Weston, Boyd looking to cut loose for Chiefs

ROGERSVILLE — Jayden Weston wants to use his feet to carry the Cherokee football team to a successful 2026 season. Eli Boyd hopes to use his brain to accomplish the same goal. Weston, the Region 1-4A back of the year last year, set the Chiefs' single-game rushing record of 331 yards against Sullivan East, and finished with the single-season rushing record of 1,570 yards. Now, he's just 700 yards from Tyler Carpenter's career rushing record of 2,752 yards. But, that's not most motivates the senior all-state running back. "I want to go out and get it, but I also want to win football games," Weston said Monday at the school's fall sports media day. "I mean, I can't be selfish out here and think for it to be my way. I want to help my team out and have them help me to to get it." There's a good possibility of more pressure on Weston. Gone is Cherokee's veteran quarterback Landon Jeffers, now replaced with sophomore Cade Putnal. In fact, the Chiefs only return three starters on offense from last season. "We're a younger team again, but we're fine," Weston said. "We work hard, we play good, and effort beats everything. We can come out here and compete with anybody." The Chiefs do have a pair of experienced linemen in Hayden Good and Kenner Jernigan. Jeffers has done his part of helping the guys up front by getting better at what he does. "I put in work out here, trying to help everybody else to get better," Jeffers said. "I got better at seeing the holes, being able to read the defense a little better. I'm watching film, seeing them develop, being more patient, not trying to rush everything." Boyd is described by head coach Josh Hensley as a Swiss Army type player. He's a starter at H-Back and linebacker, but can also play receiver on offense, safety on defense and is the backup quarterback. He's certainly not a dull Swiss Army knife, instead extremely sharp with a 33 score on the ACT. As someone who enjoys math and sciences, he wants to go to Georgia Tech after high school and get into aerospace engineering. Whether he's talking about studies or football, Boyd says he relies a lot on his brain. That's also true for the Chiefs coaching staff and his teammates as Boyd handles the coverages and defensive fronts from his middle linebacker position. His background as a quarterback also helps in his role as H-Back. "Just being able to read the defense as a quarterback helps me figure out things, find my blocking assignments," Boyd said. "I know plays from previous years, and it's helped me understand a little more." Same as the offense, there are just three returning starters on defense. Boyd isn't worried as he feels the Chiefs will be ready to take the field when they host Pigeon Forge in the season opener on August 21. "We have a lot of new new guys playing defense who are going to contribute, and then the returning guys are just going to keep doing their thing," Boyd said. "I'm very confident in them and the new people." Hensley talked about how physical this team is. While Boyd uses his brains, he also enjoys the aspect of using his brawn and the contact that comes with playing football. It's much different when the Friday night lights come on compared to hitting the pads against teammates. "Playing games is just such a different experience compared to practices because you get to cut loose a little bit," he said. "When you're a team like us, who's a little thin now after losing so many guys, getting to cut loose is a good thing."