There are just 17 days remaining until the kickoff of the 2024 high school football season. But make no mistake, preparations for the upcoming campaign began months ago. And teams throughout northeast Georgia already are in full countdown mode.
With that in mind, we spent the last couple of weeks catching up with programs around our area to get a feel for how spring practice went, how the summer is going, and what coaches believe the fall will look like. Our "Two-a-Days" series honors those old-school grinding sessions that lead us out of summer and into fall, asking each area coach two key questions about the state of their respective programs.
Over the next two weeks, AccessWDUN's Friday Game Night will get you prepped for the start of gridiron action with responses from coaches throughout northeast Georgia.
(Teams run in alphabetical order)
WHITE COUNTY (5-6, 1st round Class 3A playoffs)
White County had its most wins since 2020 and was just a field goal away from a second-place finish in the old Region 7-3A. The Warriors have several key guys back on both sides of the ball coming into the 2024 campaign.
But they will have to replace Ryan Fowler’s 1,500 yards rushing from a year ago and rework a young secondary on defense.
We asked coach Chad Bennett how the summer has progressed for a group with high expectations this season.
QUESTION: Y’all have a lot returning on offense. However, you will be replacing four starters along the line of scrimmage. How is reworking that unit coming along during the summer?
A: We did graduate four senior offensive linemen from last year's team, but we have three linemen coming back that played a lot of Friday night football for us. We will be led by seniors Tyler Autry and Tyler Seymour. Autry has started for us since he was a sophomore and will be our left tackle and is the bell cow of the group. We are moving Seymour from guard to center this year and he has done a great job making that move. Our third lineman back for us last year is Matt Turner, who will be our right tackle and continues to get better and better. Going into fall camp, our guards will be sophomore JBo Kastner and junior Austin Garrett. Junior's Jackson Burford, Colton Adam, and Corbin Blank will provide competition and depth for this year's offensive line.
Q: You are also having to replace Ryan Fowler’s 1,500 yards in the backfield. Who are some guys that have stepped up during the summer at running back?
A: Junior Noel Lammers will be our starting running back this year. Noel has played Friday night football since he was a freshman and was our No. 2 running back last year and did a great job in that role. Noel is a big back (6-1, 190 pounds) and is a powerful running back that has good speed, good vision, and can catch the ball out of the backfield. He has really improved this summer and we expect big things out of him this year. We also have several players competing for the No. 2 spot. Junior Cooper Garrett and sophomore's Savion Anderson and Josiah Williams continue to compete for playing time at running back as well as senior Noah Williams, who can play running back if needed.
BONUS QUESTION: The secondary was an initial concern coming into the offseason. How is reshaping that group coming along?
A: The secondary was hit hard by graduation. We have competed in three 7-on-7s this summer as well as a padded camp to provide our secondary the opportunity to get quality reps versus really good teams as they get ready for the season. Although we will be young in the secondary playing three sophomores, I am excited about their potential. The secondary will be led by senior's Cade Dockery (safety) and Braden Phelps (corner). The others that will round out our secondary are sophomores Zach Godfrey (safety), Sawyer Gailey (corner), Christian Forbus (corner), and Gaines Clark (corner).
- Previous Two-a-Days: WEST HALL
