![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Amari-Houston.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAfter last year\u2019s lift off, Houston now a key playmaker for Jackets<\/p>\n
Published 2:50 pm Saturday, August 8, 2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Amari Houston<\/p>\n
By Bill Templeton
Sports Writer<\/p>\n
In his first two seasons as a wide receiver on the Middlesboro football team, Amari Houston was credited with one pass reception, good for 10 yards.
But during a junior season that saw the Yellow Jackets win their first 11 games, Houston exploded onto the prep scene with 23 receptions \u2013 10 of which went for touchdowns \u2013 and 554 yards, setting himself up for what could be an even better 2026.
First-year Middlesboro head coach Hunter Adams has watched Houston literally grow into his pivotal role in the Yellow Jackets\u2019 offense.
\u201cAmari is a kid we\u2019re super proud of,\u201d Adams said. \u201cHe came in as a freshman in this program, and to be honest, he was little; probably 5-9 or 5-10. He kept showing up, he kept working hard and just grew each year, both physically and mentally. It\u2019s fortunate for us and for him that he\u2019s now grown into a 6-2, 180-pound weapon.
\u201cWe\u2019re going to try to get him involved in a lot of different ways and look for him to have a big year. He kind of broke out on the scene last year. He\u2019s worked hard and done the things he needed to do to have success. Now it\u2019s just about preparation, practice, taking it one day at a time and then turning him loose Aug. 22 and watching him go.\u201d
Houston is the lone remaining primary receiver from last year\u2019s squad, and a key member of a corps that hauled in a school-record 30 touchdown passes from then-junior quarterback Deakon Partin.
Partin returns to trigger an offense that scored nearly 500 points last season, and Houston said that he and his quarterback worked tirelessly through the summer.
\u201cWe jumped the gate and I came out and just threw with Deakon,\u201d Houston said. \u201cI want him to get to the point where he can throw to me in the dark, and it feels like we\u2019ve honestly gotten to that point.
\u201cHe will be getting me the ball, along with a lot of others, and we\u2019re all just going to be out there rallying and just fired up. I don\u2019t think anyone can touch us when we\u2019re all in our best shape.
\u201cWe have a great relationship off the field and we\u2019re always talking football. We both enjoy putting in the work. I feel like our relationship is good and our connection is great, and that correlates both on the field, and off.\u201d
Houston also said he worked out twice a day, including crossfit and heavy lifting, but that he found himself returning to the field whenever possible.
\u201cI was just making sure I was getting out on that field, so as not to lose that touch; just kind of staying with it,\u201d Houston said. \u201cWhenever everybody else is resting, I keep going.\u201d
In addition to being one of Partin\u2019s primary targets this season, Houston also returns to anchor the Yellow Jackets\u2019 secondary on defense, and he was quick to mention the improvements being implemented by defensive coordinator Brian Williams.
\u201cI feel like our defense looks great with our new coach,Williams,\u201d Houston said. \u201cHe\u2019s come out here and taught us a lot of stuff that we really never knew, but in a short amount of time I feel like we\u2019ve picked up on it.
\u201cMy role on defense is just kind of being a ball hawk, helping with coverage and when I need to come downhill and light somebody up, I will.\u201d
Houston was credited with 28 tackles last season and 30 stops as a sophomore.
Middlesboro opens its season Aug. 22 at home against Breathitt County.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After last year\u2019s lift off, Houston now a key playmaker for Jackets Published 2:50 pm Saturday, August 8,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-401350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}