Taking over in February of 2025, Tucker Carter entered his first high school head coaching job. Livingston was 0-10 the year before, and hadn’t claimed a record over .500 since 2020.
The start was an incredible turnaround. Attitudes around the program changed and the first two games were wins. Injuries began to mount, and a thin team could not keep pace, dropping the final eight contests. However, the Lions remained competitive until later in the year.
“I feel like the culture of the program has completely changed – just a 180,” Carter said looking back on the year. “Got here in February and everybody’s in season, so you kind of know who your kids are that are going to play football – but they’re in basketball, they’re in baseball, they’re in track – so we tried to get (the basics) in pretty quick. I changed offseason rather quickly when I got here, but I didn’t really mess with any of the multi-sport kids. I kind of let them finish what they were doing. I didn’t want to come in and yank kids to lift that hadn’t been lifting all year in basketball or baseball or whatever the case may be.
“We pieced together an offseason, had a good summer and then going into year one, everything is brand new from a schematic standpoint. Some of our kids are having to learn a different way of playing O-line or a different way of playing defensive back, and it’s the same position. That was a big thing, especially early on last year, that you could see on tape and really down the stretch. (It was) us not being deep enough into the scheme to be able to make the adjustments necessary or be able to do some things that we’d like to do.”
This year with a full offseason and the entire program in, Tucker said he structured a very disciplined and “old school” approach. He feels as though the group is now more resilient. He had to bring in many new coaches. With only five available to instruct during offseason, he joked that if the defensive line doesn’t perform, his coaching abilities at the position may be to blame.
Livingston graduated 20 seniors, meaning many from the junior varsity and freshman teams will be needed on Friday nights.
“I just feel like, right now, we’re just better competitors, knowing that it’s not going to be easy,” Carter said. “How we handle adversity and keep competing until the final whistle and a big area of focus has been, ‘Hey, we have 40. We’re going to have 40 or less on the roster. If you’re a dude, you’re going to have to play both ways and you’re going to be tired. What are you going to do about it?’ That’s been a big area of focus with our offseason programming, summer programming, and getting into practice this year.”
Carter believes the offense had success in his inaugural campaign because it is “quarterback friendly.” Four athletes were behind center over the year, and the unit played fast and wide open. More players specialized on one side of the ball, but that is not expected to be the case this season.
“I think that was kind of our edge, was tempo, and then we lost a lot of guys, and so we had to adjust. This year, it’ll look different. Sitting down in offseason looking at our roster, looking at what we do well, I think we’re physical. I think we’ll be able to run the football. Our quarterbacks make good decisions in the pass game, so kind of the theme of it is: possess the ball, have long drives, and keep our best 11 on defense to be able to play well and stop people. We probably won’t see as many shootouts as we did last year, but hopefully that will work in our advantage.”
At quarterback, two have emerged, taking the majority of snaps. Sophomores Brax Smith, a baseball standout, and Jax Ruiz, who put together some quality drives on varsity as a freshman, are the favorites for the job.
“What they don’t know, they’re learning a lot of, and they’re very green. They want to be coached, they pay attention on film, and they ask high-level questions – not questions of day-one install stuff. Both of them throw the ball well and both will be able to run the football effectively. That’s going to be big for us. Both of them are going to play a lot of football, whether they’re the quarterback or not, because they are very valuable at other positions on offense and on the defensive side.”
Carter may go with the hot hand or could choose to play both. He said the two are hard workers and team guys that want to win.
“When the fire gets hot, they go into it, instead of shying away from it. They’ll make sophomore mistakes and we’ll move on, When Jax went in the game last year on the varsity, he had some moxie and the kids rallied around him. He was a freshman going in there. Brax is the same. I think the kids equally respect both of them and whichever one is in the game, they feel confident they’ll do the job.”
There are twice as many running backs for which coaches feel comfortable handing the ball.
“The running back position we feel really, really good about,” Carter said. “There’s four quality guys that can carry it, so we can give those guys a breather, and they need to be fresh, because they’re all very important for our defense.”
Zyleer King began to steal time from seniors last year as a sophomore, so more can be expected as an upperclassman.
