Head coaches reveal team strengths, challenges as 2025 Georgia high school football season approaches
Several teams with championship hopes and aspirations took the field for what will be the final tune-up before the season starts next week. Sure, it may not have counted, but the scrimmages gave coaches a chance to see how their teams performed in live action.
We spoke to the head coaches of the six Georgia high school football teams listed below and asked them about their areas of concern, areas of strength, and standout individual performances after their 2025 fall scrimmage games.
- Lowndes vs. Thomas County Central
- Cook vs. Valdosta
- Houston County vs. Crisp County
- Coffee vs. Fitzgerald
LOWNDES VS. THOMAS COUNTY CENTRAL
Thomas County Central 28, Lowndes 10
The Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets are considered to be a front-runner to win it all in Class 5A this season, while the Lowndes Vikings are one of the favorites to claim the top spot in the competitive Region 1-6A and are hoping for a deep run in the Class 6A state playoffs.
The scoreboard showed the final score of 28-10 in favor of TCC. Keep in mind that the quarterbacks were not live and thus were deemed to have been tackled upon touch.
Justin Rogers, Thomas County Central
“I was happy with our performance,” said Justin Rogers, Thomas County Central head football coach. “Coming off of three days in full pads and playing a good opponent in Lowndes, I thought we did some really good things.”
Rogers was pleased with part of his defense but said there’s work to be done with other areas of the unit.
“Our entire defensive line played really well, but we still must work on our secondary and pass coverage, for sure,” Rogers said.
One area of the special teams needs additional work, Rogers said.
“We must work on our punting game,” he said.
The Yellow Jackets head coach said he was proud that his team had zero pre-snap penalties, but that they must work on improving their pad level and getting off the ball a bit quicker.
When asked if he wanted to highlight any one player’s effort, he pointed to running back Christian “Deuce” Lawrence.
“I thought Deuce was just different out there,” Rogers said. “He played awesome and just had many tough runs fighting for extra yards.”
Adam Carter, Lowndes
Earlier this offseason Lowndes head football coach Adam Carter talked about the Vikings being forced to replace several starters on both sides of the ball, so the third-year Vikings head coach was eager to see so many new faces for the first time.
“It was a first Friday night varsity experience for a good bit of our guys, but I thought we competed and we really learned a lot about our guys,” Carter said. “We think we now have a better understanding of how they’ll respond when the lights turn on.”
Carter said he liked the spirit his guys had from the opening whistle.
“I thought we really competed,” he said.
Carter said his team still has work to do before their season-opener next week against the Jenkins Warriors.
“We have plenty of things to watch on film and get fixed before Jenkins,” Carter said. “Offensively, we have to find ways to run the ball and protect the quarterback.
“Defensively, we have to eliminate the big play. Early on in the game, we were able to get off the field and limit those explosive plays.”
COOK VS. VALDOSTA
Valdosta 40, Cook 13
Shelton Felton, Valdosta
The Valdosta Wildcats are hoping to improve on last year’s 9-3 season, but they’ll have to find a replacement for dual-threat quarterback Todd Robinson.
Cats fans have heard about senior transfer Tyrieke Wade, who arrived earlier this summer from Texas, and rising junior Tripp Perry hopes to continue working his way up through the Valdosta football system. They both got ample opportunities to show their stuff and make cases for themselves as the starting QB entering Week 1 versus Tucker.
Valdosta head coach Shelton Felton liked what he saw.
“I think our quarterbacks played well and did exactly what was asked of them,” Felton said.
Felton broke down his team’s performance in the scrimmage against Cook.
“Overall, we played good, but still have got a lot of things to work on,” Felton said. “We were able to play a lot of kids, which is a good thing.”
His team went with the no-huddle offense to start the game and took several shots down the field with big pass plays.
“We came in wanting to play with tempo and create explosive plays,” Felton said of the Valdosta offense.
Valdosta stuffed the debut of Cook’s exciting freshman running back, Dawson Davis, who was severely limited due to the suffocating Wildcats defense.
“We wanted to play physically and stop the run, which we were able to do,” Felton said.
Felton did not try to hide his disappointment with the play of Valdosta’s special teams unit.
“We wanted to play sound special teams and make no mistakes, but we did not accomplish that,” Felton said. “There were a couple of mistakes by some of our younger players.”
Byron Slack, Cook
Despite Class 6A Wildcats having the obvious advantage in numbers over the Class 2A Hornets, Cook head coach Byron Slack was anxious to see how his team would approach the contest.
“I think we took a lot of good things from the game,” Slack said. “They (Valdosta) are very talented, and I wanted to see how we would hold up against those guys.”
Slack said there were the types of mistakes you normally see early on as guys see their first live action.
“Our receivers dropped a few balls, and we made some crucial mistakes in the defensive backfield, but I thought we got better as the game went on,” he said.
Focusing on the offense, Slack said there were a lot of promising things that the final score didn’t necessarily represent.
“Offensively, I was impressed with our freshman running back, Dawson Davis,” Slack said. “His carries and yards don’t necessarily reflect how hard he ran. I mean, it’s your very first game as a varsity starter, and you’re asked to go against Valdosta. That isn’t easy.”
Defensively, Slack liked how his team played.
“I thought we played the ball better in the air, and our defensive front and inside linebacker spots played well,” Slack said. “Dawson Davis and Bralyn Bennett, along with Jeremiah Covington, did a great job against a solid offensive line with two superior running backs.”
HOUSTON COUNTY VS. CRISP COUNTY
Houston County 42, Crisp County 0
The Crisp County Cougars and new head coach Justin Newman went into Freedom Field to take on the Houston County Bears and head coach Jeremy Edwards in the final tune-up for both teams before they kick off the 2025 regular season.
