Primetime 23 is a list of the top players to watch ahead of the 2018 football season.

Jermaine Black started his football career last year for Bogue Chitto, and the now-senior linebacker had a productive 2017 season for the Bobcats.

“He was a really good player for us last year in his first year,” head coach Gareth Sartin said. “He really tackled well for us and we expect him to have another great year for us this season.”

Black said he’s excited about the 2018 season and the potential the Bobcats have for what could be a district champion team.

“We had some good moments last year,” Black said. “We just have to build off of those and make sure we’re better prepared this season.”

Sartin said Black has become one of the leaders for his football team over the course of the summer, and he’s embraced that role in a great fashion.

“He’s been key for us in a lot of things that we’ve done this summer,” Sartin said. “That’s what you expect out of seniors.”

Black said he expects the second-year jump to be very noticeable and he thinks he’ll be a better player for it.

“We have that experience that we didn’t have a lot of last year,” Black  said. “That’s what will help us this year is that we’ve been through it before.”

Sartin echoed those sentiments about his senior linebacker and said he expects him to have a strong senior year.

“He’s going to have a strong year this year after the experience he got last season,” Sartin said. “He’ll do a great job.”