Gilmer Buckeyes

By JOE DODD The first annual East Texas Passing Academy will be held at Buckeye Stadium beginning Monday, July 23, and ending Thursday, July 26. The camp will run from 6:30-9:30 p.m. each night. The camp is for athletes entering grades 7-12 this fall. Cost of the camp is $100. The directors of the camp will be Buckeyes’ head coach Jeff Traylor, and his assistants Matt Turner and Kurt Traylor. Jeff Traylor and his staff have consistently produced some of the top offenses in the state of Texas , as well as develop several Division 1 college and NFL quarterbacks. Traylor has assisted former Southlake Carroll head coach Todd Dodge at his passing academy for several years, and decided to start this camp at Dodge’s urging. “He's always told me we should do one in East Texas , because no one really does this type of camp,” Traylor said. The camp is designed to allow each athlete the opportunity for multiple repetitions, and up-close attention to technique from the coaching staff. Traylor ...

By JOE DODD The Gilmer Buckeyes' football game against the Tatum Eagles might be moved from a scheduled Friday night meeting at Eagle Stadium in Tatum to a Thursday night contest at Tyler's Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium. The move would accommodate a possible live television broadcast by Fox Sports Southwest. Tatum head coach Andy Evans told the Longview News-Journal that he had been contacted by Titus Sports Marketing, the promoters of the Trinity Mother Frances Football Classic, to see if he would be interested in moving the game to the Classic's open Thursday night, Sept. 6 slot. Evans was reluctant to give up a home game, but at the request of his team captains, decided to pursue the possibility of playing in a televised game. Gilmer head coach Jeff Traylor, whose Buckeyes have a 4-1 record against Tatum since Traylor took over the program in 2000, said that the decision to move the game is Eagle's alone. “It's Tatum's home game and we're going to p...

By GABRIEL D. BROOKS Thursday, July 19, 2007 A deal is in the works that would televise this season's Tatum-Gilmer football game, according to Tatum coach Andy Evans and Titus Sports Marketing spokesman Dave Stephenson. Evans said Titus approached him and Gilmer coach Jeff Traylor offering the possibility to televise the game, which is during the second week of the season, but that a deal is not finalized and is still in the works. "We've not officially signed an agreement yet," Evans said. "I haven't signed the contract and I don't know if coach (Traylor) has signed it or not." Gilmer hosted Tatum last season in a 45-21 Buckeye win, and this year's game was scheduled to be at Eagle Stadium in Tatum. However, University Interscholastic League rules prohibit televising a game on Friday nights, so the game would be held Thursday, Sept. 6 at 8 p.m. and would be moved to Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium in Tyler. Stephenson said the agreement in t...

Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Kenneth Pettway, a 2000 Gilmer High School graduate, will offer a free NFL Experience Camp to all kids entering 6-12th grade on Friday, July 13 at Buckeye Stadium in Gilmer. The camp will start at 8:30 a.m. and end at approximately 1:30 p.m. “It's something that Kenny has wanted to do,” said Gilmer head coach Jeff Traylor, who will provide his coaching staff to help Pettway at the camp. “He's a super young man. He's come back to my camps every year that he could since I've been here. He always speaks to the kids.” Pettway was a multi-sport talent at Gilmer, where he lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track, before playing football at Southern Arkansas for two seasons. Pettway transferred to Grambling State where he earned All-SWAC honors his senior year. The Houston Texans drafted Pettway in the 5th round of the 2005 NFL draft. Pettway spent the 2005 season on the Texans' practice squad before being cut before the 2006...

Mirror Photo / M.L. Kirby OVER 150 YOUTH gather on the midfield ‘G’ at Buckeye Stadium on Friday, July 13, around Kenneth ‘Kenny’ Pettway, left, of the Jacksonville Jaguars, a Buckeye alumnus, and his friends, Alfred Malone of the Houston Texans, and Randy Hymes, recently of the Minnesota Vikings and one of Pettway’s teammates at Grambling State University. The camp sponsored by the National Football League is the first led by Pettway, who graduated from Gilmer High School in 2000.