Our guest for this week’s ITG Next Georgia “4 Questions with the Coach” feature is Dougherty head football coach Johnny Gilbert, who is getting ready to lead his Trojans into offseason workouts ahead of the 2023 campaign. This will be Gilbert’s fifth season as head coach at the Albany school.
The Trojans are coming off another successful season under Gilbert, who has completely transformed a Dougherty team into a perennial winner and contender for state championships. Will they get there in 2023? Let’s ask the coach …
Q. Coach Gilbert, welcome back to our 4 Questions with the Coach segment. How have you and the team been since we last visited with you at our football banquet at the end of 2022? What have the Dougherty High Trojans been up to these first three months of the year?
A. I have been doing great. The team is working extremely hard. We’re getting prepared for the 2023 football season – hitting the weight room, running, and looking over last year’s film. Some of the players are in other sports. The end-of-the-year banquet is always an awesome experience – great food, coaches, players, and speaker. You guys do a great job with that event. I love coming.
Q. Let’s talk about last season. Things started out great, with an 8-0 start to the season, then it seems that first half of the Thomasville game kind of started a downhill roll for your team that was hard to get out of. Coach Gilbert, is that a fair assessment, and what would you say about the way the season ended for Dougherty?
A. Yes, that’s a fair assessment. Getting off to an 8-0 start was phenomenal for our football program. Thomasville has great football and going into the season we knew they would be a measuring stick for us in region play. Finishing the season 9-3 and advancing to the second round of the playoffs was not the goal. We wanted more, but again it was a successful season. The goal was to get to game 15.
Q. Despite the way last season ended, it was still a solid season, with nine wins. What can you tell us about the 2023 group, as far as who is returning and which key pieces you lost to graduation? What should Trojans football fans expect this season?
A. The 2023 football team will be a solid team and will continue the success we have experienced over the years. We are returning 16 seniors for 2023 – eight on offense and eight on defense – including Kam Davis (QB), Chancie Brown (LB/RB), Maurice Davis (DL/TE), Rodney Gordon (LB), Austin Davis (CB), and Jaquavus Hallman (WR/CB). Our biggest loss is going to be on the defensive front. Those guys were lead by Stan Smith, who is headed to South Florida, Antonio Culbreth (Valdosta State), and Octavius Griffin (Valdosta state). Offensively we are losing Jacob Stallworth (RB, Reinhardt University) and Larry Lane (WR, Georgia Military). Our fans should expect another great exciting season from the Trojans.
Q. Coach Gilbert, you have taken this program to new heights since taking over back in 2019. Do you feel like you’ve set the Dougherty football program on a path that will produce not just great football seasons, but great men, too, moving forward for years to come? What is the plan for Dougherty High football for, say, the next five to 10 years?
A. I am so thankful for all of the support this program has been getting for the last four years. I have an awesome coaching staff, and the administrative team here at school is very supportive. Yes, I feel with the leadership of the coaches on the staff, we are developing these players to be great men, husbands, and neighbors. The plans for the program are to continue developing young men and someday allow that development to lead us into a state championship in football.
