There are just 36 days left until the kickoff of the 2016 high school football season -- 18 days until the first practice in pads -- 11 until the first fall conditioning practices may commence.
But make no mistake, the 2016 season got underway months ago -- not in the record books, but in weight rooms, sand pits, and practice fields throughout the state. And teams from throughout northeast Georgia are now in the final stages of preparations that began almost as soon as the 2015 season ended.
With that in mind we spent the last few days catching up with programs around our area to get a feel for how spring practice went, how the summer is going, and what coaches believe the fall will look like. We call it the series "Two-a-Days" in honor of the grinding sessions that lead us out of summer and into fall. And for the next two weeks, AccessWDUN will get you prepped -- twice a day -- for the start of gridiron action with responses from coaches throughout northeast Georgia. We present them in alphabetical order, starting with Apalachee and touring all over the place before ending back up near the start in Winder-Barrow.
We're already hunkering down in anticipation of kickoff; we hope this helps to get you in the mood too...
EAST JACKSON
New East Jackson coach Christian Hunnicutt did not seemed fazed by the task facing him as he takes over the reigns of the Eagles in his first-ever head coaching job. He was fully aware of the struggles the Eagles have faced with just three total victories over the past four seasons.
Hunnicutt, who came over from powerhouse Grayson where he was the offensive line coach for one of the most powerful offenses in the state in 2015, said starting from the ground up has been their approach during the offseason.
QUESTION: The program has fallen on tough times since a second round playoff appearance in 2009. What has been the biggest challenge since you arrived?
ANSWER: Really just trying to instill and sell a new system and a successful way of doing things to everyone involved with the program. These kids are hungry for some success. The bond between the position coaches and the players has to be strong so that they can build confidence in themselves. We have some talented players. Our goal is finding where they will be the most successful and then teaching them how to be.
Q: With that in mind, you mentioned strength and conditioning as an area where improvement was desperately needed. How has that been coming along during the offseason?
A: It all starts right there, no matter what level of competition you’re at. That was an area we looked at and targeted right from the beginning. Brady Sigler is our strength and conditioning coach and our defensive coordinator and he is one of the best. He’s been at Cedar Shoals, Clarke Central, and Elbert County and you see the success those programs have had over the years. I really think we have made a lot of improvement since we got here. But, we’re still not where we need to be progam-wise. It’s not going to happen in one year but I do feel like we’re going to be competitive and bring back confidence to the program.
Previously in Two-a-Days: EAST HALL
Up Next in Two-a-Days: FANNIN COUNTY
