TSD’s Renzen ‘has skills from A to Z’
By Steve Williams
Tennessee School for the Deaf will be playing 6-man football full time this season with junior standout Renzen Shaw leading the way.
“He’s the total package,” said Head Coach Bryan Bowen last week. “He’s just an amazing athlete. He’s the fastest player on the team. He’s the hardest-hitting player on the team. He has skills from A to Z.”
Shaw was a National Deaf Interscholastic All-American last fall. He also was selected a first-team All-State defensive back by the Tennessee Coaches Football Association.
“As a sophomore, that’s pretty impressive,” said Bowen.
Offensively, Renzen is versatile and can run and throw the ball and has good speed and size.
Despite losing five seniors, including two other players – Jordan Grimes and Mason Little – who were on the National Deaf Interscholastic All-America team, Coach Bowen has been pleased with the Vikings’ pre-season practices.
“Their attitude has just been great,” said Bowen. “I think they know what my expectations are. That is that we will work. And so we’ve been motivated.”
Chris Dorn and DJ D’Angelo are Bowen’s offensive and defensive coordinators.
TSD played 8-man football in four of their six games last season.
There are 11 players on this year’s team – one senior, five juniors, four sophomores and one eighth grader.
Conner Smith, a sophomore, is the quarterback. Isaac Murray has good size at the center position and the lone senior Will McKinney is the biggest player and moves well.
The Vikings’ theme this year is ‘One Boat, one Battle.’
The TSD team also is using a mnemonic for GUEST, with G standing for grit, U for unity, E for effort, S for sportsmanship and T for teamwork.”
Bowen has been coaching for five years and this is his third season as TSD’s head coach. The Vikings were 3-3 last year and 5-2 in 2023.
“This year we have one senior (McKinney) who is wonderful with leadership,” said Bowen.
“The running game is going to be our biggest strength. Passing perhaps.”
Playing six-man football and the different rules that go with it presents a new challenge for TSD.
“We had a taste of that (6-man) in two games last season,” said Bowen. “But I think we are progressing well and smoothly.”
The TSD coach pointed out some of the differences in the new rules. In 8-man football, the quarterback can take the ball and run, but in 6-man the QB has to hand the ball off or throw it, unless he has made one complete exchange.
In 6-man, it’s 15 yards to go for a first down compared to first-and-10 in 8-man. Also, all of the players on offense can catch the ball in 6-man.
Mason-Dixon Conference teams, which include TSD, are playing the 6-man game, except Alabama and Florida are playing 8-man. Alabama agreed to play 6-man against TSD, but Florida denied that option, so the Vikings will not be playing Florida this year.
TSD opens its season Thursday (Sept. 4) at South Carolina School for the Deaf.
The new turf field at TSD is expected to be ready for the Oct. 2 game against South Carolina and the Oct. 25 Homecoming Game and Senior Night against Louisiana.
HISTORICALLY, deaf schools had 11-man football teams for years before dropping to 8-man teams around 20 years ago.
Multiple factors have led to declining enrollment in deaf schools, including medical advances like cochlear implants, public education policies emphasizing mainstreaming, and a reduced incidence of childhood deafness due to vaccinations.
