Union City
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Week 6 Takeaways
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Your guide to this week's games across rural West Tennessee.
Week 5 Blitz
Your guide to this week's games across rural West Tennessee.
Week 4 Takeaways
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Takeaways from Week 3
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Quick hits
The 2025 season was not kind to the Golden Tornadoes. Injuries, a tough schedule in and out of region and a run of bad luck added up to a 3-7 season, missing the Class 2A playoffs and a sub-par performance across the board.
The players are motivated to do as much as they can to erase the memory of that season this year. At the Sports731 Network media day in Martin in July, the players from Union City that were present discussed how fans in Union City have let them know they were unhappy with the season, so the players have that motivation to do better. But they mainly want to do better for themselves and their self-respect.
Wade Maddox was named the new head coach of the program the day after former coach Nick Markle’s resignation had been announced just after the season ended. Maddox has been at Union City for more than a decade, serving as an assistant coach under Darren Bowling for three of the four state championships Bowling led the program to. He’s also coached softball and track and field, leading those teams to state championship competition and the boys’ track team to the 2025 state championship.
Maddox said he and the coaching staff have preached returning to a more physical style of football like Union City is traditionally known for. He likes the effort the guys are putting in each day and how they’ve developed.
Position groups
Offensive line — Keelan Moss will be the center snapping the ball to the quarterback. John Matt Morgan and Caylan Swift will be the tackles. Guys are fighting for the starting slots at the guard positions, but Maddox said there will be a lot of rotation in and out between guys playing both offense and defense.
Backfield — There will be a committee of four guys that will carry the ball most of the time, one of them being fullback Grant Sinclair. The other three are identified as running backs, and their names are Rodney Jenkins, B.J. Boyd and Kyle Price. Jack Theobald will be the quarterback that will lead the offense and probably carry it some too.
Receivers — Kararian Scates and Kennedy Taylor are the two main guys in this group, but Maddox said there are a few others who have potential to be playmakers when the ball is in their hands.
Defensive line — As mentioned before, there will be a lot of swapping out with the offensive line, but three guys who will play a lot here are freshman Jorge Escobar, Jackson Jones at nose guard and Elijah Simpson.
Linebackers — Kyle Brice, Caleb Wright and Bryce Burnett will probably make up the foundation of this group, but Sinclair will be in mix a will Cameron Boehler.
Secondary — Scates and Taylor will both be prominent in the secondary. Chase Mitchell will line up at cornerback, and the other cornerback starter will be Jenkins. Boyd will probably help out with the safeties.
Special teams — Alex Landerose will handle both kicking and punting and put a few in the end zone last season. Maddox wanted to get a few more linebacker-type players to be a part of this group. Jenkins and Kennedy will handle the returning responsibilities.
2026 stats
No stats yet this season. They appear here once a game's book has been read and checked.