Gainesville head coach Josh Niblett is our first coach to join the Friday Game Night Coaches Show.
Friday Game Night's Bo Wilson and Jeff Hart spoke with Niblett about the team's summer and fall practices, the scrimmage against Milton, and the Red Elephants Week 1 opponent Marist.
MARIST at GAINESVILLE
Records: War Eagles (0-0, Region 4-6A), ranked 8th in Class 6A; Red Elephants (0-0, Region 8-6A), ranked 2nd in Class 6A
Where: City Park Stadium, Gainesville
Time: 7:30 p.m.
The Statisticals: Marist leads series 10-6. Gainesville won 34-23 in 2022. Both teams come in ranked in the top 10 in Class 6A to begin the year, and both made deep runs in 2022. The War Eagles lost in the Elite 8 while the Red Elephants lost in the championship game. The 34 points the Gainesville offense put on the Marist defense turned out to be a season-high vs. the War Eagles in 2022. Big Red may already be better than they were last year as Baxter Wright has a full grasp of the offense and more than enough weapons to put up some big numbers. And this may not be the last time the two meet in 2023.
What to watch for: The Gainesville defense. The Red Elephants have several new pieces to a unit that allowed just 16.7 ppg in 2022 and facing the always-tough Marist wing-T in the opener will be a tough challenge. The War Eagles are led by returning QB Jack Euart. However, the Marist defense, led by DL Luke Harpring, also will have its hands full vs. a Gainesville offense that could be more explosive than last year’s group that averaged 39.0 ppg. Wright is a year-plus into the system and expect offensive coordinator Tad Niblett to add a few more wrinkles this year.
