There are just 39 days left until the kickoff of the 2016 high school football season -- 21 days until the first practice in pads -- 14 until the first fall conditioning practices may commence.
But make no mistake, the 2016 season got underway months ago -- not in the record books, but in weight rooms, sand pits and practice fields throughout the state. And teams from throughout northeast Georgia are now in the final stages of preparations that began almost as soon as the 2015 season ended.
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 the grinding sessions that lead us out of summer and into fall. And for the next two weeks, AccessWDUN will get you prepped -- twice a day -- for the start of gridiron action with responses from coaches throughout northeast Georgia. We present them in alphabetical order, starting with Apalachee and touring all over the place before ending back up near the start in Winder-Barrow.
We're already hunkering down in anticipation of kickoff; we hope this helps to get you in the mood too...
APALACHEE
Coach Steven Sims knew he faced a rebuilding effort when he took over the Wildcats football program prior to last season, and that was only confirmed when Apalachee went 0-10 in 2015.
Yet after a year of hard work Sims and his staff believe they have the Wildcats headed back in the right direction. AccessWDUN sports editor Morgan Lee asked Sims about the learning curve for the Wildcats -- who went 46-31 from 2006-2012 but have won just one game in the three seasons since -- and how they hope to improve in 2016.
QUESTION: The last three seasons have been tough for the program, but you're only beginning your second campaign in charge; what did you learn about your team last year that you will look to use as the bedrock to rebuild upon?
ANSWER: Rebuild is the key word; it was almost like we were opening a new school with the process of getting kids out and getting numbers up in the program last season. The numbers were low in some classes, and we've really focused on getting kids out, especially in the ninth grade. And those numbers are increasing; we're still thin in our junior class -- though we should have a good size senior class this year. Last year we didn't have the depth to line up in our region and compete week-in, week-out. They're good kids, and they work hard, but you can't have as many two-way players as we did at this level last season.
Q: Are you looking to make any changes in approach in your second season -- in other words are you making any major changes to your base offense or defense?
A: We're going to line up the same way; but we're going to do a better job of creating an identity. On offense we're going to get first downs and control the ball. We've got to play four quarters on defense; we've got to play a full game. We're going to be better. How many wins will that equate to? I don't know, but we're a year bigger, faster and stronger, and we have the opportunity to have some success early. All we really need is to win a couple of games and we'll get things rolling here.
Up next in Two-a-Days: BANKS COUNTY
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/7/418995/two-a-days-apalachee