Football Fridays In Georgia: First Week Review and the New Main Man in Moultrie

Caption

First year Colquitt County Packers Head Coach Sean Calhoun talks to GPB Sports' Jon Nelson during Jon's Southern Swing school tour in August 2022.

Credit: GPB Sports

 

TRANSCRIPT:

 

Jon Nelson:  Welcome to another round of the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast here at Georgia Public Broadcasting. Thanks for accessing us, however you are doing so — large device or small, video or audio. Jon here. Hannah there. And it's another round where we've gone from week zero, and we're heading to week one, which a lot of folks will sit there and say, we're heading from week one to week two.

Hannah Goodin: But it's week one. Feeling good, feeling energized. I'm fancy today. Yeah, I did my hair, did my makeup, you know.

Jon Nelson Yeah, a while. And I did not.

Hannah Goodin: I usually come in here hot on Monday. You know, I had some extra time this morning. The girls woke me up at a, you know, a cool 6:30 a.m. So, I had all the time in the world.

Jon Nelson: Well, you had mentioned that you think you need you needed like an extra hour to prepare with the girls, to get ready to come down, to be-to be here in a comfortable time, a comfortable temporal fashion.

Hannah Goodin: Yeah.

Jon Nelson: Did that help? The 6:30 am helped, or was it too much?

Hannah Goodin: Well, they're up, too.

Jon Nelson: Okay.

Hannah Goodin: It's a learning-it's a learning curve. Last week was a tornado.

Jon Nelson: Yes.

Hannah Goodin: Like maybe like an F7. And then, you know, now we're down to like maybe an F4.

Jon Nelson: Commander Sandy, is there such a thing as an F7 tornado?

Hannah Goodin: Absolutely.

Sandy Malcolm: I don't know about that. We'll have to check.

Hannah Goodin: But there is an F7.

Sandy Malcolm: I'm going to Google it.

Jon Nelson: Then. So, check the Fujita scale and see if they go up to F7 for us.

Hannah Goodin: Well, that was me last week. Just trying to. Learn how to get ready for shows with the girls in the morning. So, it's a little different when you don't have to get so ready, and it's just a normal work week. But now, with football season, it's just, you know, well.

Jon Nelson: And last week, it was the beginning of Football Fridays In Georgia, Denmark, and Roswell. It was very, very cool up there—Ray Manus Stadium last Friday night.

Hannah Goodin: Hornets to it 35 to 10. What part of that was? Because Denmark junior quarterback Jacob Nelson went out. He was hurt, but Roswell had a lot of players step up as well.

Jon Nelson: Yeah, Nykahi Davenport rushed for 144 on 14 and had a touchdown. K.J. Smith at quarterback had a bit of a rough stretch in the middle, 8 of 16 for 154, and two. And for those of you who haven't had the chance to see it, check out the interview that Hannah did with Sham-Wow.

Hannah Goodin: Big Sham-Wow.

Jon Nelson: I mean, that was some-that was some fun stuff.

Hannah Goodin: It's a great interview.

Jon Nelson: And it's on our digital media. So, you can catch up with that with Sham-Wow and catch up with that. He's ready for this season, and he's ready for Knoxville. He's going to-he's going to be a fun follow.

Hannah Goodin: So, this was my third year doing the recruiting interview, right? And he is by far my favorite interview because he was so excited to do it. You know, we have like these kids and, you know, they are big time. They're big time in their bubble. But you can tell when you're, you know, you're interviewing a kid that they're kind of like, you know, too cool for school. Well, Sham was unapologetically excited to be interviewed to be on our show. He kept saying how pumped he was. He was on time. I mean, we interviewed, he was early, he was excited. And so that was a really fun interview. And this is a story about his family coming over from Russia and choosing Georgia because of the landscape matches their home country. He's Turkish.

Jon Nelson: Yes.

Hannah Goodin: And her family just I was like, you know, why'd you pick Georgia? And they were the landscape, the people, you know, the hospitality. They wanted that. And they ended up in Roswell, Georgia, then went on to Alpharetta, Georgia. And the rest is history. But it's a really cool story.

Jon Nelson: And after this year, if he signs on the line that is dotted, he's going to Knoxville to hang out with the volunteer Navy, the dogs.

Hannah Goodin: The dogs. So, he chose Tennessee over LSU, Georgia, and Michigan State. And the dogs made a really heavy push in the final weeks to get him to stay in the state. And it didn't work. So, Tennessee's getting some heavy hitters.

