There are just 28 days remaining until the kickoff of the 2017 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 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 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 few days, 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)...
RIVERSIDE MILITARY
The Eagles will sport a new coach in Nick Garrett and some looks on the field as they try to continue to build toward challenging for a playoff spot in Class A Private in a rugged Region 8-A that sent six teams to the playoffs in 2016. Garrett sat with AccessWDUN’s Jeff Hart to discuss what fans can look for and what attracted him to leave a similar position in California.
QUESTION: Coach Garrett, what attracted you to take over the program at Riverside?
ANSWER: A friend of mine, Jason Pleasant -- we grew up together in Oxnard, Calif. -- had been telling me about Riverside and what a great place it was. His one word to describe it was “excellence.” So when the job came open I applied and here I am. Riverside is really a hidden gem. I was blown away when I saw the campus and met some of the kids. It has a family feel to it. The kids want to win here. We’re excited to get started.
Q: What style of play can fans expect to see?
A: Our personnel made dictate things a little bit but I like to run a multi-formation style offense with a no huddle spread type attack. We’ll start that way and go from there. On defense we’ll try to attack as much as possible. With the offenses today I think you have to be aggressive on defense. I don’t like to sit back and get picked apart. But we’ll look at things on a game-by-game basis.
- Previously in Two-a-Days: RABUN COUNTY
- Up Next in Two-a-Days: STEPHENS COUNTY
