Special Guest and 2025 State Champ Repeats

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
And now it's time for extra your host Phil Jones.
All right, guys, welcome into our second week of broadcasting
live here from Nick Here on Beetree Road in Valdosta.

(00:28):
For those of you that are joining us here in person,
thanks so much for attending. We appreciate you guys being
here live and in person. And of course for all
of you that traditionally watched the show here on our
YouTube channel, we welcome you guys in as well. I'm
Phil Jones, of course, joining me as always is miss

(00:50):
producer Miszonni, Matthews, Mizani. What's going on?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Hello, everybody, Good evening, Good evening, It's a nice Tuesday
evening to be here talking about Georgia high school football.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
It is. It absolutely is. You know, I get a
lot of people that asked me about well, you know,
it's what are we in May? April? A what are
you guys talk in high school football in May? For Well,
you know, look, it's it's pretty much gone year round,
and we have really no problem talking no high school
football year round.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
It's always something new with high school football year round.
You know, coaching changes. We had a lot to discuss
about two months ago, maybe even just a month ago,
week after week coaching changes and we have a new
one yet.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Again, right, indeed we do. That's a that's a great start,
by the way, great segue for the show. As one
of the coaching changes that Mazzani is referring to in
case you haven't heard. If you haven't heard, you've been
under a rock. But we actually were one of the
first to break this this afternoon. And of course that
is the fact that Tucker Pruitt is now the new

(01:53):
head coach at Appling County. And it came as a
shock to a lot of people because everybody thought he
was pretty hap being satisfied. Maybe he was as the
head coach of the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes, but he is
no longer in Fitzgerald. He is now moving over to
where what is the county seat for Appling? Is that Blakely, Georgia.

(02:14):
I believe it is.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Somebody help us out. I think it is. But are
they the pirates, the Appling County Pirates Pirates? Yeah, So anyway,
he is going to be joining us at six forty five.
And by the way, getting a lot of you on
line that are commenting about our helmets and there's a
reason we have these helmets. Boy, you Coffee County fans

(02:37):
are certainly happy that we got the Coffee High Trojan helmet.
And beautiful as it is, isn't it? It is nice
adorning the front of our table here, and of course
it is going face mask to face mask against the
Perry Panthers. And why do you think, why do you
ask that we have these two helmets face mask face

(03:00):
mask here on the front of our table.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Tell us phil Is it a season opener?

Speaker 1 (03:06):
No? Not a season opener?

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (03:08):
It Well, for one thing, it's kind of by default.
They are two of the more recent state champion helmets
that we actually had in our possession. Oh yeah, if
we had had some from last year, I would have
put those up, but we did not, so I had
to go to the next best thing, which two state
championship helmets from a couple of years ago. But again,
why does that matter? Because one of the things that

(03:30):
Mazzonni and now are gonna be talking about, and we
definitely want to hear from you guys tonight. This twenty
twenty five could Berry will be the year of the repeat.
You got a lot of these state champions that are
really looking strong, Carver Columbus, Grayson. You know, you and
I talked a little bit about it last week. I
know you really are high on Grayson. Yeah, and for

(03:53):
good reason. They got a lot of talent coming back.
The Carver Columbus has got a lot of talent coming back,
And I really think up and down the board, this
could be the best year we've had, the best chance
we've had in quite some time to run the board
as far as repeat state champions. And it's kind of
interesting that we're talking about this to night was on

(04:14):
it because last week we're talking about those dark horse teams.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah, so the total opposite this week. But I think
it's great to talk about it because, like you said,
it's the best chance for repeats. We had a lot
of young talent, you know, so therefore a lot of
young talent returning. So I know a lot of teams
are excited about that. Some of the teams who couldn't
pulled through in the playoffs last year, you know, it
can't be too sad about it, because, like I said,

(04:38):
the young talent will definitely help them and take them
further into the playoffs this year. So it's some pros
and cons to having a young team. I think we're
going to see a lot of those pros play out
this season.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Absolutely. Again, we have so many experts that watched the
show that know a lot more about high school football
than I do. And so we want to get your take.
And MAZONI, we've already got a lot of people that
are checking out the shirt online. You want to you
want me to do the honors on who we've got
checking out the show, So take it away. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
So we have Michael Bastard checking in, he says, good
even feeling crew and everyone at itv ig Nests Georgia.
We have Chris Page checking in, says, Yo, got my popcorn.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
I'm ready.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Nice Christmas, Thank you so much for checking out the show.
Hopefully one day you can join us here at Big Knicks.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Oh badyah, ob you gotta make that trip up here, brother,
we gotta have you up here. Come on, what's over,
I say, he.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
Says, what's going on?

Speaker 2 (05:31):
It g TCC checking out one day, I'm gonna pull
up on y'all. Come on, ob Di, We're ready for you.
Chris Pace, he said, I love that coffee. Trojan Helmet
sent up there go Trojans go. I'm excited to see
about this season this year.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
Someone got some coffee Trojan fans in the house here tonight,
right yeah, right there, front and center.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
We have Alvin perty Walker says, yes, they are Jamie
Frayley Seegear. Hopefully I'm saying that last name. I'm ready
to hear all of the information you have. Well, we're
ready to give it to you, Jamie, and also drop
your thoughts in the comments. We want to hear information
from you as well. You got Alex Metters checking in
from Baxley, Georgia. You're not too far Alex. Maybe you

(06:14):
can can drop by Valdosta at Big Knicks and come
join us on Tuesday. You have Chris Pay's Applin County, Baxley, Georgia.
That's where that's at. Yes, they were telling everybody's telling us.
Basley and Backsley is not too far from us. Kenneth Hurst,
he says, what up I t G TCC checking in.
We have a bunch of TCC fans checking in, Stephen

(06:35):
k when we're excited about spring games. Maybe we could
talk about a little bit about spring games in the future.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Absolutely, let's see what else. Alex Metters is watching from
Bacon County. Ready to hear all the He says, all
the tea. I think he may have shortened up his sentence,
but probably says ready to hear. What's that?

Speaker 3 (06:56):
All the TA means all the information? Oh?

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Is that what it is? Yes? I got you, I
got you. T what we have? I better get with
the times. And Nelson Cars Well, I love this name,
by the way, my favorite name names anonymous. Nelson cars
Will the Fourth says Dublin fighting Irish. It's my money
and I want it now. I love it.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
What commercial was that?

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Uh A g Wentworth? I always gidding Nelson, he's got
that rich sounding name.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
You Knowlton the fourth, legendary name.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Love it.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
We got d Smith checking man and says good evening
from Northside Eagle Country. I believe we talked about your
north Side Warner Robbins Eagles last week. I picked them
as a dark horse.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Absolutely yeah, certainly one to watch. So just like you know,
Mazzannie was saying, we've got uh you know, we talked
about the dark horse teams last week. This week we're
talking about the teams that won the state titles last year.
And I gotta tell you, this could be the year
twenty twenty five, could be the year of the repeat,
and we'll get to that eventually. Again, we're gonna be

(08:08):
talking to the new head coach, Tucker Prewett, formerly of
the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes's gonna be checking in with us
here in about four minutes. So we're looking forward to
having him. I will tell you that we initially were
gonna call him and ask him to call us, that
we don't have the phone ringing out now if we
have to get a hold of and we have to
dial out, just what we're gonna have to do, Yeah,

