The Sumrall Bobcats have already faced some challenges even before kicking off the 2018 season.
Senior quarterback Billy Garrity will miss the season due to a hip injury, so superstar receiver Dannis Jackson will take over his duties. Don’t worry, though, Sumrall isn’t going to the same offense it had when Jackson started the season off at quarterback in 2017.
When South Jones travel to Sumrall to open the season last year, the Braves handed Sumrall a 36-0 drubbing. Sumrall coach Shannon White had every intention to have a four-receiver look with Garrity at quarterback this season, and even though the offense will change with Jackson behind center, it won’t be what fans saw last season against the Braves.
“We have another kid who we’ll play at quarterback, too,” White said. “Dannis will be the primary guy, but we’ll still use him at receiver. We’ve made our adjustments and moved on. We’ll always have Billy on our mind. We just hate it for him, but injuries happen and we have to move on. As far as how we’ve handled it, it’s been a great response.”
Freshman John Ford will also see time behind center for the Bobcats, and the offense will change some with Jackson or Ford at quarterback. White says Jackson can throw the football well, but the offensive philosophy is a little different. The offense won’t be the wing-T like it was last year when Jackson played quarterback in the season opener against South Jones. There will be more passing this go-round.
White would have liked to play the scheduled jamboree last week, but a rain-soaked Friday afternoon caused a cancellation of the two-quarter scrimmage.
“You can practice and run, but it’s nothing like game conditioning,” White said. “Playing a half would have been so beneficial for us, from a conditioning standpoint. We missed that, so I’m really concerned about that. I think we’re in great shape, but there’s nothing like playing a game and we missed out on a half of football.”
It’s been noted that Sumrall returns a lot of talent to 2018, which has led to high expectations. South Jones, however, graduated a ton of players to last season’s 8-5 team.
The Braves bring back senior quarterback John Mitchell, who was also the team’s second-leading rusher, but the team’s leading rusher and two other running backs are gone, along with the Top 6 receivers. The uncertainty has given the Bobcats a lot to work on prior to the matchup.
“They’re really multiple on offense,” White said. “They’re under center, which they never were last year. They’re still big up front. Their offensive line is really impressive. They’re under center running different types of options and veers, then they’re in the shotgun so it’s a lot to prepare for.”
Defensively, five of the top six tacklers graduated, leaving two players from the Top 12 tacklers from 2017 left on the team.
“I don’t know a lot about them defensively,” White said. “I know the head coach and I know his philosophy. In the past, they’ve been very multiple defensively, so again, we have a lot to prepare for. They blitz quite a bit, so they’re a pressure-oriented defense.”
