Mustangs’ secondary primed for strong season

Monticello’s offense seems set to have another stellar season with quarterback Michael Graham back for a senior year that starts with a grudge match with Albemarle tonight. Graham threw for over 2,000 yards and 18 touchdowns in helping lead the Mustangs to their first state title last year.
But don’t forget, Monticello’s defense is not too shabby either. In fact, the Mustangs return their entire secondary from a year ago, and the 2008 edition is stronger, faster and more experienced.
The team’s returning starters in the defensive backfield include Khiry Washington, Hines Banks and Marvin Mills and one thing they all have in common is speed.
“We’re fast, everybody has hands — we can get interceptions,” Mills said. “And when it comes down to making big hits, we’ve got that too.”
Added Washington: “We all think alike and we talk a lot in the backfield. When you play that long together, you feel like a family — like you’re one. When everything comes together it’s hard to stop it.”
The trio is well-seasoned with a year of playing defense on the varsity level and a trip to the state tournament under their belts. Mills and Banks have been playing together since middle school. That experience has proved to be invaluable.
“We communicate and work well together — we just connect as one unit,” Banks said. “It helps a lot [having played together last year].”
Even though each player has similar characteristics, they all add their unique abilities to the team.
“They complement each other very well, and they understand the spacing that you need in the secondary,” said Monticello coach Brud Bicknell. “Hines plays with a lot of confidence. Khiry is still learning he can make really big plays — he has some athleticism that’s just out of this world. Marvin is probably the most steady of them all. He rarely makes mistakes — he’s very calculating.”
And that was never more evident than in the championship game against Richlands, in which Mills recorded two interceptions. The 6-foot-1, 150-pounder finished with three on the year.
“Basically, that’s everything I could ever wish for,” Mills said. “I hope I can do it again this year.”
As a sophomore, Washington broke the program record for most interceptions with seven. Banks, a multi-talented player, had one pick on the year, but gave the Mustangs a spark in the return game.
To get back to Lynchburg and that state title game, Monticello will need the same kind of production from its trio.
That’s why the group put in countless hours of work in the offseason to continue to tweak and improve its game. Monticello’s defensive coordinator Tom Sutliff couldn’t be happier with the players he has to work with.
“One of the things we learned is to win a lot of games, and to go a long way, which is our goal every year, is you’ve got to be able to defend the pass,” Sutliff said. “The mental recognition of alignments and assignments is the key to being successful in football, and they’re there. Physically, they’ve all worked really hard in the offseason to be as fast and aggressive as we’re going to need them to be.”