This week our ITG Next Georgia “4 Questions with the Coach” spotlight is on Westover Patriots head football coach Adam Miller, who is in his third season at the school. Under Miller, Westover has improved this season over last year’s one-win campaign. The Patriots qualified for the state playoffs as the #3 seed from Region 1-4A and faced Spalding County, the #2 seed from Region 2-4A, in the opening round.
Coach, thanks for taking time to chat with us, and congratulations for leading your Westover football team to the Class 4A playoffs. It’s gotta be pretty exciting for you, the fans, and the players, especially after missing the playoffs last season, right?
First off, I appreciate your time and am thankful for all you do for high school football here in the state of Georgia. No doubt it’s exciting times. To go through the season we have gone through, the growing pains, the ups and downs, to still be practicing in November it is for sure exciting for everyone. I’m especially proud and happy for our senior class. Their leadership and growth over the last two years has been amazing to be a part of, and I am glad they have the chance to keep playing.
Coach, you have a fairly young team, with only two starters that returned from last season, and just a dozen seniors on the roster. That includes a freshman quarterback, Keyon Thomas. He has played well this season, despite a few mistakes that you expect from a young player. It’s tough playing a ninth-grader at the team’s most important position, but is that part of the future plans for building this Westover Patriots football team?
You can’t measure exactly the importance of playing time and reps, but it may be the most important thing for the development of a program. For us to have so many underclassmen getting playing time, and now even more [in] the postseason, it is invaluable for our program in the long run. The only way to get better at something is to play it, and that’s what we have been able to do with our younger guys this season. It’s exciting to think about the future of this program with the young core that we have right now.
Speaking of the future plans, you seem to have kids excited about football at Westover, with around 100 players that came out before the season. What are you doing to not only make the current players better, but to continue to get kids excited about being a part of Westover football? Are you working closely with the middle schools?
The biggest thing that I as a head coach, and our program, believes in is building relationships. Football is based on people – it’s a people business. We want anyone who comes into our program to know that we care about their hearts and their growth as young men, first and foremost. And that makes us different from other programs and attracts people to the program. We also have been able to really work well with the local youth teams, and our staff at our middle school does a great job preparing our guys and helps with building their excitement about being Patriots in the future.
Aiden Griffin has done a great job for you this season, but unfortunately for your future plans, he will graduate. Who are some players that you hope will fill his shoes, as well as other guys who will return next season?
Honestly, we have had so many younger players get playing time this year, that is one thing I am excited about figuring out this off-season. We do not have a guy at this moment we know will be a “DUDE,” if that makes sense, but a ton of guys that have the make-up to become one going into next season. The off-season development and commitment from our players will help determine who those guys will be. We do have Ryan Jenkins on the defensive line and Torian Chester on the offensive line, who both already have college offers and are part of our foundations on both side of the ball.
