NOTE: There are only 45 days left until the start of the 2015 high school football season -- both around the state and right here in northeast Georgia. With that in mind, AccessWDUN is already in full preparation mode. Over the next three weeks we will give you a sneak peek of what’s in store for 2015 with our "Two-A-Days" series. We will bring you two key questions -- and answers -- for each program in our coverage area, twice a day. Each morning will start a new program, with another highlighted each afternoon. And at the end of each week we will also provide some video footage and commentary from area coaches. Programs will run in alphabetical order.
When you're working on a 40-game win streak over a three-year period, expectations usually are high... Well so is the turnover rate at the high school level. With that in mind, could 2015 be different for the Buford Wolves, who also are coming off a third consecutive title run after demolishing St. Pius 55-10 in the 2014 Class AAAA final?
We asked head coach Jess Simpson how the Wolves plan to replace 25 seniors and one of the nation's top prospects as they prepare for the 2015 season-opener against Eastern Christian Academy out of Elkton, Marland.
QUESTION: Buford has the reputation of reloading instead of rebuilding. But you did lose 25 seniors and the nation's top tight end prospect in rising senior Isaac Nauta. Will 2015 be different in that respect?
ANSWER: We lost 25 great seniors and we try to tell our kids to focus on who is here, No. 1. Second, if you're at Buford, nobody wants to talk about rebuilding. That's been the way here for a long, long time.Our kids understand the expectation of, 'you play at Buford and you wear the gold helmet there's a standard and I'm supposed to live up to that.' That's a big challenge for every senior class that comes through here. So this won't be the first time we've had a bunch of seniors that are really first-time players where they become a starter. The good news for us is that these guys got a lot of reps last year. When you play 15 games and have some games you win by a large margin your younger kids get a chance to develop and be in that game situation.This group has worked extremely hard since January in the weight room, in our speed program, on practicing football. This is a critical time of doing some situational stuff, putting the pieces togther and seeing who is going to be where.
QUESTION: Who will you look to to replace departed Luke Humphries at quarterback? Will Mic Roof, last year's back-up, get the first shot at the starting job?
ANSWER: Luke was a great player and did a great job for us managing the offense and Mic probably leads the quarterbacks right now. If you remember, Mic came in in the second quarter against McEachern and had to finish the game and helped lead us to a victory. He played some winning football for us and got some quality snaps last year. He has steadily improved and gotten bigger and stronger. His ability to operate in the offense has gotten better, he can make all the throws, he's got a lot of potential. We have three guys behind him -- Howard Kline, Will Westmoreland,and Clayton Nelson -- but right now if Mic does what he is supposed to do we expect him to open the season as the starter. But we certainly expect all those guys to get some snaps along the way. We feel good about our QB position heading into the fall.
COMING UP NEXT: Chestatee
