ROBERTSDALE, Ala. – Robertsdale head coach Brian Campbell said his team must improve in tackling and strength in order to compete with a tough Class 6A, Region 2 schedule this season.

At Baldwin County high school football media day on Monday Campbell said his team missed an average of 16 tackles per game last season.

“That goes back to the weight room,” Campbell said. “We’ve really hit the weight room and we think that that strength is going to be the biggest key. We only had four missed tackles against Theodore in our spring game and that was a huge difference for us.”

Senior defensive lineman Emannuel Fennell put on about 20 pounds in the offseason through Campbell’s weight training program.

“We’ve worked day in and day out trying to push some bigger weights,” Fennell said. “We’ve gotten a whole lot bigger and a whole lot faster with coach Campbell. He is really bringing out the best in us.”

Fennell’s toughness in the weight room and on the field has gotten him noticed by some college programs. So far he has received interest from Jacksonville State, Troy and South Alabama.

“It has been a very humbling experience that has shown me that hard work really does pay off,” Fennell said.

Senior linebacker Kaleb Coleman has also made big gains in the offseason weight training program.

“We try to lead the workout to make sure it is the best workout in the county,” Coleman said. “We are going to work every day to make sure we push the young kids to work hard too.”

The weight room mentality has changed for the better since Campbell took over the program, Coleman said.

“Before coach Campbell we had an ‘if you want to work out’ work out. It was almost like it was not necessary, you could come work out it you wanted to. Now with Coach Campbell if you skip even one rep you have to do push-ups. If you skip a rep everybody knows about it.”

The Bears open the season Aug. 30 at home against Mary G. Montgomery.