Turnovers don’t just happen in football. They seem to be happening to coaching staffs with a lot more frequency these days and often those turnovers are just as hard to overcome as the ones on a playing field.
Shaw High School has experienced a few turnovers in football coaches the past few years. During the last school year, former Raiders coach Chuck Stamey resigned from the position of head football coach after two seasons. Shaw’s athletic director, Al Pellegrino, was named as his replacement and Pellegrino immediately went to work revising the football program.
Pellegrino comes to the position with 27 years of coaching experience. He has 76 athletes in the Shaw program with five returning offensive starters and five returning defensive starters. Last year’s 1-9 record, including no region wins, sets up a 2017 season of possibilities for the Raiders. Pellegrino was an assistant coach prior to being named the head coach. He saw first-hand the toll a losing season takes on a team, but he also has reason to be optimistic.
“Last year was not a successful year but we were able to get some players time on the field,” he said.
The Raiders went into the 2016 season a very young team. There were some standout athletes on the team like senior Nick Beason, who was the leading rusher and Andrew Tillery, who led the team in passing. Elisha Ammi, 6’2 and 178 lbs., led the team in receptions. The WR/DB will return this fall and should be a player to watch.
Other players with college playing potential are Bryant Knight (OL/DL), 5’10” and 280 lbs., Daejon Lovett (RB/OLB), 5’11” and 180 lbs., Andre Lacy (WR/DB) 5’7” and 150 lbs., TJ Mitchell (WR/DB) 6’4” and 190 lbs., TJ Harvey (Long snapper) 5’10” and 185 lbs., and Marcus Newsome (RB/OLB) 5’8” and 190 lbs. Knight also holds the title of top academic player on the team with a 3.9 GPA.
Pellegrino knows that being the third head coach in four years at Shaw certainly brings its own set of challenges. A new system for players to learn should be helped along by the new coaching staff Pellegrino has put together for the 2017 season.
Joining Pellegrino will be Parise Bailey, Derrick Bowen, Daniel Burnette, Tommy Casciaro, William Maben, Scott meadows, Juan Pickett, Obie Watkins, and Terry White.
Pellegrino expects his team to be competitive and disciplined even though the Raiders will have major changes in store from a coaching standpoint. He likes a basic and simple offense that he says will be complex enough to keep opponents off balance. Pellegrino favors a defense that has multiple fronts.
While other coaches will define their seasons as winning by posting a higher number of wins than losses, Pellegrino is practical in his approach for his first year as being captain of the ship. His definition of a winning season is simple.
“Improvement,” he said.
That same practicality carries over into his three major goals for the upcoming season. Pellegrino wants to increase roster size, compete to the last whistle and play in Game 11.
The Raiders will get their first test of the new program under Pellegrino when their regular season play begins on Saturday, August 26, against the Knights of Upson-Lee at Kinnett Stadium in Columbus.
Columbus Valley/Fall football preview/August 2017
Shaw High School
Columbus, Georgia
By Beth Welch
