Chris Whitaker
ELLAVILLE — Jim McFather has generally had a pretty good idea of what his team would look like on the field before August comes.
But that might not be the case this season.
With the departure of 14 seniors, including skilled players Deondrick Pina and Carmetrick Ross, Schley County is still figuring out personnel issues as they begin 7-on-7 scrimmages today against Macon County.
“There’s some uncertainty,” said McFather, who led the Wildcats to an 8-4 record and their second-consecutive playoff appearance in 2008. “We have a lot of holes to fill, and we graduated a lot. But that’s part of it. We knew two years ago we would have a small senior class, and it’s something we’ve been working on.”
Five Wildcats participated in individual camps at Georgia last Thursday and will again on Wednesday. Senior Trae Mann and junior Darius Pines lead the cast. Mann was a two-way star at running back and linebacker while Pines was a stalwart on the defensive line.
“Trae’s going to be one our star players,” said McFather. “He has the ability to come with the big play, whether it’s running, on kick returns or punt returns. The more weapons we have, the better.
“We had a lot of weapons last year, and maybe right now we don’t have quite as many, and opponents can bunch up on you to stop one or two or three. But four to five weapons are hard to defend all over the field.”
Pines and Nekose Thornton have shown tremendous potential, said McFather, but his concern is their continual growth on the field.
“They’ve got to step up, and they can’t play like juniors,” he said. “There’s potential there, but we don’t always reach it sometimes.
“It’s going to be how had you want it. There’s struggles along the way, but that’s why this summer is so important to this year’s team. We’ve got to get in there and work.”
The biggest question mark will be at quarterback. Both Pina and Andy Miller are gone, and last year’s backup hasn’t come out for the team. McFather said the Wildcats are leaning toward Jonathon Deriso in taking the reigns of the offense. He was slated to play wide receiver and defensive back last season before breaking his arm in practice before the season started.
“He’s a quick learner, but he’s got a lot to learn,” said McFather. “We know it’s a never-ending process, and some spots are still questionable. Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it don’t, and when it don’t, you have to swim upstream. We’d knew we’d be in this boat. This year’s a little more difficult because the numbers are not there.”
