Delayed but not Deterred

A Lightning Storm Delayed the Wolverines’ First Football Practice, but an Electric Spirit Dominates a Team Forged in Brotherhood

By: Garrett Mitchell, Staff Writer | garrett@thewoodrufftimes.com

Just half an hour before the Woodruff football team was set to begin their first practice in preparation for the 2025 season, a fierce lightning storm descended on Varner Stadium that kept the Wolverines inside for almost 90 minutes.

A harbinger, perhaps, of things to come for a team that has a collection of electric talents and personalities.

While the first steps toward a championship might have been delayed, the Wolverines were far from deterred. That first practice was a jolt of energy following a long offseason, and those lightning bolts that split the sky over Woodruff High School were simply taken in stride.

The real electricity was on the field.

“We don’t let stuff like that bother us,” said Aiden Gibson, the Wolverines’ all-world junior running back. “We come out and we work no matter what it is. We would come out here in a hurricane when there is work to do. We think we can win it all this year, but it depends on how hard we work. We can’t get complacent and have to keep working no matter what. We’ve got a lot of stuff to do, and I think we’ve got a lot of work to do. I think we have a chance to do it all, so we’re going to take every chance we’ve got.”

From merely watching at a distance, it is strikingly clear that this Woodruff team is full of leaders. Gibson switched between vocally directing teammates to placing his arm around younger players and quietly talking them through drills.

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On the other side of the ball is War Daddy. Shaun Graybill, Woodruff’s tenacious middle linebacker, is feared by opponents and revered by his teammates. Leading just comes naturally to him, and a little bad weather was nothing more than a stone to be kicked out of the way of success.

“I see it like it’s a Friday night and things start off rocky and we respond to it,” he said. “Everybody responded good and we had a lot of good energy today.”

For head coach Brett Sloan, it was a good feeling to get back to work for real after a long, hot summer of passing competitions, conditioning, and workouts. He said he saw the joy in the eyes of his players, too, who continued practicing with a renewed vigor even as the sun set in a clearing sky.

“Every summer, I think you get to that point where the kids are just ready to go and strap it up and ready to play somebody else,” Sloan said. “They’re ready to see where they’re at. To be able to get out here and have our first practice, and we had some obstacles we had to overcome, but that happens. I was really pleased with all that, and I told them sometimes, lesser teams, when you’re in the gym and have that layover, they wouldn’t come out focused and motivated. I was really pleased with our energy and the fact we looked like we were happy to be practicing football. That was refreshing. It looked like we were having fun.”

There is even more fun in winning. Woodruff won nine games a season ago, finishing 9-2. Those two losses came by a combined nine points, leaving the team a bitter taste and the unsettled feeling that they were so close to something special, yet it slipped so far out of their reach.

Gibson wants his team to understand the urgency that comes with success and what it takes to climb the mountaintop to a championship.

“I can’t just come out here one day and speak up, then the next day not speak up because then my teammates won’t look at me as a leader,” explained Gibson. “I’ve been taking a big role like that since my ninth-grade year playing varsity with this team, and it just means a lot to me and this team. I think we can win it all this year with my brothers. Me being a leader and everyone else just following me and following the other leaders on this team is going to lead us to a good situation this year.”

But it is not just Gibson and Graybill leading the way. According to Shaun, the Wolverines are full of leaders, each with their own unique qualities. He sees it and is quick to acknowledge the team’s maturity.

“Everybody is looking pretty good,” Graybill stated. “It seems like everyone is being a leader. I see a lot of maturity, especially in our defense line. Jordan (Hood) has been doing a great job. Buster (Jalen Roberson) has done a really good job at MIKE (linebacker). You can look everywhere on our defense and say that guy’s a good leader or that guy’s a good leader. We all contribute.”

It comes with so much returning talent. While Woodruff will have a new quarterback under center in Connor Davis and four new starters on the offensive line, so much of the rest of the team returns with experience that has taught them what needs to be done to take the final steps to the top.

According to Sloan, it starts with the love that every player has for each other.

“I think they have a really good rapport,” he said of his team. “They love each other. Romans 12 is kind of the basis for our devotion this summer, and it says ‘You rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn’ and you kind of see that with this group. They’re really tight-knit. They love each other and have a lot of fun playing together, so that’s a pretty cool thing to see.

Unfinished business has been the mantra of this team since last year’s crushing loss to Powdersville in the second round of the playoffs. Gibson, Graybill, and the rest of the 2025 Woodruff Wolverines have vowed to vanquish that feeling once and for all and not have to mourn another missed opportunity with their brothers.

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“Unfinished business. It means we’ve got a lot of work to finish,” said Gibson. “A lot of teams were planning on us to lose early (last season), but we were supposed to go to the championship. We’ve got to finish this year, and I think that expectation doesn’t change. We have to get to where we need to be.”
For War Daddy, that means letting his play on the field define a lasting testament that is stronger than words can ever build.

“It’s our legacy, you know? You come back and everyone knows who you are because you did something special,” Shaun added. “I’m not so big on talking. I’m more for showing. I want to show what we can do, and everyone else on defense wants to show it, too.”