It was a battle of the Class 2A Cougars versus the Class 5A Bears. Much like the other games matching the lower classification programs against their higher classification opponents, this went in favor of the school with more A’s. As was also the case in those other contests, both coaches were focused on certain positions, players, and situational awareness.
Justin Newman, Crisp County
“It’s always good to see where you stand after the summer, and we wanted to play a team that would push us to work hard, and HoCo has a very good team and will make some noise in their classification this season,” Newman said.
The first-year Crisp County head coach liked what he saw from the offensive guys who will be expected to be the primary points-producers this season.
“We saw some good things from our quarterback, Slimp; running backs Brown and Mabry; and wide receivers Fedd and Blanks,” Newman said. “The offensive linemen, Stephens and Brown, looked good, but we still have some work to do overall with the offense.”
Newman said that because both teams’ quarterbacks were dead, meaning no contact, he went vanilla with his offense.
“We took a good chunk of our offense out of the equation,” he said.
Newman said he was especially pleased with the play of his defensive front, which created several opportunities for sacks. Also, that pressure up front forced an interception by Ty King, one of the Cougars’ defensive backs.
As for what areas need improvement, Newman said, “We have to get consistent in our keys and reads on defense.”
“The biggest thing for me is seeing who would fold and who wanted to fight,” Newman said of his expectations from the game.
Jeremy Edwards, Houston County
One of the biggest question marks Edwards was hoping to have answered was his quarterback situation. The Bears’ high flying offense had evolved around AJ Hill over the past four seasons, but Hill has graduated and is now at Memphis.
It’s a new day at Houston County, and there are new quarterbacks. Yes, that’s plural. Houston County currently has two quarterbacks battling for the position. As it stands, both could likely see playing time running Edwards’ offense. Sophomore Ryan Maxwell played in the first half of the scrimmage against Crisp County, and freshman Keirion Tate played in the second half of the game.
“Both of our guys led the offense on scoring drives,” Edwards said.
All indications point to Maxwell being the starter when HoCo opens up the regular season against Brookwood in the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Aug. 16, but Edwards said both will see playing time in 2025.
Edwards said he thought the rest of the offense played well.
“We still have a lot of stuff we need to clean up, but I’m very pleased with the work,” Edwards said.
Edwards liked what he saw from his defense against Crisp County too.
“I was very excited coming out of the scrimmage versus Crisp,” he said. “We played very fast and very physical and didn’t really give up much at all on the ground or through the air.”
Edwards said that he liked his players’ energy and attitudes in the scrimmage and that he feels like his crew is ready to rock.
“Now I look forward to the season and seeing how we have progressed,” Edwards said.
FITZGERALD VS. COFFEE
Coffee 12, Fitzgerald 10
In a close contest that ended up 12-10 in favor of Coffee, Coffee head coach Mike Coe and new Fitzgerald head coach Wesley Tankersley seemed mostly pleased with how things turned out.
This contest was different from the others covered in this article because the junior varsity squads took the field to open the game’s first quarter before the varsity squads took over the rest of the way.
Wesley Tankersley, Fitzgerald
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That seems to be the approach the new Purple Hurricane head coach is taking as he used several running backs in the game against Coffee, exactly what Fitzgerald has famously done for years.
“We had five or six running backs in the scrimmage, and that’s what we’ll do this year,” Tankersley said.
One new thing Tankersley said to expect from his team’s offense this season was shown in several offensive sets against Coffee.
“We’re going to line up in a lot more shotgun sets this year and throw it a bit more than in the past,” Tankersley said. “We’ll still run the veer out of that formation as well.”
Victor Copeland ran the offense against Coffee, and he’ll line up as the team’s quarterback again this season. Not only can he run it, but he can throw it just as easily.
“Victor is going to be a big threat for us this year,” Tankersley said.
Look for changes to Fitzgerald’s defense in 2025. While the Purple Hurricanes will favor the familiar running-back-by-committee look on offense again this season, Tankersley said that won’t necessarily be the case with the defense.
“We’re going to be quite a bit different on defense this season,” Tankersley said.
He said the defense will have a more aggressive and attacking style, which will require much more communication within the unit this year.
Tankersley said the special teams were live except for kickoff returns, and that was one of the areas he was most impressed with.
“We did a really good job on our special teams versus Coffee,” he said.
That effort included a 35-yard field goal.
Mike Coe, Coffee
Coe said his team looked familiar to him at times, but, at other points, the Trojans’ inexperience came through.
Coffee has consistently featured a powerful running back who has been the focus of Coe’s offense since the head coach arrived in Douglas, Georgia, four years ago. If KJ DeBruce’s performance in the scrimmage against Fitzgerald is any indication, he will be the next man up in Coffee’s offense.
“KJ DeBruce went for 181 yards in three quarters and had a touchdown called back,” Coe said.
There were a couple of other mishaps on offense that Coe said his team needs to clean up.
“We dropped a touchdown and lost a fourth-and-1 on the 8-yard line when our back-up quarterback dropped the snap,”Coe said. “So if we can clean up those areas, I think we can make strides and be a good football team.”
Coe said he was mostly pleased with his team’s defensive effort.
“I was pleased with our defense, but we did give up contain a few times to their quarterback, (Copeland), who can really run,” Coe said.
Coe said the 10 points allowed came on special teams mistakes.
“All of their points were aided by special team blunders, so we have to get that fixed asap,” Coe said.
Coe said he was pleased overall with his team’s energy and physical style of play.
“We also played with a lot of effort and joy, so if we continue to do that, we will be ok,” he said.