(08:29):
that's okay, Yeah, so forgive us for that. But anyway, nevertheless,
we want to get him in here. This will be
and I don't have to ask him, but this will be,
if not the first, one of the first interviews he's given.
Oh wow, in his new position as the new Appling
head football coach.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
I mean it's got to be because the news is
so recent, you know.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Oh, absolutely, absolutely, this had been rumored.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
By the way, we'll get an exclusive.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, yeah, this has been rumored for a while. So
and guys, for those of you that don't follow us,
that ig next Georgia what they should because there's been
a Yeah, absolutely, there's been a lot of breaking news
around this Appling situation. Speaking of breaking news, now, before
this situation came out with Appling announcing the new head

(09:14):
football coach, there was a lot of information coming out
last week about Appling being having to forfeit all their
games from last year. Yes, we talked a little bit
about that last week, I believe.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yeah, it was kind of ruined last week. But now
it's been solidified for sure, yep.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
But what was interesting was nobody knew the details until
I was able to talk to the superintendent, doctor Janet
Goodman on Friday and she gave us at itg Nextion
exclusive statement that nobody else has got, and we were
able to run that as part of a story I
wrote on Friday. Again, you guys can check out that
exclusive story that kind of gives a lot of the details. Yeah,

(09:49):
behind what happened with this Appling situation. It was not
one player. Well, it wound up being one player that
was found ineligible, which I don't really understand about that,
you know. Yeah, it's very and that's the thing about it.
So I'm glad I got the statement from her, you know,
and uh, let's just say that Appling and GHSA probably
not the best of buddies right now. But again, I

(10:10):
encourage you guys to go check out the statement as
part of our uh it's on our website, it's on
our Facebook page and all of our social media platforms
ig next, George, you guys can check out the story
that I wrote on that that includes doctor Goodman's statement about, Hey,
we had three players ruled ineligible. We appealed that did Appling,

(10:30):
and GHSA came back and said, you're right for two
of the players, but not all three. So it was
one player that they left ineligible and unfortunately that one
player has cost Appling all of their victories in the
region championship from last year.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
But weren't they eligible at the beginning of the season
or even before the season started?

Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yes, so how did that? What changed?

Speaker 1 (10:53):
That's a good question. Yeah, that's a good question. Only
the GHSA knows that, you know, it's part of their investigation.
But that's just kind of an aside. And of course
that really has nothing to do with Tucker, and I'm
sure he don't really want to get into that a
whole lot because that's not gonna affect him. But yeah,
moving forward, we'll hear what Tucker prew It has to
say coming up here in just a minute. So hopefully

(11:16):
he'll get our message and he'll be calling in. If not,
we'll have to reach.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Out to him and Nelson Carswell the fourth he says,
I hope Fitzgerald hires Lenz helped him from Jeff Davis.
Have you heard anything about that?

Speaker 1 (11:26):
Well, no, I haven't, And I'm glad that you know,
you brought that up with what Nelson said, because that's
the other part of this. Who is Fitzgerald now gonna
get to coach their football team exactly? You know, look, Fitzgerald,
it's not it's not a bad program. I mean, that's
a far cry. I mean, Tucker did a great job
over there. In fact, some people are a little surprised

(11:46):
that he's leaving Fitzgerald for appling. I mean again, it's
not like you're leaving you know, the bottom of the
barrel team or anything. So all right, so I think
we've got Tucker Prewitt calling in, do we not?

Speaker 3 (11:57):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (11:57):
Hello, what's up, Phil, coach? How's it going? Brother?

Speaker 4 (12:02):
Hey, it's going man. I've had a busy day.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
How y'all, I bet you have, Tucker. I'm with Mazzannie Matthews,
my co host Mazzani say hello to coach Tucker Prutt.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
How are you, Coach?

Speaker 4 (12:13):
I'm doing great? How are you?

Speaker 3 (12:14):
I'm doing pretty well.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
I can't complain and Coach, just to let you know
we've got you live here in front of our audience
here at Big Nick's where we're broadcasting live tonight. It's
our second show we've been doing live here from this
Valdosta landmark. A lot of great food, a lot of
great fellowship and fun being had here. So just want
to let you know you're not only talking to us,
but you're talking to quite a few people here in

(12:37):
attendance and of course all the folks that are listening
online tonight. Brother, So thanks so much for doing this.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
Yes, sir, I appreciate you having me on.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Well, Tucker, this I gotta be honest with you. Of course,
we kind of started off the show talking about, you know,
the fact that you are the new head coach at Appling.
Did this thing kind of develop fast? I mean, what
can you tell us? I mean, you've done a great
job at Fitzgerald kind of give us a little bit
of insight.

Speaker 4 (13:01):
Yeah, I feel it happened really fast. You know.

Speaker 5 (13:03):
I kind of caught the news last week of the
forefeitits and the job coming open, and you know, fast
forward to tuesday and I'm hired and just got to
meet the team and get down there, and so it
definitely happened fast. I have nothing negative to say about Fitzgerald.
I've enjoyed my time there.

Speaker 4 (13:21):
I'm so thankful for the people there, the administration, the coaches,
the players, the fans.

Speaker 5 (13:27):
I'm so thankful for the things that we were able
to accomplish during our time there. And I have nothing
negative to say about Fitzgerald. It's been great, you know.

Speaker 4 (13:36):
But I think this is a unique opportunity at Applan County.

Speaker 5 (13:39):
I see a lot of potential. Obviously, they've been kind
of knocking on the door. They've been at the semi finals.

Speaker 4 (13:44):
Three of the last four years in a program that's
not super far away.

Speaker 5 (13:49):
They haven't won a championship in their program's history, and
that's exciting to me and kind of a new challenge.
And then whenever I went over there and spoke with
doctor Horner and Seth Taylor, to Ad and Kelly Stone,
the Booster Club president. I was just blown away with
the facilities to support the vision that they have for
all of their athletic programs and their school and then

(14:11):
kind of diving into researching about the community and the
school system.

Speaker 4 (14:16):
I just feel like it's a great place to raise
my free.

Speaker 5 (14:18):
Kids, a lot of potential and the athletic program and
the football program and a great community to join.

Speaker 4 (14:25):
And so it happened fast. But here it is.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
I got you, Tucker. As I mentioned, you know, that's
kind of called a lot of people by surprise and
the reason for that, and of course it's a great thing,
and it says a lot about your history there Fitzgerald.
I mean, you've done a great job as the head
coach at Fitzgerald. And as they say, you know, sometimes
your your reputation precedes you, and I think that's going
to be the case with this situation, because look, you've

(14:51):
had a lot of success at Fitzgerald and now I'm
sure a lot of people are going to say, well,
we expect that at Appling County. So a no pressure,
right brother, Right?

Speaker 5 (15:00):
Well, I promise you they're not expecting anything that I'm
not expecting, you know, I'm expecting to go in there
and win, and you mentioned what we've been able to
do at Fitzhild, it.

Speaker 4 (15:09):
Definitely wasn't me. It takes a village, you know.

Speaker 5 (15:12):
When I got to talk to our kids from Fitzshold today,
just thank them for everything they've done, because it's really
their efforts and their hard work that.

Speaker 4 (15:20):
You know, that helps me be able to go get
jobs like this. And so it takes a village.

Speaker 5 (15:25):
And we've had a great booster club here, we've had
great support from the administration, We've had great assistant coaches,
and you know, where the rubber meets the road with
the kids, and they've done everything we've asked them to do.
They've worked extremely hard and they've kind of been the
reason for our success. And so again I'm just so
thankful for them, and hopefully we can go to Apple
County and duplicate that.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
So Coach Prewitt about by the way, we're talking to
coach Tucker Prewitt. If that name sounds familiar for good reason.
He's spent a number of years as the head coach
at Fitzgerald, but now he is the head coach of
the Appling County Pirate. It's two great programs and of
course a lot of great history there at Appling County.
Speaking of which, have you had a chance to talk

(16:07):
to the football team yet? As you mentioned earlier, this
has all happened really fast. You know, I was just
able to get to you soon after this thing was announced.
So have you had a chance to talk to the
to the football team yet, and if so, give us
a little bit of feedback from that.

