SEYMOUR — One of the new members of the Big Country Preps family, Seymour has reason for optimism heading into the 2026 campaign after battling through a 2-8 season with a young club last season.  

The Panthers have seven starters back on both sides of the ball among 20 lettermen after losing only six players with experience from a year ago. 

“We’ve been really young in fact we’ve got four or five players who will end up being four-year starters,” second-year coach Tarrington Rivers said. “We carried about 12 sophomores last year, one of whom played a lot of minutes and we’ve got all of those guys back.”

Rivers now has his system in place with capable skill personnel, more overall size up front and a defense he expects to improve a great deal. There are, however, a few objectives to achieve in order for the Panthers to make a significant splash this year.