A lifelong high school coach, Jacy Todd has experienced nearly everything that Friday Night Lights has to offer through his time patrolling the sidelines.

But the second-year leader of Bayshore Christian is somehow still working through a unique and new challenge, as he’s been charged with essentially building a football program from the ground up.

The Eagles first fielded a team on the gridiron in 2024, the same year that they completed construction of a new upper-school building in Daphne. With Todd on staff, Hall of Famer Phil Lazenby led Bayshore through its inaugural campaign before the former took the reins in 2025.

A 5-13 overall record through those two seasons tells one story on the surface, but the Eagles have steadily improved and have received more support as time has worn on. That reality is exemplified by Bayshore having 34 players on its roster this year–10 more than 2025–and the fact that Todd can rely on eight seniors, double the amount he had last fall.

“We’re a new squad with this being our third full season, so we want to keep building a great foundation,” Todd said. “We want to build something that lasts for the next 100 years, and to do that, we have to get kids to want to be part of this program.”

The allure of joining the Eagles has attracted more athletes each year, and one reason why may be Todd’s emphasis on enjoying the experience of playing for a team.

“Our biggest goal is not only to train them physically and mentally to go out into the world, but also to have them leave here and say ‘Man, I really enjoyed that experience,’” Todd said.

Nearly every Bayshore player will line up on both sides of the ball, with defensive depth being one of Todd’s early concerns.

But what he isn’t worried about is his talent at the skill positions and under center. Senior quarterback Samuel Van Cleave returns with a deep group of experienced athletes surrounding him on offense.

“We’re certainly older as a team, and we have most of our starters back, so that’s exciting,” Todd said. “I think our biggest strength will be our skill-position guys, because I feel comfortable with four running backs and really up to eight wide receivers that we have.”

Seniors Blake Strickland and Jack Rainer are two of Van Cleave’s top targets, with the former returning to the field following a couple years away while the latter spent extensive time working with his veteran signal-caller this offseason.

“We were just focused on putting in work and getting better,” Van Cleave said of the summer. “We had a couple new guys join us, so we’re happy to have more people who want to be part of this program and keep building.”

And according to Strickland, another versatile player to keep an eye on is junior Benjamin Gifford.

“He’s [Gifford] going into his junior year and he just works so much harder than everyone else,” Strickland said. “He’s really athletic, and I feel like he’s gonna come out and impress a lot of people.”

With a host of upperclassmen ready to make their mark, Todd anticipates this being the strongest team Bayshore has fielded in its short history. The second-year coach even believes that this group could achieve some statistical marks that will be tough to replicate down the line.

“I honestly believe that we’re going to set some records for offense and defense this year, which I know with us being three years old isn’t tough to do, but we’ve grown so much,” Todd said. “The team is so improved and it’s because of all the work they’ve put in and how they’ve done everything we’ve asked of them.”

To that point, the program has experienced its fair share of ups and downs with some lopsided losses sprinkled in. But that’s all part of the development process, and it’s created a never-say-die mindset within the locker room.

“We’re not going to quit, even if the score is 50-0 or 7-7,” Van Cleave said. “We’re still going to go out there and play our hardest.”

Another reason for optimism is the schedule the Eagles will face this fall, as recent alterations to the structure of private school athletics in the state have drastically altered Bayshore’s slate of games.

After not playing a single Baldwin County opponent last season, all but one of the Eagles’ foes in 2026 will reside in either Baldwin or Mobile County.

“For us, the change helped. We replaced three games that we probably would’ve had a hard time winning,” Todd said. “And our travel is much better, because after having four trips of over two hours last year, we only have one this year.”

Staring at a more favorable schedule and boasting more players than ever before, Bayshore is ready to take the next step this season, and its seniors are spearheading that effort.

“We really want to set a good example for the future of this team, because we’re trying to set a foundation,” Van Cleave said. “So as seniors, we want to create the tone for what practices should look like with our standards, as well as being examples of how Christian men should act.”

The Eagles will open their 2026 campaign at Fruitdale on Aug. 21.

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