There are just 25 days remaining until the kickoff of the 2018 high school football season. But make no mistake, preparations for the upcoming campaign got underway months ago in weight rooms, sand pits and practice fields throughout the state. And teams throughout northeast Georgia are in full countdown mode.
With that in mind we spent the last couple of weeks 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 the series "Two-a-Days" in honor of those old-school grinding sessions that lead us out of summer and into fall, asking each area coach two key questions about the state of their respective programs.
Over the next two weeks, AccessWDUN's Friday Game Night will get you prepped for the start of gridiron action with responses from coaches throughout northeast Georgia. (Teams run in alphabetical order)...
JEFFERSON
The Dragons have been one of northeast Georgia's most consistent and dominate teams over the last six seasons, including the last four behind dynamic two-way talent Colby Wood, who is now at Wofford. They won a state title in Class 2A, region titles in both Class 3A and 4A, and now move back to Class 3A for the 2018 season. Wood was the heart-and-soul of the Dragons, who will now have to find several guys to fill in his spots on both offense and defense. However, they do return TE Garmon Randolph, one of the nation's top recruits at his position, and a slew of young talent. Jefferson coach Gene Cathcart was candid in how they will try to replace Wood and with whom.
QUESTION: Coach, how do you replace an impact player like Colby Wood?
ANSWER: Colby was such a productive player over his career here, as a runner, receiver, returner, and defender his graduation leaves multiple voids. While there may not be one jack of all trades like him, we are fortunate to have multiple players that have been groomed to fill several of those roles. With us running a spread option attack our carries should be more spread out between our QB Colby Clark, who started on our final four team, and wing backs Donshae Gaither, Zac Corbin, Christian Parten, Kolten Jones, Jordan Perry, Levin Jones, Hunter Blanton, Kaden Bailey, and Nick Evans. Our fullbacks are a talented group led by Kade McNally, Paxton Corkery, Jacob Thompson, Joseph Sims and Rem Maxwell. We are very fortunate to return our top receiving threats in TE Garmon Randolph -- a top prospect in the southeast, leading returning receiver Sammy Elegreet, Corbin as well as Josh Cochran, tennis standout Cody Bare, Kam Robinson and some talented younger players like Dawson Crawley and Spencer’s Neese. Spring game standout and future star Malaki Starks, a freshman, figures huge in our plans at both QB and RB when he returns from injury as well as in the secondary on defensive. Offensive linemen JT Middleton (a UNCC commit), Ryan Godfrey, and Logan Whidby return as starters to anchor us up front. A couple of the top specialist in the state return in Kicker/Punter Hayden Kilgore and Deep Snapper Seth Glausier. Also all state player Zac Corbin returns to handle PR duties. Defensively several starters return led in the secondary by all state FS Zac Corbin. Joining him will be Colby Clark (at SS/OLB), Sammy Elegreet, Donsha Gaither, Josh Cochran, Hunter Blayton, Kam Robinson, Nick Evans and wrestling champion Cole Potts joins the team following a great spring and summer. Experienced linebackers Kade McNally, Paxton Corkery, Colton Dufresne, Jacob Thompson, Rem Maxwell, Kaden Bailey and Garmon Randolph will play significantly more defense. Defensive linemen include prospect Aaron Hall, several of the offensive linemen, Vaughn Howington, AJ Abbott, Gavin London, Knox McKinney, Jamarcus Hill, Nathan Collins, Jordan Payne, Carson Woodward and Brett Bell.
Q: How does Class 3A compare to what you saw in Class 4A the last few years?
A: There are similarities between the regions and programs with great traditions in both. Obviously Monroe Area is predicted by most to be one the top teams in the area, if not the state. Morgan County won the region last year and traditionally has been a good rival for us. Hart County is clearly one of the up and coming teams around and again is a traditional rival for Jefferson. Franklin County’s new coach is one of my very good friends in South Carolina and did an unreal job over there and East Jackson and Jackson County are teams very close to us and those games are important to folks in our area and generate a good bit of excitement. Our preregion schedule is also quite difficult as we open at Oconee County in what has been one of the top games every year in our AAAA region with Coach Noland’s team and their big time prospect Max Johnson at QB. After an usually timed open date we go to West Hall and face Coach Montgomery, whose wife is a great teacher at our school and is coming off a great year, then we have our home opener vs Southside SC whose QB is one of the top prospects in the south having been offered by Penn State and several others. Then we face Gainesville which is a great game for excitement in the area and Coach Webb will do a great job there.
- Previously in Two-a-Days: JACKSON COUNTY
- Up Next in Two-a-Days: JOHNSON