Speaker 4 (16:21):
Yes, sir, I got to talk to both football teams today.

Speaker 5 (16:23):
So I started out in Fitzgerald and I got to
speak to our kids there and obviously social media, you know,
we're traveled pretty quick.

Speaker 4 (16:31):
I think all of them had already heard the news.

Speaker 5 (16:33):
I don't think I broke it to them, but I
did think it was important for them to hear that
from me, and I just wanted to tell them by
and tell them how.

Speaker 4 (16:40):
Much I appreciated them, letting them know that this Cherld's going.

Speaker 5 (16:43):
To get another great coach and fifth Cherild was really
good in football before Tucker prew It.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
Ever came there to coach. It's a program, it's way
bigger than me, and it's.

Speaker 5 (16:51):
Way bigger than them that they were going to be
fine those kids have had a great off season.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
There's a lot of talent back. There's a lot of
talent into younger programs.

Speaker 5 (16:59):
So if anybody thinks that program is going to fall off,
I think they're wrong. And I just tried to encourage
them because you know, change is difficult, especially for teenagers,
and just wanted to reassure them that they're still lucky
to be fit your Hurricanes and the coach is going
to change, but I don't think the success will. And
so that was difficult, you know, telling some kids by

(17:21):
that you've invested so much into for the last four
years and kids that you love so much and got
so close a relationships with, and I'm proud of those kids,
and I just wanted.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
To continue to do their best and continue to develop into.

Speaker 5 (17:35):
Good football players, but good young men. And you know,
that was really hard to do. And so I left
there and drove over to Appland.

Speaker 4 (17:42):
County and got there right in the middle of their waiting.

Speaker 5 (17:44):
At the class and was able to introduce myself to them,
kind of talked to them and letting them know what's
going on and where we're going, and let them know
how excited I am to come and be able to be.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
Their coach, and so it was a lot going on today.

Speaker 5 (17:56):
It was a full day for sure, a lot of
emotions on both sides. But I'm glad those conversations drove.

Speaker 4 (18:02):
Over and I can get up at the morning and
drive to Apple County keep the work here you go.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
I'm glad you we're able to have that conversation with them, Coach.
I also wanted to share a comment here by Eddie Gilbert,
a Fish Driald fan. He says, congratulations, Coach. I'm gonna
miss you, wishing you and your family nothing but the
best on your new journey.

Speaker 5 (18:21):
I saw some Eddie's a great guy. Edie's been our
sideline guy for a long time. So me and Eddie
like Peanut Butter and jely Man. I'm gonna miss Eddie.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
And by the way, just as Eddie had a question,
if any of you guys have a question for coach
Tucker Prewitt, by all means, you can post it there
in our comments section and we'll pass it along to
Tucker Prewitt, who was agreed to join us. And by
the way, I want to thank you, coach. I know
it has been a whirlwind of a day for you.
You know, having to deal with not one, as you said,
but two different programs, saying goodbye to one hello to

(18:50):
the other. So thank you very much for making a
few minutes for us tonight. We do appreciate that always. So, coach,
let me ask you a question. Now, this is a
kind of a unique situation. A lot of times, you know,
when you're a new coach coming in from a successful
program into another, A lot of times you're taking over
a program that that needs to be lifted up, that needs,

(19:12):
you know, for some some wins to be infused into
the program. And of course you're gonna put your own
stamp on it, there's no doubt about that. But you're
going from one successful program into a program at Appling
that has had some success. So it's a rather unique
situation in that regard. I guess it just means you
have to raise that bar even higher. Talk about the

(19:34):
challenge of taking over a scenario like this and what
it presents.

Speaker 5 (19:37):
Coach, right, Well, what you mentioned is again one of
the unique things that were the reasons I wanted to
take this job. It's not like they're light years away
from the championship. They've been in the Semis three out
of the last four years. I know coach Jordan Mullison,
I think he's done an outstanding job there. I got
to go over there today and watch the kids work,
and they work hard, they listen to the coaches when

(19:58):
they coach it, so you could kill it. It's a
program that's cold doing the right things. So you know,
I got nothing but good things to say about coach Mullison. Obviously,
they had a lot of great success there and so
we're just gonna go in.

Speaker 4 (20:10):
There and try to build on that.

Speaker 5 (20:11):
But I feel like there's an outstanding foundation that's laid
and we're just going to try to take the next step.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
So coach, I know a lot of people are wondering,
and this is always the case when you have a
coach that's kind of known h for running one particular system,
although really you have run multiple systems, and I've tried
to remind a few people about that. But of course,
you guys at Fitzgerald ran a lot of the wing
tea run heavy offense is what I'll call it, And uh,

(20:40):
you know, I get a lot of people that are
asking if that's gonna be the kind of offense that
you'll implement at Appling. I don't know. I mean, do
you want to talk about that? Do you want a
chance to come in and kind of see what kind
of personnel you got? Tell us a little bit about
the mentality that goes in to, you know, taking over
a job like this. Do you take your philosophy with
you or do you just gonna wait and see what
the car town.

Speaker 5 (21:01):
Well, I definitely take my philosophy with me, but my
philosophy is open, you know, And it's all got to
be built around the players. And one advantage I have
again is I played against these guys last year I
coached against, and so I know who they.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
Are, I know what they got. And they had a
ninth grade quarterback last year when we played against him.
He'll be a KeNH greater this year. And I got
to meet him today and let him know.

Speaker 5 (21:22):
He's another one of the big reasons I'm there getting
to have three years with him. And he's a big,
tall kid with a strong arm, a very smart, hard
working kid from what I'm told, And so it'll be
built around him. And if you've got a quarterback, that's
an exciting thing.

Speaker 4 (21:37):
Some years you don't have a quarterback. And one thing
about me is I would rather win than I would.

Speaker 5 (21:41):
Run a certain type of offense. And so obviously there's
a lot of evaluation that's got to go into it.
We got to find out who our guys are. We
got to find out who needs the ball, who's the
wide outs, who's the running backs, What can we do,
what are we good at? What do we not do at?
But it's exciting that we got a quarterback. I think
there's two running backs that would right. They were a
sophomore in junior last year. Two or three offensive lineman back,

(22:04):
I think the whole defensive lines back, and missing two
inside linebackers, but got some outside backers back in some corners,
so there's a good nucleus for turning on both sides
of the ball. And some guys that got some very
valuable experience. Again, they made a semi final run, and
so we're gonna have to go in there and figure.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
Out what we can do and what we can't do.

Speaker 5 (22:26):
So I'm still open minded, but I'm really excited about
a lot of the pieces that I know are there.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah, I don't think he's gonna have much of a
hard time putting all those pieces together to make it
go and make it far in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
I'll go ahead and call it now.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
You ain't giving them any pressure, are you want? You
want to take it any higher in that state championship
predictions or anything.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Hey, I've seen it numb before.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
I was gonna say when Tucker Freud has certainly seen
it before as well. Coach, how many years where did
you spend at Fitzgerald?

Speaker 4 (22:59):
I was there for eight year?

Speaker 1 (23:00):
Okay, all right, And cause we got some people that
are asking about winning percentage this and that. Obviously you
had quite a bit of success there at Fitzgerald. And
I guess that kind of goes back to that mentality,
that philosophy that you're talking about. Give us some insight
into a little bit of that philosophy. What it is
that you like to instill in these young men other
than just the x's and os.

