Thank you, readers, for your patience as we catch up on stories that were delayed by our coverage of Tropical Storm Debby.
Summer break has sadly come to a close, but that only means those Friday night lights are about to start shining bright again, the cool weather returns, and most importantly, we’ll hear the roaring crowd of our sports fans return. To go ahead and get the community pumped up and ready for our fall sports season, we here at Grice Connect felt it was important to go to each individual school and interview each head coach about their thoughts on what’s to come.
Throughout the interviews thus far, the teams have worked hard through the summer so they can play in some cooler weather in the fall. Throughout the fall sports previews, we have asked all coaches the same questions to keep it very sweet and simple to read.
For this installment of our fall sports preview series, we spoke with Coach Matthew Dobson with Statesboro Highschool’s Blue Devils.
GC: How do you feel about your team right now?
Coach MD: We feel really good about what we got. You know, we’re fairly young and don’t have a big senior class, but I really like the kids that we have. I think the buy-in has been tremendous. The kids have done everything we’ve asked them to do. They worked hard all summer and all spring, and feel like we’re in a much better place than we were this time a year ago just from a scheme perspective and as a cultural perspective.
GC: Looking at the teams you play this year, how are you feeling going into this season? Does it feel any different than any other season?
Coach MD: I would say the biggest thing with our new region is we’re in a much bigger region than I’ve ever been a part of as a coach. We’re in a nine-team region. So we play eight region games. I think the biggest thing that changes for us is that means that like our third game of the season is a region game that counts for, you know, playoff eligibility and whatnot. So we have to be ready to go earlier in the season.
We got to be at our best a little bit earlier than maybe years past when you only played five region games and you had five non-region games that are essentially tune-ups, and so we got to be ready to go a little bit earlier. And our region is tough. We play a lot of really competitive football teams, and so we’re gonna have to be ready to go in all those region games.
GC: Which player or players do you believe have improved from last season?
Coach MD: I’ve got multiple guys I can name you, one offensively and one defensively. Offensively I think Keon Childers is a guy that kind of late in the year last year was was starting to play a little bit, actually scored a touchdown in our playoff game against Tucker last year. This year, he has taken taking care of the next step. He’s kind of our our, you know, top weapon on offense. He’s playing receiver, but we’d line him up in the backfield so he could run the football, catch it out the backfield — can do a little bit of it all. His progress this off-season has been tremendous.
Then on the defensive side of the ball, Rashad Chavers is a guy that will start as an inside linebacker for us. He’ll also play some tight end for us, but his progress has been tremendous as well. He played a little bit last year as a sophomore, but this year is gonna be, you know, one of the key parts of our football team offensively and defensively.
Both of those guys are just tremendous student athletes, everything you could ask for in a student athlete, they do everything they’re supposed to do, and all their seasons have been great because of that.
GC: What team are you most excited to play?
Coach MD: Whew, that’s a tough question. You know, and obviously, the Southeast Bulloch game from a non-region perspective, is really, you know, a really big one. It’s a rivalry game, a lot of our kids grew up playing against each other. That’s going to be a cool game for the first time in a long time that the two schools have played at each other’s stadium. We’re gonna go over to Southeast Bulloch this year, and they’ll come here next year. So that’s gonna be cool for our kids. It’s gonna be a great atmosphere.
Then the region games, you know, they’re all important. I mean, every one of them is important, because it matters whether you get the playoff or not. So just excited for all them really.
GC: How do you motivate your team?
Coach MD: I think one of the ways we try to try to motivate our guys is just letting them know that we love them. I think when they know you love them and they know you care about them, they want to do their best for you. So we just tried to make sure our kids know how much we care about them. Not just as athletes — as people, as human beings. I think because our athletes know that we do care about him and we love them that they will give us their best day in and day out.
GC: What areas do you look to improve on this season?
Coach MD: I think offensive line has been one of the big improvements that we’ve seen so far this off-season that we continue to want to improve on. Last year, we had a ton of injuries on the offensive line. We played a lot of guys, which was not as good in the moment, but it’s been good for this season because we got experience last year. They’ll be playing a lot of meaningful minutes for us this year. That’s been a big emphasis this off-season.
Then you know, just our strength and our speed in the off-season has been a big focus area for improvement for us. Last year, didn’t feel like we were strong enough and fast enough compared to some of the people in our region and so really trying to work on our speed training, and then some of our explosive movements in the weight room.
GC: Are you looking stronger defensively or offensively?
Coach MD: I always want to be really good on defense. No matter the year, I think defense has got to be kind of one of your priorities. I think to go deep into the playoffs and make a run like we want to do, I think you got to be good on defense.
Then I think you got to be able to run the football. So that’s kind of the two focal points is that we got to be able to be strong defensively, stop the run on defense, and then run the football offensively.
GC: What do you believe are the key factors in a player’s success, on and off the field?
Coach MD: Being coachable. You know, being coachable is a huge part of it. That’s in everything you do, you know, in the weight room, taking that seriously at practice, film study.
And then you know, some things off the field is being a good student. Obviously, being eligible, taking care of your academics so you can be out there on the field. Taking care of your body off the field, eating right, sleeping right, getting rehab treatment when you need to, but taking care of your bodies is a big part of what we asked our guys to do.
GC: What is your favorite part about Coaching?
Coach MD: Whew, favorite part about coaching. I like being around the game of football. It kind of gives me that, you know, competitiveness that I loved as a player. I love being in those competitive atmospheres, those competitive moments, and so coaching kind of helps me do that.
Then I just really love seeing the impact that we can have on young people, you know, when they’re done playing for us. I have guys that I’ve coached that are, you know, out in the professional world now. I got some that are in college and seeing that impact and seeing them be successful after they’re done with us, whether that’s as employees or husbands and fathers. Hearing from guys that are out there in the real world down here now, things that we did as a football program, help them be successful makes it all worthwhile.
GC: Is there something you would like to say to the county to get them ready for this season?
Coach MD: I just want to encourage everybody to come out and support — support us and support all the teams in the county. I think high school football is to me, it’s the greatest sport out there. It’s one of the greatest community unifying things there is. You get people from every different race, religion, background, and on Friday nights, none of that matters. You come to watch your hometown team play and you’re supporting those young men. High school football is special, and the kids, they feed off of that energy.
I just invite everybody to come out and support high school football, whether you got a kid, your grandkid, or anybody, your family playing, or if you’re just in the community, man, come out and support these kids. They work their butts off all summer, the coaches worked hard, the school administrators worked really hard to put together these events. I just encourage people to come out, show these kids they care, because the kids, they really thrive off that, and it’s important to them. Show that you support them because it means so much. You can have such an impact on the young people around here.