Jon Nelson: Always BBC-recruiting. Always recruiting. So, until the week after the championships when everybody starts sending in the faxes. I think this has been the recruiting for Sham has already been when its business is picked up for Sham Umarov.

Hannah Goodin: Well, he's all in Tennessee right now. So, Hornets take that one 35 to 10. Our streaming game was Dublin versus Wilko at the Shamrock Bowl, and Dublin Fighting Irish blanked them 21 to nothing Joh, and that was special. And you were covering that one.

Jon Nelson: Yeah, it was fun last week to catch up with Roger Holmes on the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast and their 1,000th game, and they got 100th season, and it was seven nothing for a long time. And then, in the third and fourth quarter in the second half, Dublin distanced themselves from Wilko to get the win, 21 nothing. Fireworks after the fact. And a big shout out to Globetrotter Greg, who was down there-.

Hannah Goodin: Greg Jackson.

Jon Nelson: At the Shamrock Bowl to shoot.

Hannah Goodin: Our shooter, yeah.

Jon Nelson: Bring that who brought that experience back to everybody on GPB.org from the Shamrock Ball; very-very cool. We're going to be doing that as many times as we can this year to have that second screen experience. And it'll be really fun to kind of tour the state and just kind of be there, just have that live look in for all of these games that were kind of keeping an eye on. And when we know what our live-looking game will be for this week, we'll let you know on all of our social media platforms.

Hannah Goodin: We got a great guest coming up, New Colquitt County Head Coach Sean Calhoun. And we will preview our game of the week, Crisp County at Westlake, coming up. But I want to do a whip-round of our top five games we had our eye on Friday. And we'll start with a Freedom Bowl game where three-time Georgia state champion Buford took down three-time Alabama state champion Thompson. That always feels good, 38 to 7. The wolves allowed only 155 yards. And Justice Haynes rushed for 92 yards on 17 carries and returned to kickoff for 97 yards for a score, big night for justice.

Jon Nelson: Yeah. And that's one of the big storylines this year for football here in the state of Georgia, Justice Haynes going from Blessed Trinity to Buford, Buford top-ranked and seven and a lot of different poles. And so, Buford holds Thompson to only seven points on the board and the circular nature of high school football. This week. This Friday, Buford plays Mallard Creek of North Carolina, the former location of head coach Mike Palmieri, who is now the head coach at Denmark.

Hannah Goodin: Can't make this stuff up.

Jon Nelson: No, you can't. So, Buford continues their globetrotting schedule by hosting Mallard Creek on Friday night.

Hannah Goodin: There's also a crazy, ironic circle with our guests coming up as well. And it's true. Stick around to hear that question and answer. Then, North Cobb and Westlake featured two of the ten Georgia Power 100 quarterbacks in Westlake's, R.J. Johnson and North Cobb's Malachi Singleton. The Warriors were too much for the Lions. Winning 21 to 17, Singleton rushed for 110 yards on 16 carries, and he was 13 of 25, passing for 92 more yards.

Jon Nelson: Yeah. And so, it's going to be fun. This is a bit of a tease for later that one of those teams will be on our air this upcoming Friday night. So, we'll talk about that one little later on.

Hannah Goodin: Head coach Josh Niblett made his debut for Gainesville on Friday. He won six state titles at Hoover High and can add another W to his resume over coach Alan Chadwick in Georgia. They beat Marist 34 to 23. The final score was what I've just, 34 to 23.

Jon Nelson: Up 27- 7, yeah.

Hannah Goodin: 34 to 23.

Jon Nelson: Up 27-7, early. Then, you get your adjustments from Alan Chadwick, and it was, you know, it was 27, 23, and then you end up with Marist getting the score late. Josh Niblett, I'm putting out the bat signal now. Josh Niblett.

Hannah Goodin: Josh Niblett.

Jon Nelson: Coach Niblett to the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast, please. Josh Niblett to the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast. Okay, so now that-

Hannah Goodin: I think he heard you.

Jon Nelson: Yeah, well, now that I've completely and totally freaked out Jake the Snake and King James by doing that to our audio system. But now, we would like to have a visit from Josh Niblett here on the podcast.

Hannah Goodin: We would the when was the Red Elephant's first on the road against a top ten team since 2015. Just thought I'd drop that little fact in from the GHSF daily.

Jon Nelson: There you go. Thank you, Todd.

Hannah Goodin: Thank you, Todd.

Jon Nelson: Yes, thank you, Todd.

