Last year, secondyear Gans coach Gary Hixon called the quick transition from being a Muldrow Bulldogs assistant coach to running the program for the Grizzlies “fast” as there was not much of a summer window to get things organized for the Grizzlies, who were 1-9 last year — with the lone win coming over Midway.

Now, Hixon and the current Grizzlies have been together for greater than a year, and the signs are there that the program is turning the corner for this season, which will begin with a Zero Week game against the Keota Lions at 7 p.m. Thursday at Grizzly Field.

“Going to team camp helped us a whole bunch,” Hixon said. “The people I had to teach my system to were my new assistants (Aaron Denny and Jameson Henry). Our kids have retained a lot. They’re getting more and more confident with the system.”

Just like last year, Jasper Green will be the starting quarterback.

The Grizzlies have the luxury of a three-headed monster at running back with Anthony Vasquez, Elijah Blackmon and Preston Moore.

Austin Hines will spearhead the Gans wide receivers, which very well could be the team’s strength. The Grizzlies also have Moore, Blackmon, Jaxon Ragsdale and Harley Strahm to catch Green’s passes.

However, there’s one new kid Hixon is anxiously waiting to see just what he can do.

“We have a new kid, Quirt Ward. He’s very athletic. We were anxious to see what he would do in pads. (Aug. 15) was his first day in pads. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was awesome. He’s got a lot of good potential. He could play the other receiver position. He’s really fast. He’s really lanky and strong. He worked his tail off in Summer Pride. He’s got the potential to be a really good football player.”

One of the two seniors on the team will lead the way along the trenches on the offensive line — Leland Locust. Preston Bennett, Brushy transfer Alejandro Martinez, Stilwell move-in Jasper Smith and Garrett Overby also likely will see time in the trenches.

Locust and Martinez will spearhead the defensive line for the Grizzlies.

Vasquez will lead the group of linebackers for the Grizzlies, but Green also can play at that position.

The defensive backfield also should be a strong suit for Gans, thanks to Hines and Lucas Flute.

The numbers are up, albeit slightly, from a season ago.

“We have a lot of kids (19 kids, two more than in 2024), but the injury bug bit us last year,” Hixon said. “We had 17 kids (in 2024), and we ended up with 11 — all due to injury. We need to stay healthy.”

For the kids who have come out for the first time, Hixon welcomes them.

“Those kids who wanted to come out, give it a shot and play, I’m all happy about that,” he said. “It’s a testimony to the kids who are here, too, that these kids wanted to come out and play with them.”

In last Thursday night’s preseason scrimmage at Canadian, that also featured Cave Springs (and new coach John Mays, former Vian softball and basketball coach), Midway, Graham-Dustin and Oklahoma Bible Academy, which is located in Enid, the Grizzlies did not score on offense and gave up touchdowns on defense.

Offensively, there were mistakes made, but they can get corrected.

“We had opportunities to have some big plays, and we’d either miss a block or not stay with a block from our offensive line or we just missed a hole or missed a pass,” Hixon said. “We had a kid wide open, and we overthrew a little bit. We had some opportunities, but we just didn’t take advantage of what we had. I thought we could have some success, and we did have some success. It was just not sustained. They (the mistakes) are very correctable.”

The same could be said for the Grizzlies’ defensive outing in Thursday night’s scrimmage.

“We gave up some scores,” Hixon said. “We gave up a pass or two. We dropped an interception. It’s correctable errors. It’s just some rules and some responsibilities. We only have two days to get ready for it because we have Keota on Thursday.”