ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — New head coach Brian Campbell hopes to bring a new attitude to the Robertsdale Golden Bear varsity football program in 2012.

“I want to put a chip on these kids’ shoulders,” he said. “I want to get to the point where these kids come into every game expecting to win.”

He hopes that attitude will translate into wins this season.

“My biggest goal this year is to be able to win some ballgames,” he said. “I want to win some ballgames that nobody is expecting us to win.”

Wins have been hard to come by for the Golden Bears over the last several years. In fact, the last time Robertsdale had a winning season, this year’s seniors were in the first grade.

After finishing the regular season 8-2 and advancing to the third round of the 5A playoffs in 2001, the Golden Bears have averaged just two wins over the last 10 seasons.

Campbell admits the Golden Bears have a long way to go.

“We had a good offseason and we’ve got a lot of young talent that’s working hard to learn the system,” he said. “We’re still learning and it’s going to be a long road to get there, but (the players) are definitely putting in the effort.”

The biggest challenge for the Golden Bears will be depth, Campbell said. Sitting down for an interview just two days into fall practice, Campbell said he was still in the process of finalizing the lineup.

“I’d like to see a couple of practices in full pads before making final decisions,” he said.

Offensively, Campbell said, the Golden Bears will be using a mostly run-oriented offense, led by senior Alphonso Stewart, who was moved to quarterback from a receiver position.

“It’s definitely going to be an up-tempo style of offense with a lot of run to set up the pass, and a lot of play-action,” Campbell said.

Stewart has been splitting time equally in practice with sophomore Dylan Smith, moving back to a receiver position with Smith in at quarterback, Campbell said.

The Golden Bears will be looking to a pair of sophomores to trade running back duties, Denzel Smith and DeMarcus Robinson, with a pair of juniors Tyler Davis and Colton Mosley lined up at the H-back position.

In addition to moving Stewart in and out of the receiver slot, the Golden Bears will be looking to seniors, Josh Laird and Jacob Bushaw for leadership, along with junior Cody Reaves. Sophomores Nathan Kendrick, Austin Schulze and senior Donnie Casey have also seen plenty of practice time at the receiver position, Campbell said.

The Golden Bears will have the most experience up front offensively, led by Louisiana-Monroe commit senior Brandon Bridgers at the right tackle position; senior Ethan Ellison at center and sophomore Hunter Keyser at left tackle. Senior Will McKenzie, junior Dana Marsh and sophomores Braxton Reid, Josh Williams and Brandon Thomas are all fighting for positions on the offensive line, Campbell said.

Defensively, Campbell will be looking to a linebacking corps loaded with seniors, including senior Ryan Dean at inside linebacker and outside linebackers James Mack, L.B. Zellers, Graham Baxter and Austin Sypert, along with junior inside linebackers Jonathan Wright and Kaleb Coleman and sophomore Ryan Hagaman.

“The inside linebacker position will be our strength defensively with a lot of players returning at that position,” Campbell said.

Senior Ronnie Williams, juniors Emmanuel Fennel, Ricardo Lopez, Jakiel Curry and sophomore Adam Sanders will lead the way up front for the Bears 3-5 defense.

For the Bears defensive secondary, senior Tevin Sykes will lead the way, along with juniors Taylor Garrison and T.J. Taylor and sophomore Patrick Murphy.

Seniors Wyatt Cordova and Lee Sanderson, and junior James Presley are all working to fill place-kicking and punting duties for the Bears.

While experience will be an issue for the Golden Bears this season, they will also have to overcome an intense schedule, with three new 6A Region 2 opponents, two of which, Northview and Enterprise will be on the road.

“We don’t know a lot about those three teams, but they don’t know a lot about us,” Campbell said, “so hopefully it will balance out.”

After a pre-season game Aug. 24 at home against former 6A Region 2 opponent Satsuma, the Golden Bears will be on the road the first three weeks of the regular season, opening in Semmes versus Mary G. Montgomery, then traveling down Highway 59 to take on 6A Region 2 rival Foley and finally making the long roadtrip to Dothan to take on the Cougars of Northview High before opening their home schedule Sept. 24 against the Dothan High Tigers.

“We need to come into our first home game above .500,” Campbell said. “If we can do that, then I think we will be a long way toward where we need to be.”