After five seasons in the Alabama high school ranks, Fort Worth Christian head coach Nate Sanford is back in Texas – where he previously spent 15 years in the same position for numerous programs – at the school he got his first head coaching gig.

TexasFootball.com caught up with Sanford about where his squad is at heading into the 2021 campaign.

“Honestly, I have no idea what I'm going to see in terms of the strength of the teams that we're playing,” Sanford – who is only a few weeks into his second stint with the Cardinals – said when asked about the strength of his team’s district. “The best thing I can say is that I love the attitude of our guys, the work ethic. I'm extremely pleased with our overall skill level and team speed.”

Fort Worth Christian is coming off a 5-5 season that saw a run in the playoffs end in the third round. With contending for a state championship on their mind, Sanford keeps the focus simple for his team.

“If we can get these guys believing in themselves now so that they’ll work hard and invest in what they'll need to be a championship caliber team, we’ll be fine,” he said. “Therefore, the question becomes: how do you get them to believe? That's the goal, and it’s what we hammer home three hours a day. We're trying to help them see what it takes to win the championship and not just wish for a championship.”

When asked for players to watch, Sanford provided us with a short list of key contributors:

• QB Trevor Andrews
• WR Jacob Trimble
• LB Bryce Bradley
• H-Back Jordan Green
• RB/LB Luke Anderson
• LB Cooper Ostrowsky

As for concerns, the team is looking to build depth in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

“Developing our linemen well enough to match the talent we have at the skill positions will be tough,” Sanford notes.

We then questioned him about his long-term goals for the Cardinals program:

“Our priority as a program purpose is to make God look good," he said. "When we have anyone to our field, or when we play another team at a stadium, we want everyone there – our opponents, the officials, the fans, parents, even bystanders on the street – to watch our team play and say, ‘Wow, there was something different about those guys.’ We believe in honoring the game and our opponents. I think if we do that, along with taking care of the little things, those big goals we have for the next three- to five-years kind of take care of themselves.”