It’s been a long time coming for Hitchcock head coach Craig Smith, but he is finally seeing the Bulldogs get the respect they deserve at the state level.
Smith is preparing for his 32nd year at Hitchcock – a tenure that includes time spent as a player, assistant coach, coordinator, and now head coach.
While being a part of nearly every step in the growth of Bulldogs football, Smith most fondly remembers being a member of the 1987 team that qualified for (and won) Hitchcock’s first ever playoff game under then-head coach Gary Carney.
Carney was a staple on the Hitchcock sidelines for 17 years as Smith was later hired onto Carney’s staff as an assistant coach. After Carney’s retirement in 2012, Smith was handed the keys to the team with hopes to continue the ways of his mentor.
“Coach Carney built this program,” Smith said. “He believed in helping people and treating people right, and that meant more than the wins and losses. He had a great influence on our program in getting it in the direction it is today.”
It has been just over 10 years since Smith took over and now more than ever, he is able to be a part of more Hitchcock football history.
The Bulldogs became back-to-back Division II 7-on-7 State Champions as they reclaimed their crown from 2022 by defeating Anna 27-20 in College Station on Jun. 23.
Much of this recent success for Hitchcock can be credited to an elite crop of athletes who have been accustomed to playing – and winning – with one another for years.
“At a young age they got these kids together and during football season they would play football. Basketball season, they would play basketball,” Smith said. “They’d play baseball during baseball season, then they’d run track. Then they eventually got them doing 7-on-7 at a pretty early age.”
That group of kids includes Lloyd Jones III, Damien McDaniel, Kelshaun Johnson, Bryce Dorsey, and Elijah Sherwood.
Not only do they play football, they’re also the starting five on Hitchcock’s basketball team. Yes, the same team that brought home the UIL 3A State Championship last season – the first UIL team championship in Hitchcock’s history.
“I don’t think they know any different,” Smith said. “When they were little, they would go from one sport to the next. It’s kind of normal to them. As young kids, they’ve done it for a while, and they expect it. They really expect, when they step on the field or the court, to hold themselves accountable and do well.”
Despite the success on the court, these guys are most notable on the gridiron, as four of the five already hold scholarship offers from Division 1 football programs.
QB Lloyd Jones III, who threw four touchdown passes and intercepted a pass on defense in the 2023 7-on-7 title game, holds offers from UTSA, North Texas, Texas State, and Colorado State. The 2025 recruit is coming off a stellar sophomore season for the Bulldogs where he threw for 2,836 yards and 36 touchdowns while also rushing for 8 scores. He also plays safety, where he accumulated 41 tackles in 2022.
WR/DB Damien McDaniel is an incoming senior who iis committed to UNLV for football despite being the MVP of the 2023 UIL State Basketball Tournament and the Galveston County Boys Basketball Player of the Year. McDaniel was Jones III’s main target on offense last season, racking up 58 receptions for 1,051 yards and 15 touchdowns. On the defensive end, he accounted for 29 tackles and eight interceptions.
Another elite target for Jones III is rising junior WR Kelshaun Johnson, who plays both sides of the football and has seen his recruitment explode this summer, receiving offers from Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, and UTSA, among others. He brought down 35 catches and seven touchdowns on 600 yards in 2022, plus 31 tackles and two interceptions as a defensive back.
RB Bryce Dorsey, a 2024 graduate, was Hitchcock’s go-to man in the backfield a year ago, amassing 933 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns as a junior. He also showed flashes in the receiving game with 30 catches, 600 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns. Dorsey holds football offers from Memphis, Incarnate Word, Louisiana, and Stephen F. Austin, among others.
Lastly, Elijah Sherwood is a three-sport standout for the Bulldogs in football, basketball, and track and field, who Smith believes is destined for many opportunities to compete at the next level. On the track, the 2025 grad was the district champion in the high jump and runner-up in the triple jump last season.
After going 14-18 from 2019-2021, Hitchcock got off to a blistering 9-0 start in 2022, finishing with an 11-2 record in a very competitive region. In the playoffs, Hitchcock handled business in the bi-district and area rounds before losing to eventual state champion Franklin in the regional semifinals, 53-18.
With all this young star power at Smith’s disposal, the Bulldogs are well on their way to continuing this recent success in pursuit of the program’s first UIL State Championship.
“We had always hoped there would be a great deal of success, it just happened a lot earlier when they were freshmen and sophomores,” Smith said.
Smith understands the uphill climb his team will embark on as they try to live up to the expectations and demands of tough competition.
“District 12-3A is a gauntlet,” Smith said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us. We love the challenge and we’re not going to back away from it. That’s what drives us.
“We believe that if you’re good to the game, the game will be good to you. We believe our kids have been good to the game and that’s what has put us in the position we’re in right now to be at that level and compete with the top teams. We just want to keep building and improving.”
This article is available to our Digital Subscribers.
Click "Subscribe Now" to see a list of subscription offers.
Already a Subscriber? Sign In to access this content.