Hannah Goodin: Lee County and Warner Robins was a huge matchup. Each has five season streaks of 11 winning games or more and two state titles. The Trojans beat the Demons 27 to 10, which broke their 30-game winning streak at McConnell Talbot Stadium. I was pretty surprised by that score.

Jon Nelson: Yeah, I think the distance is what a lot of folks were looking at. It was one Kromah for Lee, who went 20 for 216, and a lot of folks are looking at him as one of the top running backs in the state. So, putting up that kind of a marker in week number one is big. And right now, Warner Robins, once again, remember, they're trying to figure out what their starting quarterback situation is going to be. So, I think that that's going to be the season one question for Warner Robins before they get into region play is how we're going to settle on a starting quarterback. So, let's see who that is. And so, we'll keep an eye on Warner Robins. Lee County gets Hapeville Charter, Winston Gordon, play anybody any plays any time twice on Tuesday. Do not care.

Hannah Goodin: They'll be ready.

Jon Nelson: Hapeville Charter in Lee County that one's going to be fun.

Hannah Goodin: And finally, a big rivalry matchup between Irwin County and Fitzgerald. The purple hurricane battled back, beating the Indians 28 to 20. And quarterback Cody Soliday was 11 of 17, passing for 222 yards and a touchdown.

Jon Nelson: Yep. Fitzgerald drives 90, 95 yards, and 2 minutes to lead with 42 seconds to go and then fumbles. Recovery makes it 28 to 20, but this one's one of the fun ones. It really is, you know, ten miles apart, neighboring counties and-.

Hannah Goodin: Starting the season off, too. I love it.

Jon Nelson: But that's the best thing. You get these rivalry games that start the season off. And, you know, it was great to catch up with Tucker Pruitt, and Casey Soliday. And we got to air those interviews before the game started about what that rivalry means to South Georgia. And if you've never been to Buddy Nobles, if you've never been to JC, I'll tell you right now, if you've got a free Friday, if your team's not playing, go bottom line, go see this one.

Hannah Goodin: So those are our top five games we were watching. And as always, we got to have a bonus upset. Jon, AA Columbia beat 7A Camden County and Chris Gilman Stadium.

Jon Nelson: Yeah, that one was a definite shocker. Columbia made the playoffs last year; as you know, we have an AA school knocking off 1-7A Camden County. That-that is a signature win for DeKalb County schools out of the blocks. Big win for the Columbia Eagles.

Hannah Goodin: And I'm going to throw another thing in.

Jon Nelson: Wait a second. I thought-.

Hannah Goodin: We're going to squeeze another thing into the show.

Jon Nelson: Okay.

Hannah Goodin: A Play of the Week.

Jon Nelson: Okay.

Hannah Goodin: And so, we will air this on Countdown to Kickoff.

Jon Nelson: Okay.

Hannah Goodin: So, don't forget to watch Countdown to Kick off with Jon and I every Thursday at noon.

Jon Nelson: Yeah.

Hannah Goodin: GPB Sports and Facebook live.

Jon Nelson: Right.

Hannah Goodin: So, would you agree this could be like the most insane play of the whole season already?

Jon Nelson: But the thing is- Yeah. Without question. But we've seen it before. Fitzgerald had done it before because we aired it on Countdown to Kickoff. I think it was either last season or two seasons ago where you had the over-the-shoulder behind-the-back two-point conversion pass; we saw Fitzgerald. We've aired it on Countdown to Kickoff. But, for Loganville to get-.

Hannah Goodin: This Loganville high school, they played four overtimes against the Monroe area to open their season. They had a behind the back no look over the head pass for a winning touchdown. It was crazy. You got to see it.

Jon Nelson: Yeah. So we, and you know, it's made it made the top ten on the four letters news program with the hashtag. And so, we'll show it to you as well if you haven't had the chance to see it and or if you're a fan of the Red Devils and would like to be continually reminded of one of the plays of the year that happened already this season in week zero. Very, very cool stuff over the county rival to get the win.

Hannah Goodin: All right. It's time to bring in our guest.

Jon Nelson: It's time to bring in our guest this week.

Hannah Goodin: It's Colquitt County Head Coach Sean Calhoun. And he had some great things to say about being back in South Georgia. Hey, coach, great to catch up with you. It is your first season at the helm of the Colquitt County Packers. You are familiar with them, though. You were the offensive coordinator under rush props in 2014 and 2015. How does it feel to be back?