Speaker 4 (23:23):
Yeah, well, I think you know, the game of football
teaches us so much about life. You know, you get
what you earn.

Speaker 5 (23:29):
We're talking about that in today with the kids. You know,
he says in the bottom, you know, be not to
see God is not mont to whatsoever a man. So
if that shall we also reap. You know, we got
to start sewing championship. See, you know, because right now
it's the off season and there's a long time before
our first game. But you know, what we do every
day matters, and we've got to have each and every
day it's got to be a championship effort, a championship attitude.

(23:51):
We got to have a great summer.

Speaker 4 (23:53):
And we got to sew championship seed each and every
day if we want.

Speaker 5 (23:56):
To reap a championship product. Sometimes it's really just as
simple as that. But you know, fast forward ten years
and these guys, it ain't going to be football. It's
going to be a job. When the alarm plot goes off,
you got to get up and get out of bed,
whether you want to.

Speaker 4 (24:09):
Or not, whether you feel good or you don't.

Speaker 5 (24:11):
And when things get tough, you got to be able
to push yourself through them and fight through adversity. Because
right now it's teammates that are counting on you and
the community, but one day it's going to be.

Speaker 4 (24:20):
A wife and kids. And so we're trying to make good.

Speaker 5 (24:23):
Football players, but we're also trying to develop strong leaders
that can grow up and be great fathers and husbands.

Speaker 4 (24:28):
And I think that's how you win football games.

Speaker 5 (24:31):
The way that you develop good strong men and great
leaders and all those are those qualities that will help
them in the future are the same things we're trying
to get them to build so that we can be
successful right now.

Speaker 4 (24:41):
And I really just think those two go hand in hand.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
Coach, do you you know spring practice is right around
the corner. Do you have any specific game plan or
you have any goals that you have in mind that
you want to see or outcomes after spring practice?

Speaker 5 (24:57):
Yeah, so we're just crawling right now. We're probably not
gonna do spring practice. We've got kids, Like I mentioned
the quarterbacks in baseball, they've got Thursday, they're in the
second round of playoffs hosting somebody, and so soccer is
still playing. You know, there's coaches going in a lot
of different directions.

Speaker 4 (25:14):
I got to get in there tomorrow and sit down
with the coaches they got and getting the staff together.

Speaker 5 (25:18):
So I feel like we got too much going on
for spring ball right now. But we are going to
start getting some early morning install meetings going and start
teaching and learning and planning to hit the ground run
in the first weekend.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Gym.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
Coach, good quick, So coach, you're gonna be coming in obviously,
and again it's just a lot of similarities with where
you were and Fisher. I guess this is going to
all be said about all the South Georgia teams. No
matter where you go, there's a lot of big rivalries,
and that's certainly the case with the region that you
guys are a part of. You got course, you got
your neighbors there. What just to the east in Pierce County,

(25:54):
You've got Chris County, You've got Cooked, So you've really
got some tough region opponents that and I know that's
a ways down down the road, but again that's one
of those things that you're certainly familiar with having to
deal with some really tough region rivals as you take
that job.

Speaker 5 (26:10):
Right And then I think we opened the season playing
Ware County and then somewhere in there we played the
Land Florida Brick Darlington coaching tours there and so yeah,
and I mentioned that to the kids today. You know,
the challenges are coming, you know, you know, just keep
breathing in and breathing out, and it's gonna be a
football season. So we got to make sure we're ready,
and we got to make sure we make advantage of

(26:31):
every single day.

Speaker 4 (26:32):
You know, I told the seniors today, eight months and
it's over.

Speaker 5 (26:36):
You know, May is coming here pretty quick, and you
got May June, July, August, September, October, November, and then
football season's over in December, and we want to be
playing then. But it's going to be eight months and
it's going to come and go really quickly, so we
got to make everyday count.

Speaker 4 (26:52):
Obviously there's a lot of tough teams on the schedule,
but we really need to just focus on us and
getting better and improve it each and every day.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
We're finishing up with the coach, Tucker Preuitt, who has
been so kind to give us a little bit of
his time on what has been a busy, busy day.
They're just being announced it's a new head football coach
at Appling County. You know, you're taking over the Pirate
football program. So I want to ask you a little
bit about you'll inherit a schedule. Of course, it's already
been made. It's the second of the two year agreement,

(27:22):
the standard with all GHSA teams. But when you get
an opportunity to start looking at, you know, putting together
your own schedule. You mentioned where County you guys open
it up with where as Appley County did last year.
You know that's about as tough a non region opponent
as you can get. You've also got Wayne County in
Swingsburn there. You mentioned DeLand, Florida, where Rick Tumblin's coach,

(27:45):
but our Darlington as coach. I'm sorry, but talk about
what you want to do when you do get a
chance to put together that non region portion of the schedule.
Do you want to try to maintain these really tough
teams that you know are going to give you a
battle week in and week out. I mean to me,
that's the way to go. That's kind of the pattern
to take to get ready for your region schedule.

Speaker 5 (28:04):
Talk a little bit about that, right, So, I think
there's a good mix. Obviously, you need some good tests.
You don't know, really necessarily want to bang heads with
aware kind of each and every single win.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
You don't want You don't want to be owing five
in the region, do you, right?

Speaker 5 (28:19):
I mean, but you need some tests because sometimes when
you play teams that aren't is good, you don't really
find out where your weaknesses are. When you play good people,
they'll show you that you could go back and start
to work on those things and improve. So I think
there's a mix.

Speaker 4 (28:34):
I really would like to see the games get more local.
I don't really see the need to be.

Speaker 5 (28:39):
Traveling to Florida for two or three different teams on
the schedule from Florida.

Speaker 4 (28:43):
So hopefully we can can those.

Speaker 5 (28:45):
Guys and we can pick up some local teams that
are big games and big gates and great competition. Because
to me, again, you know, it's very similar to when
I came into Fitzgerald. They've won region championships and region
champions for good. There's eight of and every classification every year,
and so they're not a bad thing. But Apple County

(29:07):
is won.

Speaker 4 (29:07):
A bunch of region chairmanships, and so that's not really the.

Speaker 5 (29:09):
One I'm after. The one i'm after is that one
they give out in December, and there's only one of
those that they give out. So everything we do, from
the scrimmages to the non region to the region, it's
all just building up to play our best football at
the end. So I'm not afraid to lose a region
game to a tough team like where because if we'll
take it for what it's worth and learn the lessons

(29:31):
we need to learn and correct the areas that we
need to correct.

Speaker 4 (29:34):
We can grow from that and we can be where
we need to be in the long run.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
So, Coach, I guess it's too early to be talking
about and thinking about, well, maybe not thinking about, but
I know contractual issues come into play as far as
trying to assemble your assistance, your staff, anything at all
that you can tell us about that.

Speaker 4 (29:54):
Yeah, there's a few of them I'm going to carry
with me from Fitzgerald that are interested.

Speaker 5 (29:58):
In going, and I'm thankful for that. I'm going to
need some my guys to do with it and help
us institute our culture. But like I said, Coach Molas
has done a great job there, and so all of
those coaches that want to stay and be a part
of it, I want them to stay in your part
so we can make a good mix of some of
my guys and all of their guys that want to
jump in with us, and whatever spot's the left. After that,
we'll go out and try to find the best coaches

(30:19):
we find.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
Wow, that's a unique approach. You don't hear that every
day with a new coach coming in. Sometimes it's Hey,
I want to clear clear it out and bring them
all my guys in. But you're saying, hey, we got
some good guys there. I've got some good guys I
want to bring with me. So a rather unique approach there.
Why don't we end with some of the folks that
are asking some questions and giving coach uh some pats

(30:41):
on the back here, I guess, let's see here.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
There's a comment that I saw earlier that coach kind
of hit on was by Ken Hortman. He says, aptly
needs to line up some future games with teams from
my area like TCC, Thomasville and Caro and coach you
spoke on that a little bit about, you know, not
traveling up and on their road too much.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Play more local teams love it right.

