerably different.
“It’s going to look a little different, but we’re going to try to continue to be explosive on offense,” Scott said. “We’re definitely going to be tempo, continue to do the things that have been successful for us here in the past. Tate really has done a great job of controlling the offense, running it. He’s mastered it. He’s doing a great job, and as he goes, we’ll go.”
Graham won’t be doing it alone. Senior Gavin Wood, who piled up more than 450 total yards and six touchdowns in 2025, returns alongside emerging junior receiver Jamien Pryor as Baker looks to develop a new supporting cast around its veteran signal-caller.
“The identity has changed,” Scott said of the offense. “They’re a younger group, especially on offense. Those guys around Tate are younger, so Tate is like the older brother over there, and there’s a bunch of little brothers. Having them focus and getting those guys to learn how to lock in and play at a high level consistently has been the challenge.”
The defense, meanwhile, brings back enough experience that Scott believes it can carry the team early while the offense finds its footing. Edge rusher Kaden Moorer returns after a disruptive 2025 season, and the Hornets have experience up front with Lavondraie Roscoe, Caiden Davidson and Davale Cunningham. Baker’s linebacker corps could be one of the deepest in Region 1, returning Theodore Roberts, Alex Hawthorne, Gacorian Smith, Champion Campbell, Jax Williamson and Jordan Drinkard. Senior Myles Johnson headlines a secondary replacing three starters that Scott still expects to be among the region’s stronger units.
“They’re going to be fast again,” said Scott, a longtime defensive coach. “We’ve got a chance to be pretty good. They’re continuing to improve, and they’re taking some steps now that I’m very excited to see. Once we figure a few more things out on defense, I think we have a chance to be pretty good.”
Baker will also be playing under a new wrinkle from the Alabama High School Athletic Association this fall, which expanded its playoff format to allow six teams to qualify from each region — a change that widens the postseason field even as the Hornets try to defend their regular-season title.
With Graham back under center and a defense that returns much of its front seven, Baker enters preseason workouts as one of the more experienced teams in Class 7A, Region 1, even with major question marks at the skill positions. How quickly that younger supporting cast develops will likely determine whether the Hornets can make it back-to-back region titles for the first time in program history.