Landon Lemmons was playing backup a year and a half ago when Krystopher Gross moved from defensive coordinator to head coach and that was the start of a new beginning for the senior quarterback.

“Landon was in a bad situation under the previous coach who had a run-oriented offense so when I took over full time last year, I decided Landon was the guy we were going to hang our hat on because he can run some, but his passing ability really opened things up a lot for us,” said Gross. “We’ve got guys like Aden Parish and Lamarcus Davis as well as some promising freshmen that can do the running, so having a guy that is a dual threat under center really helps.”

Lemmons passed for 1000 yards and ran for 200 more in helping Hugo to only it’s second winning season since 2013 last year with a 7-4 mark. Gross’s quarterbacking decision started to be justified by the second game of the season last year against Checotah.

“We came into that game outsized underdogs against Checotah which was ranked fifth in Class 3A at the time,” said Gross. “Landon passed the ball well but also gained a sense of when to run the ball and he was fast enough that they saw they would have to account for him on defense. That was a big win in double overtime for us.”

This year as a senior leader and the quarterback, Lemmons ability to bring the team together will be big and Gross feels he’s up to the task.

“He’s like having a junior coach on the field and he and Aden Parish are going to help coach the middle school teams this year as well.”

Landon says he leads more by example but can be vocal when he needs to be.

“I feel like I lead more example and making sure everyone is doing what coach wants but I’ll tell guys when they’re doing something wrong too,” said Lemmons who is also in student council, the National Honor Society with a 4.0 grade point average and is shortstop on the Buffaloes baseball team.

With a year of growth and experience under his belt, Gross thinks this should be a breakout year for his quarterback.

“He’s grown more (6-2, 190), is faster and stronger and he has really learned how to read defenses well, so he’ll have the freedom to do more in the offense we’re running this year and I expect him to have a great season.”