There are just 31 days left until the kickoff of the 2016 high school football season -- 13 days until the first practice in pads -- 6 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 it 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...
LANIER
The Longhorns set a program-record with 11 wins in 2015 behind a dominating defense led by Auburn-signee Derrick Brown. While Brown may be gone, coach Kory Mobbs said a talented group of defenders led by senior linebackers Tyler Taylor and Juwan Jones could be just as good as they look for a third consecutive region title.
However, also gone are quarterback Tahj Tolbert, a three-year starter, and running backs Ashton Barnes and Marcello Baity. The fortunes of the Longhorns may rest with how quickly they can fill the holes on offense. AccessWDUN sports writer Jeff Hart caught up with Mobbs during a practice against Meadowcreek to see how things were coming along.
QUESTION: Y’all lost a lot of experience on the offensive side of the ball to graduation in Tolbert, Barnes, and Baity to name a few. Who has stepped up so fall during the summer and how crucial will it be to get the offense up and running by the start of the season?
ANSWER: The big thing is the experience we lost with those guys and they helped put Lanier on the map so to speak. But, we feel we have talent coming up as well. The (offensive) line should be very good and that will help with some of the growing pains. Senior Noah Fritz has been getting the most reps with the first team guys at quarterback and we like what we have seen so far. He’s got a good arm and can run the ball as well. Marcko Baity led us in rushing last year after Ashton got hurt so having him back will help and junior Twyon Reaves has looked good in the backfield. We also have three or four guys we're looking at at receiver as well. There is still a lot of learning to do but we feel we’ll ready by the start of the season.
Q: The defense was outstanding last year, especially along the line with Brown. But, y’all lost several key guys up front. Does that mean we will see a different look with such a talented and speedy linebacking group, led by Taylor and Jones?
A: I don’t think we’re going to change our approach on defense that much. Juwan and Tyler were a big part of our success last year. We won’t be as big as were last year so we may throw a few different looks out there but for the most part we will attack the offense like we have in the past. (Senior) Michael Allen returns on the (defensive) line and he is big and fast like Derrick was. Since we lost some experienced guys up front our depth will be younger so a lot will depend on if we can stay healthy and also in developing our younger guys.
Previously in Two-a-Days: LAKEVIEW ACADEMY
Up next in Two-a-Days: LUMPKIN COUNTY
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/7/421353/two-a-days-changes-not-deterring-longhorns-in-2016