For many high school football programs in Georgia, making a run to the Final Four would be a dream come true. But for a program with as high of expectations and such an established tradition like Calhoun, it’s simply coming up short of the ultimate goal.
The Jackets are back in 2016 with unfinished business after a hard-fought loss in the Class AAA semifinals last December at Blessed Trinity left them not playing in the Georgia Dome for a state title for just the second time in the last eight years.
And while they had a lot of very talented players graduate from last year’s team, there are plenty more to fill those spots in 2016. The Jackets don’t rebuild, they just reload.
Calhoun head coach Hal Lamb, who is going into his 17th season with the Jackets, said maintaining such a high level of consistency is a hard task, but they’ve been fortunate to have the right ingredients to make it happen over the last decade-plus and he hopes it will continue for a long time.
“To me it’s always more difficult to stay at the top than to get to the top,” said Lamb, who’s team has won 15 straight region titles. “We’ve been very fortunate to win a lot of games, but it’s not easy. It takes a lot of hard work and great players. We’ve also got coaches that are willing to work non-stop to have the kind of success we have. And we have tremendous support from this community and administration.
“We’ll continue to work to have success. Our goal is always to be better than we were the year before and to be peaking at the end of the season.”
The Jackets come into 2016 looking for many new impact players to step up after they lost a big senior class following last season, including close to 10 who signed college scholarships at different levels. One major area they are looking for new starters is along both lines of scrimmage. They lost four of five starters on the offensive line and two of three starters on the defensive line. Lamb said over the spring, summer and preseason, he’s seen guys wanting to step up to the challenge at those positions.
“I think we did lose a lot on both sides up front, but we’ve got some kids that can do it — we’re just not as big as we’ve been in the past,” said Lamb. “We’ve got kids excited about the opportunity to step in and play there. We won’t be very experienced on either line to start the season, but by the end of the year, we expect them to playing well and peaking at the right time.”
William Long, who has garnered college attention, is the lone starter returning on the offensive line, and CJ Fuller should anchor the defensive line in his second season starting at nose guard. Noah Davenport is another name that could be called upon to play big snaps on both sides of the ball up front.
Another spot that will have a new face is at quarterback as three-year starter Kaelan Riley has moved on to the next level at Mercer, and senior Baylon Spector will step in to the starting role after seeing the majority of his time on the field on defense over the last two seasons. Spector is committed to Clemson as a defensive back, but has bulked up and will split his time between quarterback and outside linebacker this Fall.
“Baylon does a good job for us,” said Lamb. “He’s not going to be Kaelan, and we know that. They’re different kinds of quarterbacks, and we’re going to do different things. But Baylon is our leader.
“He also likes to play defense, which is going to be a change for us with our quarterback playing both ways. I really like Baylon’s attitude, and he’s had a good preseason.”
Spector will not have to shoulder all of the offensive load as he will have several weapons to use at the skill positions, including returning starting running back Olico Dennis, which Lamb expects to take another big step as a senior to have a big season.
“Especially with Baylon starting for the first time at quarterback, it’s really important to have (Olico) back,” said Lamb. “He’s going to be our go-to guy, and we’re going to give him a lot of touches. He’s also had a really good preseason.”
The receiver position is as deep as it has been in recent memory for Calhoun with Ryan Randall, Malik Lawrence, Rhett Abernathy, Porter Law, Brannon Spector and several others expected to see their share of targets.