The first half of the 2017 season for the Gainesville football team is one like the program, and coach Bruce Miller, have not experienced in nearly two decades.
Key early season injuries combined with one of the toughest schedules in the state to this point -- the combined records of their first five opponents is 23-4 -- has seen the Red Elephants tumble to a 1-4 record, their worst since 1999. No Miller-coached team had started 1-4 since his 1997 North Forsyth squad.
Gainesville has dropped four straight, and it has been since the end of the 1999 and start of the 2000 seasons since a Red Elephants team has lost five in a row. The last time a Miller-led team dropped five consecutive games was in 1998, also at North Forsyth.
But, Miller and the Red Elephants have a chance to erase the first half of the campaign when they open Region 8-AAAAAA play Friday night at City Park Stadium against Habersham Central.
It won’t come easy for the Red Elephants (1-4, 0-0 Region 8-AAAAAA), as the Raiders (1-4, 0-0), behind senior quarterback A.J. Curry, possess one of the most dynamic offenses in the state. The Raiders lead Class AAAAAA in scoring average, and their four losses have been by a combined 11 points.
AccessWDUN’s Jeff Hart asked Miller how the Red Elephants plan to move forward.
QUESTION: Coach, there were a lot of changes coming into the season with some new coaches and new faces at some key spots. And it has been a rough start for y’all with injuries and a brutal schedule. What has the mood been like in the locker room?
ANSWER: Well, I think a lot of the kids initially were pointing some fingers and looking around and trying to find someone to blame for what’s been happening. But it’s really my fault. I’m to blame. It’s my job to make sure we don’t have down periods. However, it’s been almost a perfect storm kind of situation. We were inexperienced on the field at a lot of spots, but then we had a quarterback (Tre Luttrell) move in to get us some help. But then he gets hurt so I have to take one of our starting defensive backs, and one of our best overall players (Chandler Watson), and put him at quarterback and then he gets hurt. So now our offense is struggling, our defense is missing pieces, and on top of that we have a very, very tough schedule. People don’t want to hear excuses. They want results and that’s what we’re going to try and fix. But it’s not out of control yet. All of the games we have left are winnable. They’re also all losable. As a group we can’t feel sorry for ourselves because no one else is.
Q: You talked in the preseason about learning from a sub-par season like you had last year [5-6, first losing season for Miller at Gainesville]. The last time a team of yours lost five straight in a season was way back in 1998 when you were at North Forsyth. The next season the Raiders went 9-3 and made the playoffs. What do you remember from that time-frame that you can draw from in an effort to try and turn things around this year?
A: The main thing I learned from that was that everything rises and falls on leadership. That team had a lot of younger players that grew up together and became good leaders when they got to be juniors and seniors. That’s what this team is trying to find. We have some good senior leaders but we need more of the seniors to step up. Are they going to make a positive or a negative change? That is a key question. I’m starting six sophomores and two freshmen right now. It’s the first time I’ve ever started two freshmen. They earned spots. They also happen to be good leaders. I think this group has the talent to win the region. We just need to get everyone on the same page. I see some of the same things with this group that I saw with that ‘99 team. We’ll see how this group fares over the last five games.
Q: We mentioned injuries. You lost Dontarious Waker before the season to a knee injury in a pick-up basketball game in the winter. (Junior starting quarterback) Tre Luttrell has been out for most of the season. Two weeks ago against Jefferson y’all were forced to use three quarterbacks in one game when backup Chandler Watson went down. I don’t know that I’ve seen a team have to go through that many changes. But Luttrell returned last week and appears ready to go as you open region play. How important is that at this moment in the season?
A: For Tre and us getting him in the game last week was the best thing we’ve done all year. He was able to get out there and knock some of the rust off. We thought about holding him out one more game but decided there were more positives than negatives for him and the team to get him out there. He looked rusty in the first half but he really improved in the second half. With all the changes, we haven’t been able to do what we normally do on offense. With Tre back I think we can get back to running things the way we like. But I always felt that Tre can do things some other guys we’ve had over the years can’t with his athletic ability and size.
Q: The schedule slacks up only marginally as you have a tough three-game slate to open Region 8-AAAAAA, starting with a Habersham Central team this week that is No. 1 in Class AAAAAA in scoring average at 44.2 points a game. Since a shutout over West Hall, your defense has given up 143 points (35.7 ppg). However, the Raiders are allowing the second-most points on average in the classification at 43 ppg. Which way to do you see this one going?
A: They can score some points; and they will because they have a lot of weapons to defend. But I think our defense, and we’re getting back to full strength, can slow them down just enough to give us a chance. (Habersham quarterback A.J. Curry) is a big, strong kid that can make all the throws and can run it as well. He’s tough to defend. The key is just good, solid coverage. Hopefully we can match up with their receivers. We’re going to have to score some points to win this. It could be like one of those Big 12-type games. Hopefully it won’t go down to whoever has it last but it might. I just hope we’re the one with the ball last if it comes to that.
Q: We know every game is important, and with how balanced 8-AAAAAA is, do you think the loser of this game this week will be behind the eight-ball so to speak to make the playoffs?
A: There is no doubt that whoever loses this game will definitely be behind the eight-ball. Forget the records. The region is so balanced and will be as tough as it always is. There will be no easy games so every loss will be big. Dacula, in my mind, is still the team to beat, but I think this first week (of region play) will tell us a lot. I’m hoping that after Friday night we’ll be in that conversation.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2017/10/589607/qa-gainesvilles-miller-says-point-fingers-at-him-for-rough-start