Liberty County on Tuesday night in the Wildcats’ home opener, RHHS will be without a number of key players from recent years – from J.J. Franklin and Alex Cruz to Kody Morales, Spencer Buck and James Williams.

They’ll also be without coach William Altman, who left after five seasons to take the coaching job in Metter.

Enter highly-regarded, first-year coach William Henderson. The former Wildcat guard and assistant coach is optimistic about the program he takes over from Altman, who brought some of the swagger back to the once-proud program by winning a region title two seasons ago and finishing 18-9 last winter.

In short, Richmodn Hill is still expected to compete.

"I feel like we should have a good team," Henderson said. "A lot of the guys have been with the program some time and they understand expectations and the things we need to do to be successful."

Like his predecessor, Henderson puts a lot of emphasis on fundamentals.

"I like to stress a more controlled game," he said. "Good half court man-to-man defense, slower tempo and good execution on the offensive end. For us to be successful we will have to play great defense and rebound well."

Leading the charge for the Wildcats, who are in their first season in Region 3-AAAAA, will be senior Kameron Myers (5-foot-7), senior Jeremiah Hill (5-11), senior Terence McCall (6-1), junior Daniel Wilder (6-0) and senior Kayman Kardiff (6-4).

Also expected to contribute are senior Ken Jones (6-0), senior T.K. Grisby (6-1), junior Ian Chandler (5-11), junior Jordan Richardson (6-0), junior Wallace Smith (5-9) junior Pedro Reyes (5-10) and junior Nick Fitzgerald (6-4).

"The guys want to be successful and are willing to work hard to reach our goals," Henderson said. "It will take all of the guys buying into the system, believing in each other and giving 100 percent effort every practice and every game."