Few changes for Bulldog staff this season
In the second year of the Jamie Abrams era at Cedartown High School, the Bulldogs will not have much turnover in the coaching staff.
Cedartown returns their offensive and defensive coordinators and adds two assistant coaches who have had a plethora of success at previous stops.
Head coach Abrams enters his fifth season as a high school football head coach and his fourth in the state of Georgia. After coaching the Wadley (Ala.) Bulldogs to a 5-6 record in 2010, Abrams coached for a few seasons as an assistant before returning to the helm at Lamar County in 2014. The Trojans went 15-7-1 in his two years in Barnesville.
The Woodland, Alabama, native guided Cedartown to an 8-3 record in 2020, leading the Bulldogs to their first region championship since 2001. He’ll try to repeat that this season with a mix of new and old in his coaching staff.
Evan Hochstetler comes back as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach this year. The son of legendary Greenville and Bowdon head coach Dwight Hochstetler, Evan enjoyed tons of success calling plays for the Bulldog offense last season. Cedartown averaged 31 points per game and saw outbursts of 48 points against Heard County, 52 points against Pickens, and 56 points against Ridgeland and North Oconee.
Brad Watkins joins the coaching staff for the upcoming season. He will be the special teams coordinator and running backs coach. A native of Massachusetts, Watkins comes to Cedartown after serving as an assistant at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. He spent two seasons assisting with running backs for the Pioneers, an FCS program in the Northeast Conference. Watkins has also coached special teams and/or running backs at Nichols College (Mass.), Wilmington College
(Ohio), and Ohio Northern University.
Cedartown’s offensive line was the talk of the region last season, as the big hog mollies up front paved the way for the Bulldog tail backs and stepped up in pass protection in big situations for starting quarterback Reece Tanner. Their improvement and production are credited to returning offensive line coach Mike Bennefield. The Alabama native has coached at UAB, Jacksonville State, and Yellowhammer prep
powers like Prattville and Piedmont in the past and continued to work his magic at Cedartown last year. He comes back for year number two in 2021.
Jamey Diamond is another returning member of the Bulldog coaching staff. The former CHS great helped tremendously in coaching up the running backs last season and will make the move to tackles and tight ends coach. Diamond is an enthusiastic leader and is, as Abrams put it in 2020,
“As Cedartown as it gets.”
Veteran coach Jeremy Ruark returns as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at CHS. The Cedartown graduate has been a part of the Bulldog program for quite some time and had his best season yet leading the defense in 2020. Cedartown allowed just 118 points in 11 games last season, safe for their lowest point total in a season since giving up 97 points in 10 games under head coach John Hill in 1986.
Mike Worthington has been a staple of Cedartown football for quite some time. The assistant head coach and strength and conditioning coach comes back once again in 2021. Worthington will also oversee the Bulldog defensive line this season, trying to replicate a fierce pass rush seen in the 2020 season.
“Coach Worthington runs our weight room and does a great job,” Abrams said. “The results he has gotten in his time at CHS speak for themselves.”
Cody Amos enters the fold this year as well. A longtime assistant at Rome High School, Amos accepted a position in the offseason to become a physical education teacher at Polk School District. The Darlington product won state titles in 2016 and 2017 with the Rome Wolves’ coaching staff and will be the outside linebackers coach at Cedartown this fall.
The final member of the Cedartown football coaching staff is Tyler Morgan. 2021 will mark his second year as director of football operations at CHS. Along with providing support in the day-to-day operations of the program, Morgan will also coach the Bulldog kickers this year.
“All of our assistants do a great job with what they are asked to do,” Abrams said.
“All of those guys pull their weight in the summer. You don’t have enough ink for me to tell you the tasks that each of them complete on a daily or weekly basis.”