“As a staff, we have total confidence in them against the teams that throw the ball,” says Landis. “Demitri serves primarily as our safety. He can cover an astounding amount of ground, just great range. Then Andre takes away one side of the field completely because teams will stay away from him. When they do throw that way, he is always ready to go.”

A cornerback, Diouf led the area in interceptions with eight last year and is expecting similar production this season, although Allison jokes he will lead the team this season. Either way, SouthLake benefits.

“These two athletes are the kind of players you love to have as threats on both sides of the ball,” says Landis. “You rarely want to take them off the field.”

Diouf’s main focus will be shutting down receivers and forcing turnovers through interceptions, but he will also help shoulder the load at running back. “I enjoy playing both ways, but my specialty is defense, especially that moment after you make the pick, switching from defender to attacker,” says Diouf.

As the top option at receiver, Allison shined in the four-team scrimmage SouthLake hosted last week, with two touchdown receptions.

Allison and Diouf spent the summer trying to get bigger, stronger and faster. Allison will now shift his focus to become more of a threat offensively while maintaining his hard-hitting mentality on defense.

“We will depend on Andre for the defense a little more this season, but teams don’t like to throw toward him so that means I will have more opportunities to change the game,” says Allison. “As a receiver, hopefully I can fill (now-graduated Travis Hallman’s) shoes and step up to make some big plays when we do decide to open up and throw one deep.”

Landis raves about Allison’s athleticism and knows that with Diouf shutting down half of the field for opponents, his top receiver could really impact the game from the safety position, too.

“He has that ability and endurance to go both ways,” says Landis. “Our hope is he stays healthy enough to be a legitimate threat on both sides of the ball all season. Look for them both to make some big time plays on offense and defense all year. ...

“They are both sub 4.5 40 (yard dash) kind of guys, but this summer they both battled injuries so we weren’t able to see them open it up completely,” says Landis. “But I can tell you, they both can fly.”

With them, the Eagles hope to as well.