Thank you, readers, for your patience as we catch up on stories that were delayed by our coverage of Tropical Storm Debby.
Summer break is sadly coming 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 Jared Zito with Southeast Bulloch's Yellow Jackets. In an effort to try to not only beat the heat but the thunderstorms as well, the Yellow Jackets have tried practicing in the early mornings and at one of the Georgia Southern facilities.
GC: How do you feel about your team right now?
Coach JZ: I mean, right now I can't really ask for more. We got a really good group of kids, who are good boys, and have worked really hard. This off-season, they've done a good job this summer and had great attendance. So far, in practice, we've had four practices and it is what I expected.
My first year here, we were really talented and really experienced, and we had a really good season. Over the next few years, we were kind of in a rebuild period of how young kids played. And then last year, we were still kind of young. But then we started into a new region. So I kind of thought, based on the guys, we had returned the experienced number of seniors and juniors that have been in the field that we'd be pretty good.
Of course, we're playing back in the AAA division and that helps us a little bit. And then I thought, our off-season weight room numbers are really good. We're probably one of the strongest teams I've had, maybe ever.
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?
JZ: I mean, obviously, you know, in no disrespect to our current schedule, the region we were in the last few years with the likes of Benedictine Military School, Wayne County, Burke, New Hampstead, those top four teams were, you know, the little bigger schools, really good programs. Looking into this season's schedule, of course we're gonna play the Statesboro non-region game and so we've yet to beat them, so we got to respect them.
And then you know, the ones that pop out to me obviously are Calvary Day, Liberty, Long County, and Jenkins County. I think they're really well coached. They had a really good run last year. And so you gotta be mindful of everybody playing.
On the front end, you got Statesboro on arrival, Calvary Day; really good private school. Of course Jenkins County went two rounds deep last year, and then Long County will be tough, they have a great coaching staff as well as Liberty. You never know what you're gonna get. Every year it seems to always be a struggle to play them. They’ve beaten us twice over the last three years.
So you know, you know we're gonna play nine region games. I like that personally. I'd rather play and let them all count and see what happens at the end.
GC: Which player or players do you believe have improved from last season?
JZ: One that sticks out to me the most, when it comes to improved progress, is Jr. running back/linebacker Jayden Murphy.
Jayden, you know, played for us a little bit last year at linebacker and a little bit at running back. He came to us late and transferred in from Statesboro. He had been in a couple of schools and was really behind last year. And I tell you, the middle of this off-season, he really, really changed everything about himself in terms of his mindset, his work ethic, and how he's handling his business on a day to day.
Through the middle of the spring semester, through spring practice, through the summer, and all this week so far he's been spectacular. He hasn’t missed a single day all summer. He's got a real chance to be a force for us as an outside linebacker and a running back. So he's probably the first guy that sticks out to me from an improvement standpoint. He's probably the one guy right now that sticks out in terms of improvement from one year to another.
GC: What team are you most excited to play?
JZ: I’m excited to be out on a Friday night. You only get 10 guaranteed games a year. 10 chances to show what the players worked hard all off-season and on-season for. You get 10 times to go out there and watch your kids hopefully execute plans and play at a high level with effort and energy and physicality.
You know, it's never really exciting in the game because you're coaching or you're worried and you have a million things on your mind. It's exciting at the end of the game, when your kids have done all the things you've asked them to do and you've watched them grow and watch them play hard and play together and execute. That's the most exciting thing.
The kids will probably tell you they are excited to play Statesboro, but they’re experienced and old enough now where they want to compete with the best.
GC: How do you motivate your team?
JZ: I always try to inspire the kids about a couple of things. It's bigger than football. Yes, it's a great sport. And the greatest thing about football is that it's not for everybody. It's hard, it's tough and it's challenging. There's let downs, there's highs and lows.
It really goes hand in hand with life and it teaches you a lot. So my talk to our team all time is that it's bigger than football, it is about the process. Yeah, you're playing it because you love the game, hopefully. You can't just arrive on Friday night, and expect to be good if there is no journey.
My biggest preach to our team is that it's not about you, It's not about the coaches, it's about all of us. This is a true team sport. In other sports you’ll have a dominant shooting guard or pitcher, but with football it is very much a team effort. You can’t just win with a few dominant players.
And so my buy-in to them is one, be selfless. Care about the guy next to you, be a great teammate, understand that all these things that you're going through in football are going to help you in life. Hopefully that is transpired to results on the field.
GC: What areas do you look to improve on this season?
JZ: Offensively, we want to create more explosive plays, The two things that have statistically proven to be the top two things determined to win or lose a game are turnovers and explosive plays. We’ve got to develop more explosive plays, whether it be in the throw game or running game.
Number two, our quarterback exchange. We want to be better on third and long/third and long down distance situations, throwing the football and being able to convert first downs when we have to.
Defensively, one, we want to be better at turnovers. We want to take the ball away better. Number two, we want to be better tackling, especially in the open field. And three we're always looking for the defensive players who are the most physical guys.
GC: Are you looking stronger offensively or defensively?
JZ: I think we're very balanced right now on both sides of the football. Right now, we have four sophomores that will start for us, last year they were freshmen. They are growing in experience. We have a strong offensive line and backfield, as well as a strong front line defense. Unfortunately we lost a star kicker/punter Cole Snyder to graduation last season, but I am pleased with the progress the three guys are making to try to fill that hole.
GC: What do you believe are the key factors in a player's success, on and off the field?
JZ: They gotta love it, and they gotta be committed to it and committed to doing what's right. Even when it’s hard. I think number one, we tell our players all the time, the very first thing you got to do is show up. You got to be here and you gotta be here on time. I mean, that gets you in the door, it gets you in a race.
The second thing you gotta do is you got to know what to do. You know, so it means you got to study film, you got to study our playbook or you got to really pay attention to what we're doing, what we're doing, mental reps and review.
The third thing is to play with great effort. After that, it's who's the best guy that gets a chance to succeed.
You have to be here to play. You have to know how to play to be able to perform. If a talented guy is able to do all these things, he will become elite. If they show up and do everything that is asked but aren’t as talented as others, with time they will become a program star.
GC: What is your favorite part about Coaching?
JZ: I love seeing the growth of kids becoming young men. I love to see a team come together for the same goals and everyone buys in, holds each other accountable, excited to play for each other. You know, everybody talks about Friday night and Friday nights are fun. And if you win Friday nights are fun for a very short-lived amount of time because you got to reboot and do it again.
I love it. I love to practice. I love the weight room. I love seeing kids work to get better, and getting to coach kids and them being coachable and they're responding. That part is really exciting. Winning is exciting for everybody, and it's exciting for me, but it's such a small time compared to all the time we spend preparing for that win.
GC: Is there something you would like to say to the county to get them ready for this season?
JZ: Be excited about the Yellow Jackets this year. This area holds a lot of old-school values and traditions. We have a tremendous history with Coach Shaver’s ‘72 and ‘73 state championship wins.
The past two years have been a bit rough, but be excited for our kids and show up. Be there early on Friday nights loud and proud. There's nothing those kids want more than people to pack the stands and play in front of.
