There are just 33 days remaining until the kickoff of the 2025 high school football season. But make no mistake, preparations for the upcoming campaign got underway months ago. And teams throughout northeast Georgia already are in full countdown mode.
With that in mind, we spent the last couple of weeks 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. Our "Two-a-Days" series honors those old-school grinding sessions that lead us out of summer and into fall, asking each area coach two key questions about the state of their respective programs.
Over the next two-plus weeks, AccessWDUN's Friday Game Night will get you prepped for the start of gridiron action with responses from coaches throughout northeast Georgia.
(Teams run in alphabetical order)...
BANKS COUNTY (2-8 in 2024; did not qualify for playoffs)
The Leopards were just 9 points from a .500 season in 2024 under first-year coach Todd Winter, who brought his power option offense to Homer. Winter says it usually takes three years for his programs to get to full steam. However, the Leopards added former Commerce coaches Mark Hollars and Ron Boyd, both masters of running the option offense, to ramp up the offense this season.
And, they also return the bulk of their offense and several key players on defense in 2025. We caught up with Coach Winter to see how things are shaping up in Homer in Year Two.
QUESTION: Coach, you return the bulk of an offense that showed marked improvement over the final third of last season. And, y’all brought in former Commerce coach Mark Hollars, who is also an expert on the wishbone, to run the offense. What new elements is he adding and how are those changes coming along?
ANSWER: We do return some key players on the offensive side and have had very few changes on the offensive side of the ball. We not only brought in Coach Hollars as our offensive coordinator, but we also added Ron Boyd, who coached the offensive line at Lenoir Rhyne when they played for the National Championship and at the Citadel where they won two SOCON championships running the triple option. What Coach Hollars and Coach Boyd have brought is more experience in running the triple option. Their knowledge and detail of the offense has allowed us to progress faster than I believe we would have at this point in year two.
QUESTION: Y’all gave up a respectable 25.6 points/game on defense but only return four players from that unit. What has been the priority as y’all try to rebuild on that side of the ball?
ANSWER: First, Coach Samples did an outstanding job in learning and installing a new defensive scheme last season. We did lose some key players on defense, but we also return some key defensive players. Dayden Rogers at Sam, Davian Knox at Mac, Caden Watson at Corner, and Ethan Brock at End are in key positions returning on defense. Haiden Williamson, who will be a junior, has looked solid at the Augie spot. Brice Highfield (junior) and Kyson Nesbitt (sophomore) have both looked good at Backer. Our success on defense will hinge on our ability to identify these changes and take advantage of the personnel on our squad.
- Up Next in Two-a-Days: BUFORD
http://accesswdun.com/article/2025/7/1292205/two-a-days-banks-county-7-28-25