Through coaching change, East Hall looks to continue air-raid

RABBITTOWN — The more things change, the more they stay the same.

This fall, East Hall will be starting with a new head coach, their fourth in the last five seasons. For most teams, that many coaching changes would mean major changes in style of play, especially on offense.

Not for the Vikings.

Under Bryan Gray, they were consistently one of the top passing teams in the area if not the state, including some record-setting years with quarterback Austin Parker.

After Gray stepped down following the 2017 season, his assistant Scott Patrick took over, keeping many of the same philosophies. In 2019, Michael Perry brought his “air raid” offense from Centennial and East Hall continued to see a pass-happy attack.

Perry left for Union County after the 2020 season. Enter Matt Turner.

Turner is an East Hall graduate and was a longtime assistant under Gray, including being the offensive coordinator for some of the potent Parker-led aerial attacks. Now, after a brief stint at Lakeview Academy, he hopes to start turning those statistics into victories for his alma mater.

“There’s a buzz in our community right now,” Turner said. “I think our kids are excited. I think our community is excited. I think they see it as me and a group of coaches coming in that is invested in that place and invested in this community, and that is coming in trying to build something.”

Turner will be looking to build the Vikings back into the consistent playoff contender that they were in his time as an assistant. They made the playoffs three out of four years from 2014 through 2017 but haven’t been back to the postseason since.

He’s certainly had good tutors, having coached under Gray as well as current Lakeview coach Lee Shaw, who are two of the winningest head football coaches in Hall County over the past two decades.

“I’ve been extremely blessed to work for both of those men. Coach Gray is a very nuts and bolts kind of guy. He’s very stern about how he does things, but he loves the kids,” Turner said. “That always resonated with me how much love he poured into those kids.”

“What I learned from Coach Shaw is how to build a program. How to take a program that had been struggling and getting kids to believe. If you just keep plugging away at it and keep selling that vision that you have to those kids, eventually it will start to pay off.”

Turner said the Vikings’ offense will look familiar to anyone who saw them play under Gray. They will base out of a spread and look to beat teams through the air.

The good news is, he’ll have a pretty good signal-caller to break the system in with. Senior Clete Cooper will be entering his third year as starter for East Hall with almost 5,000 career passing yards and 25 touchdowns to his resume. He was one of the leaders in passing yards in Class 4A in 2020 before the team was forced to forfeit a pair of games for COVID-19 protocols.

Turner said Cooper will need to take command of the offense for the team to have success.

“He’s got a very good understanding of spread offense. It’s a similar system to what he was running with Coach Perry, so that part’s been a blessing,” Turner said. “He’s got to be the leader for us. Sometimes he may not want to be or want to see himself as that, but you’re the quarterback and people are going to look to you.”

The overall personnel of the offense, however, may have Turner leaning more on his ground game this year than usual. The Vikings look to feature one of their most experienced offensive lines in years with Connor Tompkins and Caleb Pruitt returning as starters.

Senior Marcus Holmberg and junior Isaiah McClary should have some opportunities in the running game behind that line.

“We can rely on those guys up front. When we need two or three yards, we can hand the ball off and we have guys that can get it, and that includes incorporating more quarterback run,” Turner said.

At receiver, seniors Levi Howard and Justin Gilbert will return to the lineup after both suffered injuries during the 2020 season. Darius Holcomb will start at slot receiver after a strong spring practice. Howard and McClary will also be able to rotate at H-back or tight end if East Hall needs those positions on the field.

On defense, the Vikings will base out of a 3-4 multiple under defensive coordinator Jim Stoudenmire. While of the offensive line looks to be one of the strengths of the offense, Turner said the defensive line may be the same on that side of the ball.

Tompkins will also start at defensive tackle. McClary and Marcus Holmberg will likely start at the defensive ends.

“Those three are really solid, we’re really excited about them,” Turner said.

Pruitt will return to start at inside linebacker along with Khalil Jackson. Walker Barrett and Quaran Jackson will start at outside linebacker.

The youngest position on defense will be the secondary. Holcomb will likely start at one corner spot with T.J. Blackwell and Temeris Morrison competing for the other starting spot. Seniors Cody Lee and Gibson Thompson will start at the two safeties.

Defense could be key to a return to the playoffs for East Hall and it has struggled throughout the coaching changes, giving up at least 35 points per game every season since 2016.

Cooper will also handle a lot of the punting duties for the Vikings while sophomore Jayden Hernandez will do the place kicking.

If they hope to return to the playoffs, they’ll have to navigate Region 8-4A, which Turner called one of the best regions in the state. It includes last year’s Class 4A runner-up Jefferson and consistent powerhouses in Flowery Branch and North Oconee.

“Our region is brutal. Teams like Cedar Shoals, Madison County and Chestatee, we feel like if we can build this thig and stay healthy that we can compete and make a run,” Turner said. “Jefferson, Flowery Branch and North Oconee we feel like are a little head and shoulders above everybody else, but the other four are kind of all in the same boat and it’s anybody’s game.”

East Hall will have a BYE week in week one and will open the season the following week at home against West Hall. Franklin County, Johnson and East Jackson will round out their non-region slate.

Entering the season, Turner said he believes his team has a sense of unity that will pay dividends for them.

“We’re trying to build something for the long haul and I think our kids are excited about that. They’re excited about the opportunity and they’re excited about how hard we’ve been pushing them.”

The Vikings will have a small senior class of only ten players, but Turners said he’s seen a lot of leadership out of the group that he hopes will translate to the entire program.

“They’re tying the whole thing together and tapping into our younger players and making them feel a part of it. We’re tapping into our community and bringing our community in and pushing forward with positive leadership,” Turner said.