“He’s done some really good stuff and runs behind his pads really well. Him and Taylor Haynes, who are both juniors, they’re both fast, and they’re two of the strongest kids in our program. They kind of got thrown in the fire last year as sophomores and had good offseasons. You’re talking about kids that are mid-500 to 600-pound squatters. Hunter Carr does some really good things. He’s more of your scatback, and then Whit Jackson is your one-cut, downhill, protect the football, and get positive yards guy. They will all play quite a bit.”
Sophomore Bryson Davis could also get playing time in the backfield. At receiver, Zayden Martin is a large presence on the perimeter that should prove to be problematic. Carter likes how difficult he’ll be for corners to bring down with the size of a tight end.
Senior Jaydon Jules and sophomore Ryder Powledge will also see action on the outside. In the slot, Smith, when not at quarterback, will catch passes. Junior Uriah Tatum and sophomore Bentley Campos-Jernigan should also rotate in. Junior Robert Pulido and sophomore Cade Randolph will line up at tight end, along with Martin.
“The tight end in our offense is like the duct tape. That position holds everything together. They probably have more mentally on them than anybody in the offense besides the quarterback, so it’s got to be a heady kid. We’ve got enough kids to rotate in there that we can stay fresh and be effective, and hopefully get in some of our two tight end sets. Those kids can catch the ball too, so that’s good. They’re a receiver, they’re a fullback, they’re an offensive lineman sometimes, they’re just heavily involved. All of our variations in the run game and the pass game, there’s a lot of rules for them built in on where they’re aligned and what they’re doing, and we pre-snap motion them probably more than anybody. They’re playing on the ball, they’re playing off the ball, they’re split out in the backfield, so it’s a lot.”
Three out of the five offensive linemen return, and several will cross-train at a few spots to help in case of injury or fatigue.
“Ty Thomas, we’ve moved to tackle. Big-body senior Sam Champagne is the center, and Jacob Blackman, who’s a senior, those are our core guys. Then, you throw Tyelen Wyatt in the mix, who will play some tackle and play a lot on defense. Haiden Davis will play some center and some guard and play a lot on defense. There’s about three more guys that’ll be in that rotation. That’s the benefit we’ve had right now practicing both ways. Those kids, they got a lot of defensive reps and not a lot of offensive reps last year. I feel like it’s got to run through them on offense. If we can mash the ball, we’ll have a really good year.”
Coordinator Destry Cope knows last season wasn’t good enough on the defensive side of the ball. The veteran coach of 29 years isn’t just crossing his fingers in hope of better results. He instead made changes in alignment to suit the athletes he has for 2026.
“Last year, there were times that we would play well in spurts, and then we would go in spurts where we couldn’t play dead in a western. Hopefully, this year, we’ll be a little more consistent in our play, in the good, because I always think back to Liberty. We played really well in the first half. They really didn’t change anything, but we played horrible in the second half. You go to Huffman, we played pretty well for the first three quarters and some of the fourth quarter. It’s 24-21 with eight minutes to go, and then they score basically three times in three plays, just bang, bang, bang.
“Sometimes people had good calls against some of the stuff, and then sometimes it was just people just deciding not to fit where they had been fitting previous drives. That was kind of a frustrating thing, because, anytime you’re new somewhere, kids have to believe in what you’re doing. But usually, kids start believing when you have some success, and we would have success, and then they would resort back to maybe some things that they had done in the past.
“I think if we play harder, that makes up for some technique mistakes. I think the coaches that we have this year are doing a phenomenal job and kind of holding the standard up to where it needs to be and demanding the kids to do the same things over and over again.”
Four new coaches are providing a fresh voice for the defense. Cope said they are helping to correct mistakes before the film room. There will be changes in alignment, showing a 2-4 look with a focus on bringing speed off the ends to disrupt timing and get to the quarterback. While plugging the middle, the defense ideally has two edge rushers who quickly find the football.
Jacob Blackman was on varsity last year as an offensive lineman, but suggestions from coaches got him more time at defensive tackle.
“I’ll be honest, I kind of looked at him and I didn’t see a defensive lineman,” Cope said. “As we got later in the year, because of injuries and stuff like that, we started playing him, and he was a good defensive lineman. Right now, he’ll play both offensive and defensive line for us.”
