NOTE: There are only 41 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.
Gainesville football answered last season's extraordinarily tough questions with relative ease. The Red Elephants replaced a record-shattering and freakishly-gifted quarterback (current Clemson starter Deshaun Watson) -- not to mention a handful of other standouts -- and rolled right back into the state quarterfinals, narrowly missing out on a "Final Four" berth. They also notched their seventh double-digit win season in a row. Needless to say expectations are high around Gainesville every season now, as fans, players and coaches have grown accustomed to high-level success.
The Red Elephants must replace yet another quarterback heading into 2015 after the graduation of standout Mikey Gonzalez, as well as another group of playmakers at receiver and running back. Will they be able to make more changes and keep on rolling? We asked Gainesville coach Bruce Miller for his thoughts.
QUESTION: How is the quarterback race shaping up? Messiah Dorsey and Hunter Sims are both talented -- is it a tight battle so far? And who else has been stepping up at other positions?
ANSWER: It’s still a great race. Both of them have both done really well all summer. From start of 7-on-7 to the end of that season I've been impressed with both Messiah and Hunter and how they're picking up system and making it go. They're helping us find out who are playmakers are. Everything changes when you put on pads, but I'd give it an A-plus right now. The kids are really adjusting well. Tyree Robertson has showed us we have a playmaker at receiver, as well as Andy Hayes and Trey Blackwell, who's an upcoming sophomore. They've all really stepped up and shown they can make plays. We've also had a move-in named Tae Turner, he’s really stepped up. And Chris Byrd has just been the steady Chris Byrd he is and keeps getting better and better every time he walks out there.
QUESTION: Between July and the start of full practice in August how much do you get accomplished as a team?
ANSWER: We go to West Georgia to team camp, leave on the 10th (of July) and come back on the 13th. There we get eight practices against some of the best competition you can have it against. When we come back from there we feel like, in the past, we have been really ahead of the curve with the installation process. It gives us a great feel for what we might need to do personnel-wise. From then on it’s just about repping what we did at camp and getting ready for the season.
COMING UP NEXT: Habersham Central