Speaker 5 (31:03):
There's a lot of good football in South Georgia. There's
no need to go to Florida, you know. And I
don't understand what the circumstances were. Maybe a lot of
these teams wouldn't play appening.

Speaker 4 (31:12):
I don't know. I didn't put the schedule together, but
when I started, I promise you we'll do everything.

Speaker 5 (31:17):
We tend to stay in the state of Georgia because
there's a lot of good football teams right around us,
and I don't really see any need to go that far.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
Michael Killerbrew kind of recounting what the coach just said,
Michael Killerbrew says, nothing like Georgia high school football. Good
luck on your new beginnings. Coach Chris Pace, big Coffee
Fans says, tuck about to open that playbook up for
real now. And that's the thing about it. You know,
I mentioned this earlier, and we'll kind of let you

(31:47):
go with this, but you know, people want to think
and trying to hem you into you know, one particular style. Look,
you you pretty much ran a wide open offense at Valdosta,
if I remember correctly. By the way, I have pretty
good success there. Of course, at Fitzgerald, more of a
run heavy I don't think anybody will dispute that. So coach,
you really will run whatever you need to run to

(32:10):
make your team go.

Speaker 4 (32:12):
Yeah. I mean, I guess, like I said earlier, I.

Speaker 5 (32:14):
Want to win more than I want to run spread
or I want to win more than I want to
run mean tea, or I want to win.

Speaker 4 (32:19):
I want to throw the ball or run the ball.

Speaker 5 (32:21):
You know, an offense is an offense, and all of
them can work, and all of them cannot work. So
it's really about the pieces and taking an open minded
philosophy and finding who your players are and figuring out
what they do good, build it off of their strengths
instead of trying to force it based on what I
want to do.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
Daryl Kramer, Welcome to Appling County Pirate Nation, Coach Prude.
I'm sure Darrel will be one of the fans that
you'll be running into quite a bit. And uh again,
just a lot of best wishes on down the line, coach,
and U Mazani. If you have anything else you want
to talk to the coach about, or we got anybody
else that's got a question that maybe we haven't covered.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
I think everybody are pretty merch covered it. I'm just
excited to see this transition you go to see what
he's able to bring to the team. We know that
his main focus is winning, and I just love when
a coach is able to look at a player's strength
and work off of that rather than forcing something. So
I'm excited to see what you do. Coach prou there
at Appling and Backsley, Georgia.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
Thank you well, coach. Thank you so much for joining
us tonight. Really do appreciate you taking time answering all
of our questions. Again, got a lot of good natured
responses from our fans that are watching.

Speaker 4 (33:32):
You.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
Got a lot of supporters out there, coach, and I
think that says a lot about your reputation, the way
you treat these young men, the way that you come
on and you know, talk to us. You never hesitated
when I ask you. You know this is not a
good you know, not an easy thing to come on
when your first day on the new job. But you
know you didn't hesitate when I ask you to come
on with us tonight, Coach, And certainly you know that

(33:52):
you have a backer and supporter in us here at
itg next.

Speaker 5 (33:57):
Yes, sir, well, I appreciate all the support it fitzgeryld
that it's been a chick of a run, and I
wish him the best and I'm really excited to get
to Appling get going. So thank y'all for having me
on and appreciate what y'all do for high school football.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
Thanks Tucker, appreciate that. Best of luck at Appling County Coach.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
Thank you brother.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
There.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
He is Tucker Preu the new head coach the Appling
County Pirate. So I think some some fair questions there.
You know, I really like our line of questioning. I
like what he said though, no need to go, you know,
too far for these non region games. And look that's
Tucker Preu He's gonna tell you what he thinks.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yeah, I thought it was kind of funny, but it's
so true, you know. I think there's pros and cons
to a lot of people. Some teams like to travel
up and down the road a little bit to kind
of get their teams adjusted to it. Because you know,
a lot of teams in South Georgia in this region,
when we make it past the playoffs, you know, and
start having to we have to travel a little bit
more to get to those teams, right, So is it
kind of good for your team to have on the

(34:56):
road experience so they may not be too fatigued by
the time of the game.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
It's a good point, you know, very good point.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
But I do agree with him. I think it's a
nice to have a nice balance. It's important and play
more local teams. So I do agree with coach Crew.

Speaker 3 (35:08):
On that as well.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
So Eddie Gilbert reminds us thanks for the memories coach
eighty two and twenty seven at Fitzgerald. I believe coach
that he's there for ten seasons. To do the math
on that, that's averaging about eight wins a year, and yeah,
that'll get you into the playoffs and then some. And
again he's going from one good program to another good program,

(35:31):
one that's had success at Fitzgerald and one that has
also enjoyed success. So again, you know that that really takes.
You know, there's a lot of coaches that wouldn't go
for that. There's a lot of coaches that want to
go in kind of put their own end print and
want to build their own program up. He's really going
into a program that's already built up, for lack of
a better word. So I think there's gonna be a

(35:52):
lot of expectations. Yeah, for nothing else, you want to
stay where you are, yes, that meaning the applen County fans,
but you know they want to stay there and even
go further. Yeah, and you know how you go then'ner
there agains that's true.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
But like you said, he has a great frameworker already
settled for him.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
So what do you guys think we appreciate all your questions,
by the way, and all the good wishes for coach
Tucker Prewitt, want to hear your comments. What do you
think about the higher h And as Mazzani brought up earlier,
who now will Fitzgerald look too? Yeah, to take over

(36:30):
their head coaching position. And again it's just like Tucker
brew going into Appling. Whoever goes into Fitzgerald's gonna be
in here, going to be inheriting a really good situation.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yes, for sure, he's done such great things at Fitzgerald.
I saw a couple of compliments comments earlier regarding who
should be the next coach, So you guys keep on
dropping those in the chat of who should be the
next coach at Fitzgerald?

Speaker 1 (36:56):
Did anybody give any names?

Speaker 3 (36:57):
I wonder who they're looking at? What was earlier? Let
me take a look.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
I will, and while you're looking for that, I will
tell you now the only thing. And boy, I gotta
be careful what I say here, because the last time
I mentioned anything about a Ware County coach leaving. Uh,
let's just say that we called a little bit of
flack about that. No, I'm not talking about the head coach,
So don't anybody go quote me on that that's not
what I'm saying. But I have heard that they may

(37:23):
be looking at some assistance at Ware County. So guys,
I'm being generic for a very good reason. So anyway,
that's about the only real, you know, true candidates that
I've heard that have been mentioned as serious considerations for
the job. But listen, I guarantee you Fitzgerald, They've had
a big name in Tucker Prewitt there as the head

(37:45):
coach of their football program. I got a feeling they're
gonna go They're gonna want to go after the very
best at once again.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
Yes, yes, and you know he said he left a
great framework there. Yes, And I don't believe they're going
to go down either in their season. I'm either going
to at least sustain or go further.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
Sure, And again this is and why I say that
I don't think you want to take And this is
no slight on anybody. I know there's a lot of
you know, rising assistants who are waiting for their opportunity.
After all, you know, if assistants never got a job,
whether they never were able to prove themselves. But I
think in this case with Fitzgerald, if I'm Fitzgerald, and

