RIDGELAND
While he said the team was still trying to lock down the center position in the early part of August, the rest of the line appears set, led by Logan Godfrey, a returning All-region player at guard. Tommy Lamb will line up at the opposite guard, while Logan Montgomery and Judah Thomas are slotted at the tackle spots. At tight end, Jacob Klein has the body of a tackle, but has shown the hands of a receiver.
Two Ridgeland linemen are listed at 6-foot-3, another is 6-foot-5 and two more are 6-foot-6.
“They’re young, but we’ve been focused on getting them in the weight room,” Klein said. “They’ve worked out and lifted together, they’ve run together, they share a new locker room and they’ve done everything together. Linemen are just a different breed. They’re the only players on the field that have to work together as a group.
“The guys that I played (offensive line) with in college, we’re still friends and we still talk all the time. If we can get these guys to where they trust the guys next to them and they lead by that example, then we can do anything and everything we want to do.”
The Panthers will once again run out of a base 4-3 on defense with Jeremiah Turner, another All-region player, anchoring the line. He’ll be joined by Klein and Kyle Brown on the ends, while the interior of the line will include Antonio Martin and Ashton Turner, who has grown from a running back last year to a nose guard this fall.
Terrance Roberts, last year’s 6-AAAA Defensive Player of the Year (87 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, seven sacks, one defensive touchdown), is back at inside linebacker to go with another returner in Tanner Counts. On the outside, Ridgeland will depend on Torrance Roberts, while Jonathan Woodall and Izaac Bryant are competing for playing time.
The secondary will feature Brooks at free safety, backed up by Amarreon Turner and Jakobe Turner, while Javier Jordan and Torrance Roberts will also see time at strong safety. Several players will be in the mix at corner, including Blackwell and Mason.
The Panthers have another strength on special teams in Conner Middleton, who has attended several kicking camps in the offseason. The plan is for Middleton to handle placements, kickoffs and punting, while Ridgeland has a stable of athletes who can return punts and kicks.
The schedule will once again be ultra-tough with the Corky Kell Classic against Calhoun, a road trip to Class 4A state title contender Troup and a home date against another 4A state power in Sandy Creek, all leading into the region slate.
“The biggest thing, I think, is those first three games,” Klein suggested. “We have to stay healthy, we have to stay focused and we can’t get outside of ourselves. In a perfect world, we go out and win all three games and shock the state. We believe that we can go out and play with those guys and give ourselves a chance to win in the fourth quarter, but we have to stay healthy and those top senior guys are the ones who have to stay healthy.”
If the team’s health holds up, Klein believes his team has a chance to go out and take care of some “unfinished business”, which includes getting to at least the state quarterfinals. The third round of the playoffs and beyond have managed to elude the program since they made it to the state championship game in 2012.
“We’re looking to regain things we’ve lost and trying to move on past that second round of the playoffs,” Klein added. “We have sort of been stuck there, but of course, when you get into the second round, everybody is good. But we feel that our unfinished business is that people expect Ridgeland to go deep in the playoffs and we want our kids believing that too.”