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Rising junior Darius Cannon gives the Warriors' a big-play threat on both sides of the ball. Cannon was the Region 7-AAA Athlete of the Year last fall. (Photo/Mark Turner)
When spring football practice began last week at White County High School, things looked a little different.
For the first time since Tim Cokely took over the program, he walked out on the practice field without the Class of 2021 players.
This year's graduating class is made up of a long list of multi-year starters, including the record-breaking quarterback/receiver duo of J. Ben Haynes and Cooper Turner, along with three-year starter Devin Sullens, and two-year starters like Reece Dockery, Jaquez Williams, Jesse Moose, Riley Stancil, Dylan Archer, and Andrew Pierce.
Cokely said despite all the graduation losses, he expects the Warriors to continue to play at a high level.
“Yeah, that was a really good group; a group that did a lot of things well, and we'll miss them,” Cokely said. “But we have a bunch of really good kids coming back, and we have some young guys that are going to be good. We feel like we will have a really good team this year.”
The cupboard is far from bare for the Warriors as they have several key players back from last year's state playoff team. All-Region offensive players Darius Cannon (receiver), Silas Mulligan (running back), JD Trowell and Alex Garcia (offensive linemen), return as well as starting center Trenton O'Kelley.
Zion McMullen, an All-Region pick at linebacker, leads a long list of returning starters on the defensive side, including linebacker Alex Thornton (an All-Region pick last year), and the entire secondary made up of Cannon, Riley Turner and Bryson Cronic.
Most of the focus during the spring workouts has been preparing the squad for 7-on-7 competitions, which start June 8.
The Warriors are getting their first work under new offensive coordinator Joey Browning, who replaced Chad Bennett, who took the OC job at Gainesville earlier this spring. Greg Moore is back for his second year as the Warriors' defensive coordinator.
“We're really just trying to get ready for 7-on-7,” Cokely said. “Coach Browning is our new offensive coordinator, and we thought it was a good idea to have some continuity because he worked with Chad Bennett for four years. Coach Moore is back for the second year as our defensive coordinator, and we have a lot of of guys that either started on defense or played a lot last year. We are really looking forward to see how much we can progress over the summer on both sides of the ball.”
The Warriors, and the rest of the football team's round the state, have a little different schedule this summer. The Georgia High School Association added an second “Dead Week” to the summer schedule, which means all high school athletes at GHSA member schools are are prohibited from voluntary workouts, individual or team camps, clinics, and summer conditioning programs.
The first dead week of the summer runs from Sunday, May 30 through Saturday, June 5. The second dead week is Sunday, June 27-Saturday, July 3.
The first day of summer workouts for the Warriors is Monday, June 7, with the strength and conditioning session running from 8-11 a.m. The Warriors will hold strength and conditioning sessions each Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday during June and July. On Tuesday, June 8, the Warriors head to Jefferson for a 7-on-7 event.
On Thursday, June 10, WCHS hosts a 7-on-7 event against Chestatee and East Forsyth.
On Monday, June 14, the Warriors will take part in a 7-on-7 passing tournament at Georgia Tech, followed with a trip to the University of Georgia on Thursday, June 17, for another passing tournament. The Warriors close out the month of June by hosting a passing tournament on Friday, June 25.
Following the second dead week, the plans for July include eight strength and conditioning sessions, and two-day team camp trip on July 14-15 to Jacksonville State in Jacksonville, Ala.
The team will hold five GHSA -mandated acclimation practices July 26-30, with the first full-contact padded practice set for Monday, Aug. 2 at 3 p.m.
The team will take on East Forsyth in a pre-season scrimmage on Friday, Aug. 13. East Forsyth is a first-year school in Forsyth County.
The Broncos will be a member of Region 7-AAA for the 2021 season, but are playing a non-region football schedule. All of the other East Forsyth athletic teams will be regular members of the region during the 2021-22 academic year.
The Warriors kick off the regular season Friday, Aug. 20, traveling to Toccoa for a matchup with Stephens County. The first home game is Friday, Aug. 27, against Hart County.