(38:24):
I'm their board, I'm their touchdown club, I'm their supporters,
and I'm sure they're having this conversation. You want to
go after somebody that's proven, and why wouldn't you. It's Fitzgerald.
I mean it is known for, you know, winning, like
I said, eight to ten games in the regular season,
making deep runs in the playoffs. So just like Appling

(38:44):
went after Tucker Prewitt and took him away from Fitzgerald,
I think we're gonna see Fitzgerald try to do the
same thing with another big name coach. That's my opinion.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Yeah, yeah, Well, I've seen some teams, you know, they
try to keep it in house, just get someone already
on the staff and put them as the head coach.
But we just heard from coach Prue that he may
be taking some of his coaching staff with him, So
I wonder who would that.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
Leave, you know, So, guys, what do y'all think? I
want to hear? Come on, you guys know your football
out there, don't leave all the talking and the guests
work the Mazagni and myself. Let's hear from you. Guys.
What do you think? Who are some good candidates that
and let's just make it a wish list. Come on,
you know you guys haven't got anything to lose. Who's
on your wish list? Especially if you're an Aplin get

(39:31):
I'm sorry, if you're a fitzgyer Old fan, who's on
your wish list? If you're a Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane fan,
or you're just a football fan, who do you want
to see go to the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes again? Taking
over a program, needless to say, is going to be
in really good hands because of what Tucker Crew or
how Tucker Preu has left that program.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, I see some people come in. It's kind of
funny to say. Ken Hortman says, somebody has to say
it rush pros and then Stephen K. Winn is backing
them up.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
Uh. Well, I can tell you one thing for sure.
RUSSI is available. Yeah, Russia is available. Listen, say what
you want to Okay, the man can coaches football. Yeah,
and if you want a winner, and I understand the
things that come with you in rush, but listen, not rushing.

(40:20):
I know each other well and I can toy with him.
But you know, look, guy can coach football. He's proven that. Look,
Rush Propes took over a Calwood County program where his
legacy still lives on today. Moultrie Cauchwood County was nothing
like it is today. It was a rather mediocre football program,

(40:41):
won a few Region Jim Ships and won one state championship.
That was under doctor Jim Hughes way back when. But
when Rush Props came in changed the whole focus of
Calkwood County changed that the whole community. And then even
though he's left, that legacy has still lived on with
Colwood County football today. So he's definitely left a lasting

(41:04):
legacy for sure. So I had to have that's my
Rush Props input for the day.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
I see another comment here by Chris Pace. He says, Kevis,
excuse me, Kevin Johnson is a good one for Fitzgerald
to consider. You have any thoughts on that?

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Well, So I'm not sure who he's talking about.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
Yeah, Kevis Johnson, but I'm assuming he mentions he's meaning
Kevin Johnson. But I see some other recommendations here. Ken
Hortman said, Ashley Henderson.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
Oh now that's a good one.

Speaker 3 (41:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
Now for those of you that remember and listen, Ashley
Henderson went to Thomas County Central and inherited a mess. Okay,
and Ashley said, if they'll let me do it, we'll
win a state championship in five years. Nate didn't get
that chance. And listen, coach has done a great job there.

(41:54):
Name is case me. I'm sorry, I just you know,
got all these coaches names running them on my current one. Yeah,
Justin Justin ye, Justin Rodgers, thank you very much, thank
you for bailing me out there. Justin Rodgers has done
a fantastic job. He has himself built that program and
everywhere Coach Rodgers is being Jones County, Colckwood County, before
mentioned cole Ganny. He has done a superb job. Saying

(42:17):
all that to say, Ashley Henderson had a rough stretch
at Thomas County Central, but he's left there and he's gone.
For those of you who don't know, he's gone up
to Jasper County Monticello, Georgia, where football was non existent
and he has built that program up from nothing.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
How long has he been there?

Speaker 1 (42:38):
I think he just completed his third year if I'm
not mistaken, But we remember Ashley in what he did
at Vowwood led them to a number of state championships,
and so you know, look, I think he'd be a
great man to come in and take over that job
at Fitzgerald. He's done a great job where he's been
and again had a little bit of a rough go
of it at Thomas County Central, but I certainly wouldn't

(43:01):
hold that against you.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
So that's a that's a good option for fitzal A
great job option is yeah. And then they're also saying
coach Freeman loved them all. Murray says coach Freeman.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
Yeah, absolutely, Marcus Freeman from uh, formerly a Brooks County Yeah,
he's over in Alabama coaching and I hadn't kept up
with how he's how he's done over there, but obviously
did a great job at Brooks County. So I think
he would be certainly a good candidate.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
Jeremy Jones Senior says coach Grays.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
And also that one, which one?

Speaker 2 (43:35):
That's a good question, which one, Jeremy. And then while
we while he lets us know that chance, James says,
Lance Shelton will be a dynamic higher uh excuse me Helton.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
Yeah, And again I'm trying to remember where Lance Helton
is at now. Guys, give me the names are the
name of these schools where these coaches are because I
kind of lose track of them. But uh so, any
Gilbert was talking about Kevius Johnson. I don't know if
that's the same gentleman that that they were talking about earlier.
Former Hurricane alumni Kevius Johnson. Eddie, where's he at?

Speaker 3 (44:11):
Now?

Speaker 1 (44:11):
You got to give us some a little bit more
updating information on these guys, if you don't mind. Obadi Farley,
let me call Justin Rodgers to make sure nobody from
his staff Lee's Obdi Farley said that. And we know
Obadi is of course the.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
Yeah number one TCC fan in the nation.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Yes he is. Who else we got talking out there?

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Brandon Fossel. He says, I would love to welcome Jason
Strickland back.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
Okay, I ain't touching that one.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
Let's see here, let me screw it down a little bit.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
Brian Burr He says, I heard some rumors of Monroe's
coach as well as Westover.

Speaker 3 (44:50):
Have you heard anything?

Speaker 1 (44:53):
I have not now, and I'm trying to remember who's there.
But you know, that's two programs that are doing pretty well,
especially my road Now Westover's doing well too. Uh And
I'm gonna tell you that's a tough place Albany over
there with that school system. Just you know, you just
got a lot that the talent is diluted over there.

Speaker 3 (45:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Yeah, you got a couple of I think private schools.
You've got Monroe, You've got west Over, you got Doughty.
So you know, a lot of talent to go around.
So whoever, if you go over to Albany and any
of that schools can win, you're doing a good job.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
Yeah, Lee Reynolds said, coaches will be lining up for
that Fishderal job. Do you think people are gonna be
banking at Fishdro's doing one?

Speaker 1 (45:34):
Yeah, that's one thing about they will have no shortage
of good and that's what I mean. They'll have no
shortage of not just candadas Mazagni, but they don't have
good candidates to choose from.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
Yeah that's good, that's good.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Yeah, I think they can take their pick for sure.
And speaking of which, you know we're in that time
of year. Yeah, there's really no rush to try to
make a selection. I mean, yeah, I know, you want
to get a coach in. You don't want to wait
till the last minute. But you know, just like te
Prewitt said, he's not he's probably gonna afford go spring practice.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Yeah, And I was I was thinking about that because
I thought it would be a little bit of a
rush to try to you knownella coach of the wall,
you know, finally pick one. But because I thought a
lot of teams thought spring practice was like maybe a
little fundamental, yeah, or like really prioritizing that. But it
just offered me a different perspective to see that coach
Prewit is not, that's not really his priority right now.

