ITG Next spoke to Brooks County head football coach Maurice Freeman on the state championship win and the future of the Trojans.
Q. Coach, congratulations on the state championship. Talk about the fun of sharing the championship with the fans. How much fun has that been?
A. Well I wanted the entire Brooks County to really get the state championship feeling. So I took the trophy around and took pictures with it to show my appreciation to all Brooks County Trojans. I am just as proud of my community as they are of the Trojans.
Q. Coach, this championship took a lot of hard work to get to where you and your team wound up. When was it during the season that you realized you may have the team to win it all?
A. Phil, we felt during the 2021 summer that this team was special. All teams at Brooks since 2008 have had a lot of talent, but this team has something that the others may have been missing. We were in better shape, stayed away from major injuries and we have a big play offense in the air and on the ground. To top all of that off, we had a fast defense and an unselfish group of special teams players.
Q. You deservedly received several Coach Of The Year awards for a great season, and the job you’ve done over your career is truly amazing. Now, It was just announced that there would be a Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame which you were selected to be a part of. What can you tell us about the Hall of Fame, and what role will you play?
A. This particular Hall of Fame (HOF) will start out by choosing great high school players. My role is to be a board member and assist with rounding up as many great players from the south as possible. It is an honor to be on the HOF board.
Q. So, the 2022 season will be here before you know it. What will this year’s team look like as far as returning starters and replacing key members of the team that not only contributed to last year’s state championship, but were a part of leading the team to the last three title games?
A.Well, we will be missing some big play players on offense so that makes it really tough to say the Trojans can repeat. Losing six big time players on offense is gonna be tough. It does help that our QB will be a senior and a leader. He will have to carry the team until Chris Cole Jr. understands the Trojan way to play football, but Brooks County is a scrappy team so we will take some guys off of offense and they may have to play on both sides of the ball. Defensively, we return nine players that are still in a bad mood so we are excited about that. Special teams kickers will all be back so that will certainly help.