Champagne, Haiden Davis, Wyatt, Thomas and Jayson Harrison will also rotate in at defensive tackle. Martin, Pulido, junior Warren Hampton, junior Andrew Preciado and Ruiz will all line up at outside linebacker. More speed will align at the inside linebacker position, with King, Haynes, Randolph and Smith. Cope raves about the potential there with more quickness to the ball.
King will also play the “Lion” position, which is described as a strong safety and linebacker hybrid. The idea is freeing him to make plays.
“It’s good from Little League to the NFL,” Cope said of the alignment. “Put your biggest, fastest guys inside, let them run, tackle the guy with the ball, and hopefully we’ll have some success with it. Having four non-district games and two scrimmages, you have a long time for kids to learn how to play the game before it actually really matters. You want to win them all, but by the time you get to district, you want those kids to say, ‘This is what I’m supposed to do; here’s where I’m supposed to fit.’ Some of it is carryover, even though we’ve slightly changed the structure. Some of the positions are pretty much the same, and so they have a pretty good handle.”
King and Martin, according to Cope, have become leaders on the defensive side.
“I think both of those kids are doing a phenomenal job. To me, if you’re a leader, you don’t sit around and wait. You are a leader regardless of classification. That’s kind of something that’s innate and it’s not something that you really learn. It’s something that you want to be the guy that’s out there in front of everybody. Some people are vocal, some people show by work ethic, and then you have those people that are just so strong in will that they force everybody around them to live to a certain standard. Those two do a great job of leading by example with their work ethic and then being vocal about it.”
Safety, a position decimated by injury last season, will now have some different looks. Jackson fills the rover (boundary side safety) responsibility. Findley, junior Nathan Coryelle and Jules will all get time at safety. Bryson Davis awaits medical clearance to also return at safety. Carr, Tatum, senior Braylon Nunez and Powledge have received reps at corner, as the Lions look to improve coverage on the back end.
“We’re kind of moving people around to allow them to have some success,” Cope said of the defensive backs. “Maybe where they struggled last year, taking them out of those situations.”
Injuries were a big issue as the team struggled to remain competitive in the final stretch. The defense had glaring holes by the end that could not be covered.
“As everybody else is advancing, getting more complicated, we’re going back to basics (late in the season), because this is what we can do,” the defensive coordinator said. “We kind of got to where we were very predictable on defense, because we could only do one thing, line up one way, and play one coverage. In some years, you just have it to where you’re snakebit. Last year, I thought we were on our way to getting better and then we got worse as the year went. If we stay healthy, I think we’ll start at a level and continue to get better playing with each other.”
On special teams, senior Victor Negrete kicked and punted some last year, and has already shown improvement. Also look for Dorian Ortiz, who is said to have a powerful leg. Frank Fox was hired to lead the golf program, but when away from the links, serves as a special teams coach working with punters, kickers, holders and snappers. Fox mentioned that he has seen his kickers connect from over 50 yards.
“I wanted someone to work with the kickers and the deep snappers, because it’s so underutilized and it can get you beat very quickly,” Carter said. “Coach Fox takes those guys down and works the dog out of them every single day and it’s been awesome. I’m really excited about that because I’ve really never had that.”
Livingston’s district is one of the more unpredictable in the state. Teams that finish last can jump to first the next season. It has happened to both Lumberton and Livingston. Carter said it could be any school’s title in 2026. “It’s weird, because everybody’s so similar in the district. I don’t feel like you know. Bridge City’s the district champion until they’re not, and so they’ve got a lot of returners. They’ve got to be the favorite, I guess. Lumberton’s going to be extremely physical, they’re going to run the ball downhill and dare you to stop it. (Little Cypress-Mauriceville) won the district on the ninth-grade level and the J.V. level, so they’ve got some kids coming. Huffman is always consistent, and Liberty plays well at times and finds ways to win games. Their head coach does a really good job. I respect what he does over there, so it’s pretty wide open. I don’t think there’s someone that just is the bonafide district champ going into it. That’s not to put any disrespect on anyone, but this is a district I feel like every Friday night you’ve got to come to play, because you can easily win one or lose one.”