(46:25):
And I mean that's I can understand that because he
just got there, and you know, he has to build
a little bit, you know, kind of fill out his
team exactly.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
And you know, here's my take on that. And I've
heard this from a number of coaches in Georgia. You know,
the GHSA only gives Georgia's schools ten practices. Now, you
can have nine spring practices in a game, or you
can take all ten of those practices that are allotted
to you and use them as practices. And I tell

(46:55):
you a lot of coaches to a man will tell
you you're not gonna get a whole lot of accomplished
in just ten days. I think Alabama allows fifteen if
I'm not mistaken, but they do allow for a few
more days, and those few days extra ad you know,
make a difference. Yeah, so I see that To say that,
I don't really think that, you know, for going like
Tucker's gonna do over to appling, I don't think it's

(47:16):
gonna make a great big deal of difference. You know,
he'll be able to go out in practice once they're
allowing to do like the OTAs the organized team activities. Yeah,
seven on sevens. You'll probably get as much, if not
more out of those particular activities than you will your
spring practice.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
Yeah, And I guess right now it's just important for
schools to make sure that they have their coach before
before the summer.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
Oh absolutely, school is out. Absolutely so Ken Hortman says,
no shortage of applications, but short on time to get
it done. That's what Mazanie said. So certainly somebody thinking
like you there, Ricky Manning, what is he saying, Azana,
You see his comment?

Speaker 2 (47:57):
Yeah, he says Fitzgerald has a gimboree with Tipp County
and TOOLMS County in three weeks.

Speaker 3 (48:04):
We love some jamborees.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
Oh yeah, oh yeah. By the way, speaking of jam brees,
they had that big one that we had written about, uh,
scheduled up at Georgia State between Thomas County Central Gainesville
and I'm trying to remember who the third school was. Anyway,
it was three powerhouse teams gonna go at it up
at Georgia State. Uh, and they canceled it. I hate

(48:28):
to see that. Yep, We're able to go through with it.
So Luke Nelson, our buddy Big Buford is in the house, says,
I'm late to the show. Luke Nelson is always fashionably
late to the show. What is paid to anything else?
But brother, what's going on? Luke? Luke is a big
Buford fan, saying he is Big Buford indeed. And Luke,
what's the latest on that new stadium? Have you said,

(48:51):
have you heard about the brand new stadium at the
big Big Stadium.

Speaker 3 (48:56):
I can't.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
I know they can't wait for their season opener with Milton.
We've been talking about that. Absolutely, that's gonna be a
great season opener at that new stadium.

Speaker 1 (49:05):
Absolutely, all right, So why don't we why don't we
end a few fem minute luff we got in the show.
We were talking about how twenty twenty five may very
well be and I want to get y'all's input on this.
Twenty twenty five may very will be the year of
the repeat state champions. I mean, you've got a lot
of team you were talking last week, you know about Grayson,

(49:27):
and they're pretty loaded. Got their quarterback coming back, Travis
Burgess is coming back, and they got a lot of
talent coming back. So I think Grayson has got to
be your favorite. And let's just go down the line. Yeah,
if you look at Grayson Class six A state champions

(49:47):
they defeated Carrollton in the state championship last year. Yep.
I do think as you mentioned last week, I think
they are the odds on favorite to repeat this. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
An amazing game that Grayson and Carlson game. And like
they're led by coach Santa Bryant.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
You know, he's a very young guy at twenty nine
to thirty, so I think he's able to relate to
those kids, and I think that's a strong foundation for them.
But like you said, they have a lot of returning talent.
You got the QB A quarterback Travis Burgess. You know
he's returning. You got the linebacker talent Akison, he's returning.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
I mean it sounds like you got your offense and
defense covered just with those two names alone. Absolutely, So
I'm I'm excited to see what Grayson does here here.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
So I think for good reason, Grayson is certainly a
great candidate. Yeah, to repeat at six A, we go
to five A. Remember there's no seven A anymore. They
say is the highest classification. Now there's some question about this,
and that's if Milton, who already has back to back Yeah,
as one of the last two state championships. Yeah, are

(50:51):
they really a candidate? I mean they lose, they're all
everything quarterback in Luton Nickel. But I tell you Milton
is one of those programs. I think they don't rebuild,
they just reload.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
Yeah, they're candidate for me, I said, I think they
have a good chance.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
They got Yeah, well I mentioned lou Nickel leaving. Yes,
but I know going to Miami. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
Yeah, good luck to him at Miami. I know he's
gonna do some great things. But also I don't think
Milton is worried because they have some transfers. I think
one of their transfers is a quarterback and then the
other one is a running back. So I don't think
Milton has much to worry about.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
What do you think?

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Yeah, I don't think they do either. They got a
couple of quarterbacks, one from Saint Thomas Aquinas. They got
one I mentioned this last week, coming from I think
it's Milwaukee Academy of the Sciences or something like that. Anyway,
funny name of the school. But he's a really good
quarter up. Both of those are I think three and
four star recruits respectively. Both are highly recruited. So no

(51:48):
matter who wins that job they're at Milton, I think
they are, they're gonna be in fine shape as far
as the quarterback situation goes. And like you said, they've
had some other move ins come in. Yeah. The thing
about being a winner, everybody wants to be a part
of a winner.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
Yeah, that's true. So listen, does that make it easier
for them?

Speaker 1 (52:07):
H It will make it easier, I think listen. And
I gotta say this, going back to six A for
a second, you know why I do think Grayson is
the team to be Beuford. Of course, we just talked
about the big new stadium they're building. I do not
understand for the life of me. You know, Beauford should

(52:30):
be the team favorite. They should have won it last year.
I mean, I guess what I'm trying to say is,
you know, everybody wants to be a part of the winner,
be part of a winner. Everybody wants to be a
you know, part of Beauford and what they got going
on there. Yeah, big school. I mean, you know, they
get all the probably the best facilities in the state.
They got that brand new stadium they're building. Kids want

(52:51):
to be a part of that.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
Yes, they really do.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
And so in fact, Luke Nelson, once you talk to
us a little bit about Beauford, and I know what
he's gonna say, But I think you gotta watch them all,
do I do. I do think that Greation is the
team to be, But I would definitely keep an eye
on the Beauford Wolves for sure.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Yeah, I think they'll have a perfect early test. But
you know, with that season open against Milton, I think
that's gonna tell us a lot that we need to
know to prepare for the rest of the season.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
Somebody, now, I'll just telling us. You mentioned that jamboree Fitzgerald,
tiff County, and Toombs County. Greg Yeah, Greg Hackle says
it has been canceled.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
We just talked about how last year, right when you
said TCC and a lot of other teams were going
to Georgia State, how that was canceled. So I wonder
what's going on.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
I don't know. That's a well again, you know, again,
it kind of goes back to what I was saying
earlier at Mazzani. I think I think when these coaches
are scheduling these spring jamboree, yeah, it sounds good, feels good,
but again, when you get down to it, you know,
and I'm just guessing surmising this. I don't know this,
but I bet these teams are probably saying, hey, look,

(54:04):
we got some issues we need to deal with. We
need to deal with it in our own way, on
our own time. And I don't want to go play
in any game, even if it is a fake game
or a spring game. You know, and usually those Jim Brees,
I think they play each other like a half each Yeah. Yeah,
So I just think these coaches are saying, let's forget it.
We got too much stuff to work on.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
Yeah, and there's been a lot of changes this year
so far, so I don't think it's going to harm
any of these teams if they don't participate in the
jamboree or have a spring game. But I still an
interested comment here by Chris Pace. He says, thanks for
the coffee Helmet of the week up here all right,
this week, he says, shout out.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
To Big Knicks. Two.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
We want to say thank you. The Big Knicks were
allowing us Tuesday, and he said, just gave you an
idea for the show helmet of the week.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
Yep, yep, that's kind of what I was thinking, because
you guys remember our last setup we had, you know
our backdrop, Yeah, we had I don't know, probably twenty
helmets by us, and coaches would ask about sending us
more helmets. But obviously our set up a little bit different.
We love what we've got here with our logo yes
in the back and so what we're gonna do is

(55:12):
we'll have our not necessarily our game of the week,
but our helmets of the week, our teams of the week.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
Yes, I love that.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
Yeah, and again our theme was with the Perry and coffee.
Recent state champions not defending state champions, but recent state champions.
We thought that we would kind of put them up
there for tonight's theme. The year of the repeat State
champion twenty twenty five could very well be it, do
you have.

