There are just 25 days left until the kickoff of the 2016 high school football season, but make no mistake, preparations for the 2016 season got underway months ago in weight rooms, sand pits and practice fields throughout the state. And teams from 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 the grinding sessions that lead us out of summer and into fall. Today wraps up the series that AccessWDUN hopes got you prepped for the start of gridiron action with responses from coaches throughout northeast Georgia. (Teams ran in alphabetical order)...
WHITE COUNTY
Last year represented White County's first losing season since 2011 -- coach Bill Ballard's first in charge in Cleveland. Yet 2015 also saw the Warriors start eight sophomores and two freshmen on defense -- and still miss out on going 6-4 by a measly four points.
With that in mind AccessWDUN sports editor Morgan Lee recently talked with Ballard about the young promise of this year's White County squad and just how much progress the program as a whole has made in recent seasons.
QUESTION: Last season brought your first losing campaign since your first in charge at White County -- but you played a lot of youth during a 3-7 season that also saw you 20 points away from being 7-3. How is that promise progressing through the offseason?
ANSWER: We're a year stronger, a year faster, a year more mature -- we have a lot of kids back with game experience, and that makes us feel pretty good going forward. Our stated goal is to make the playoffs; that's important for this team, to get back to that standard. We're working hard in the weight room, and we're working hard in our running/speed program -- our track team won region last year, and a lot of our guys were on that team. That was a big deal.
Q: You're heading into your sixth season with the Warriors, how stable is the program now compared to when you first started?
A: Making the playoffs three years in a row (2012-14) really pushed us forward, and they had a good thing going here before I even got here as a head coach, so I don't want to take all the credit (from 2007-2010 White County posted a record of 29-14, reaching the state playoffs twice, including the Class AAA second round). And even though we took a step back in the win/loss column last season we were very competitive and right there with a lot of the teams we lost to -- we were four points from going 6-4 -- so I feel like we're building towards something big again. I feel like we have good coaches that work hard and put a lot of time in, and the kids buy in and give great effort, so we're pretty excited.
Previously in Two-a-Days: WEST HALL
Up Next in Two-a-Days: WINDER-BARROW
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/7/419014/two-a-days-white-county