Jeff Davis County football coach Ed Lovvorn may be a first year head coach, but he has more experience than most football coaches in southeast Georgia. He has been on the sidelines for 31 years, including the last two as the Yellow Jackets’ defensive coordinator. He would probably still be an assistant coach if not for his desire to keep the Jeff Davis program moving forward following the departure earlier this year of Roger Metts, who spent five years as head coach.
“I have always enjoyed being a Defensive Coordinator and having the freedom just to coach kids on a daily basis,” Lovvorn said. “When the job came open at Jeff Davis, the goal was to keep as much of the staff and program in place that we had started building with Coach Metts. The best way for that to happen was for me to apply for the job.”
Although the Jackets had not made the playoffs in 14 years, Metts had begun to build a program in Hazlehurst with Lovvorn’s help. Now it is up to Lovvorn to right the Jeff Davis ship on his own terms, which means producing young men who can be dependable employees and good husbands and fathers. “We preach character, discipline, and accountability to each other, their schools, their families, and their God,” Lovvorn said.
On the field, Lovvorn is a defensive-minded coach, having spent most of his career as a coordinator, a linebackers’ and defensive backs’ coach. He stresses angles, leverage, and effort, based out of an even front and a quarter coverage shell. Offensively, he likes to spread the field and put specific defenders in a bind.
Lovvorn came from the west Georgia town of Manchester, where he went to high school before going to Georgia Southwestern University in Americus to play baseball. After college, he started coaching as an assistant at Peach County, where he helped the Trojans make the playoffs after several down years. “We played a lot of homecoming games,” Lovvorn said.
That was followed by stints at Temple, Northside Warner Robins, Rockdale County, Northeast Whitfield, Stockbridge, Washington-Wilkes, and Chattahoochee County over 28 years. His best season, so far, came in 2005 at Washington-Wilkes when they made it to the state championship game – where they lost to Single A power Lincoln County – despite losing seven starters during the season, including their leading rusher, receiver, and three linebackers.
“Every time someone went down, someone else stepped up,” Lovvorn said. “One of our corners had been a manager the year before. We ended up giving up less than six points per game that year despite all the injuries.” One of his fondest memories came the next year when Washington-Wilkes got revenge for their loss in the state championship by beating Lincoln County 3-0.
Lovvorn credited Lee Forehand and Neal Rumble for influencing his coaching style. He played for both men in high school and worked under them early in his career at Peach County. They taught him how to be organized, the importance of fundamentals, and a strong work ethic.
Over his years of coaching, Lovvorn has had the opportunity to coach quite a few Division-1 college prospects and even a few players who made it to the NFL. But he said his most memorable players were those with heart and determination. “One would be Jimmy Reed, who played linebacker for us at Peach County in the mid ‘80s and went on to play a few years in Canada,” Lovvorn said. “Jimmy was about 5’8”, 190-pounds and was the most intense player I have ever coached…a great natural leader. The other would be Dewayne Hampton.” Hampton, Lovvorn said, weighed all of 140-pounds but was still the leading tackler at outside linebacker for Washington-Wilkes. “In 2006 we played Greene County and (future) Georgia Tech star Josh Nesbitt for the Region Championship,” Lovvorn said. “Dewayne had four or five open field tackles on Nesbitt that stopped drives.”
In 2014, Lovvorn got the opportunity to become Defensive Coordinator at Jeff Davis County and had an immediate positive impact helping to reduce the Yellow Jackets’ points allowed by 14 per game. This year he moved up to head coach. He inherits a young team that went .500 last season, but Lovvorn believes they will be competitive this year.
“Some of our freshmen and sophomores have stepped up and allowed us to be able to compete,” Lovvorn said. “We still make a lot of young mistakes, but they don’t back down.” After GHSA realignment, Jeff Davis will remain in the AA Classification but will see new opponents this year. Region 2-AA now includes two of the top three teams in the state in Benedictine and Vidalia, along with Bacon County, Bryan County, Metter, Swainsboro, and Toombs.
Lovvorn said his proudest accomplishment has nothing to do with coaching. It is his two sons, one of whom is in seminary and currently serving on a mission in the Middle East and the other who is an honor graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy serving as a Captain. “Both of them have turned out to be strong Christian young men,” Lovvorn said.
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The Experienced Rookie
Written by Rob Asbell
Photo by Michael Brinson