Speaker 3 (55:37):
A do you have another repeat? Do you have another team?

Speaker 1 (55:39):
I think, yeah, one more? Okay, I bet I know
who it is.

Speaker 3 (55:42):
Okay, go ahead, and guess I did see it.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
I think it's Carver Columbus.

Speaker 3 (55:47):
Yes, yeah, it was.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
It's Carver Columbus. You know, if this was last year, right,
and we were talking about dark horses last year, I
don't even know if I would have mentioned them as
my dark horse because but they would classify as a
dark horse for me if this was last season, right,
because they were up under the radar for me this
whole season and then the playoff after playoff game, you know,
they just kept winning and winning, and by the end,

(56:13):
you know, you knew who they were. You understood to
respect that team, you know, and they have a lot
of returners. They were a young team. They're led by
Corey Joyner. So with that returning talent, you know, I
think they're gonna have a good chance of winning the
state championship.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
Yet, again, I don't think there's any doubt about it.
You mentioned the young man Joiner and what they have.
He is gonna be joined by a host of returning
Carver Columbus players. So and again, kind of like Grayson,
somewhat Milton, but certainly with the Carver Columbus, you're defending

(56:50):
double A champion and boy, they're gonna have a really
good chance to make it too in a row. Just
a lot of talent there over on the East Georgia coach.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
Yeah, and they're they're repping football over there for the
East Coast. I see a lot of the common thing
between all these teams is that they're going to have
a lot of returners and a lot of returners at
key positions, you know. So I think that's what's gonna
make the huge difference, and I think that's what classifies
them as repeaters.

Speaker 1 (57:20):
Well, and another thing, Carver Columbus just you know, there
were they had no cheap games last year. They did
lose one and I don't know what happened. They lost
to Harris County, not a bad team, but but I
don't know what happened to that game. I don't know
if they had some players out or what. However, other
than that, Carver Columbus just ran the table last year

(57:43):
fourteen and one regular season, and I mean look at
what they did in the state championship game against a
real solid Burk County team, rolling fifty two to fourteen
in the state title game. So yeah, I like Carver Columbus.
I like Grayson to repeat. Milton still undecided, don't know

(58:06):
Class four A North of Coney def he did Mayrist.
This might be the one difference. I tell you why
I really like Marist and what Alan Chadwick has done there.
You want to talk about a history of winning football,
I do. I'll say this. It may not be North
of Coney repeating, but I do think you'll have a

(58:26):
good chance of seeing those two teams return to the
state championship game. Those same two teams, Yes, but I
think you may have a different now come with Marris
this year. We'll have to wait and see.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
Oh also earlier, thank you Oscar Miles for telling me
Carver Columbus is actually led by Pierre Coffee.

Speaker 1 (58:42):
Oh as far as yes, the head coach.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
By the way, speaking of Carver Columbus and Peer Coffee,
we we did a one of there and interviewed Coach
Coffee nicest man. I set that up for our staff
to go over there and interview them, and anyway, you
guys can check it out at ITG Next Georgia.

Speaker 3 (59:04):
What's that on YouTube?

Speaker 1 (59:05):
Yeah, yeah, you guys can check it out on our
YouTube channel and a lot of insight into Coach Coffee
the program and had a chance to talk to some
of the players over there, and so you guys check
it out and listen. If you're not familiar, which most
of you watching this I think are, But if we
got some folks that are here at Big Knicks checking
out the show, and you like high school sports, especially

(59:27):
high school football, we cover it year round. It TG
Next Georgia And as a Mazzani mentioned, we are on
we got our YouTube channel, we got our Facebook page,
and we've got Instagram everything you want.

Speaker 2 (59:43):
Yeah, and make sure you subscribe to our newsletter. That's
how you can catch all of Phil's hot topics exclusives
right right to your email every Thursday.

Speaker 1 (59:52):
Absolutely. Like I said, we got that exclusive with doctor
Janet Goodman, the superintendent of Applin County. If you want
some insight into what happened, you know, prior to to
Tucker crewit coming over. If you want to get some
insight into what happened there with the GHSA, doctor Goodman was.
She was tactful, but she was very forthcoming expressingly a

(01:00:15):
little bit of displeasure about how that whole thing was
handled on the GHSA side. So take a look at it, guys,
if you hadn't looked at it already. And again that
was an exclusive And by the way, we appreciate our
exclusive interview tonight with the new head coach of Appling
County in Tucker Prewitt. No longer at Fitzgerald, he is
now the head coach of the Appling County Pirates. Final word,

(01:00:38):
what you got?

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
I'm just looking here at the comments. Kelly Mitchell says,
Brooks County has a loaded team coming back. I like
our chances being back of the dome.

Speaker 3 (01:00:47):
Loved them all.

Speaker 2 (01:00:48):
Murray says the same thing. Brooks County will be back now.
Brooks County they couldn't really be a dark horse because
I mean, hey, you look at their record right and
they're not under the radar. But if they had won
the state championship last year, they would have definitely been
on this list.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
For me this year one hundred percent. The other two
before we leave Calhoun was the one of the state
championship in Class three A Mazzoni again, they defeated Jefferson
last year. I think either of those teams have a
really good chance of going back to the state title game.
So I guess the theme of our show tonight as
far as looking at this part, even if you know

(01:01:27):
you're not looking at the state title winners, but the
ones that made it to the two that made you
to the championship game, I think you've got a really
good chance of us seeing these two teams in each
classification making it back. A really good chance, I think
the best chance we've had in a while.

Speaker 3 (01:01:41):
Yeah, I think it's a toss up with some of
them for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
So guys, we're gonna wrap it up here. I want
to thank you everybody for joining us both here at
Big Nicks and for those other boy we had a
lot of folks watching tonight online and guys, let's hear you.
Let's have you come back next week and the week
after that. It's every two esday night, six thirty to
seven thirty. You don't have anything else going on, come
on back. And join us and we'll continue to talk

(01:02:05):
high school football just like we did tonight. A big
shout out. By the way, we mentioned Big Nicks. Come
check out their Sunday brunch. What are the hours on that,
do you know?

Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
I believe it's eleven to three or twelve to three.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
Got all kind of good stuff brunch, just the mix
of breakfast and lunch. So come check it out. Mazzani
has and she gives it two thumbs up. And I
also want to thank our show sponsors. Of course. Want
to think of doctor Kevin Collins of the Houston Clinic,
one of the best orthoptic surgeons around. He's a friend
and sponsor of our show. Thank you, doctor Collins. He's
the team physician for Valdosta State University in Collwood County,

(01:02:41):
one of our show sponsors. And my buddy Doyer Deloche
shot at Pepsi Cola, our other sponsor of the show.
And by the way, Pepsi, you get to Pepsi products
here at Big Knicks. For Mazzannie Matthews. I'm Phil Jones,
one of the Thank you everybody for joining us tonight.
We'll be back with you next week, right hear from
Big Nicks. On Tuesday six point thirty. Until then, have

(01:03:04):
a great week. Everybody