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: It feels great. Thank you all for having me on the show. And it feels it feels great to be back. Obviously, I'm in a much different seat out than I was back then. You know, this one probably gets a little bit warmer at times, but I and my family are just honored, honored, and blessed to be here.

Jon Nelson: So, you end up getting the duke. It was a shutout. You play on Saturday, and that kind of that kind of you're used to that Monday preparing for a Friday. How different was it? Preparing for a Saturday. And it's a part of a doubleheader showcase kind of deal.

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: Yes, sir. So, preparing was great because you had an extra day, you know, to do whatever, you know, risk, walk through more film, whatever. So so, the preparation was fine. The doubleheader was fine because. Because we were the first game.

Jon Nelson: There you go.

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: But we had a two-hour lightning delay, so that that that kind of bumped some things back. So that second game, I don't think they kicked off till I got it. It must have been ten or something, but I think you probably fill it a little more on the back end because normally Saturday is your day of rest for your kids, you know, and every you know and everybody else. But obviously, obviously, we didn't have that. And I guess the good thing is that we played Stockbridge, and they played Saturday night also. So that's kind of the same for both teams.

Hannah Goodin: Yeah. Stockbridge Coming up, before we preview that game, you did defeat Deerfield Beach 37 to nothing, so the lightning delay didn't affect you too much. What did you see on the field Saturday? Did you like what you saw from the guys? Was everything clicking? How would you assess the game?

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: I definitely-I definitely love the outcome. And, you know, and my thing is, we just want to have one more point than the opponent. We did a lot of really good things. I mean, defensively getting a shutout, we held them to 47 yards. They had -12 yards rushing, you know, had a handful of sacks and pressures. The defense was flying around offensively. We rushed for over 300 yards. Our senior running back, Charlie Pace, who's committed to Georgia State. He was he rushed for almost 200. You know, offensive line play played good, you know, at times. I felt like we were just shooting ourselves in the foot. I felt like we probably could have put the game away in the second quarter, you know, and we kind of let them just kind of hang around because it was only 14 nothing at halftime. And, you know, so just things like that, that, that we got to clean up. But I think they're easily fixable. And then when you can talk about all those negatives and still come out with a win, obviously that's a big-time positive.

Jon Nelson: And did you get a lot of reps for second and third teamers as the game got into the throws and stuff like that? Did you get a lot of bodies to get some action there the in the first game of the year?

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: We tried to, yes, sir. So, in the fourth quarter, they actually did a running clock. So, you know, sometimes those-those running clocks go by really fast, but late in the third and the fourth. Yes, sir. Because we try to clear the benches because you never know when you're going to have those games. I mean, I mean; I just look at our schedule, and I don't-I don't know if we're going to blow back on anybody. I think they're all going to be fourth-quarter wars. And so, you know, any time you can get those-those kids, then you definitely want to because they deserve it.

Hannah Goodin: Your head coaching career began in 2016. You spent five seasons with Carrollton. The consistency of the quarterfinals every year is amazing. And then you went over to Alabama. You were the head coach of Vestavia Hills last year or so. What is the biggest difference in coaching in Alabama than it is in Georgia?

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: Oh, there's just some little, little tweaks here and there to me with how, you know, their governing body, you know, does things, you know, to the Georgia High School. I mean, to me, you know, you're still dealing with teenagers. And there's-there's -here are really good teams. There are really good coaches, really good players over there, just like Georgia. But some of the biggest things were where we played J.V. in ninth grade on Monday nights, where here in Georgia, we play them on Thursdays. All of our kickoffs were at 7 p.m. We're over here, you know, we're 730, even 8:00 at some places. And I mean, that was probably the biggest thing. I definitely never saw myself leaving the state of Georgia, but I-but I definitely never knew where the good Lord is going to take me and my family. And we felt like that's exactly where we needed to be and just didn't know it was going to be for 12 months. And-and then we came back down to Moultrie. But it was a great year; I'll say that.

Jon Nelson: How different is being a head coach now versus when you first were a head coach? Because I imagine that coaching in and of itself is different over the last handful of years. How different is it being a head coach now than it was when you first were a head coach?

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: And I think I think that different words can go both ways. I think, you know, after each year, I think you get a little more organized. I think you can, you know, plan a little bit farther ahead. I think that backtracks a little bit once you take a new job because, you know, you don't know if all of your ideas and everything that you did can, you know, can work in a new place that did in the old place, you know, I mean, I'm going from the Stevie Hills to Colquitt county and it's just many different communities, clientele, demographics, everything. So, you just kind of got to adjust to your surroundings. And obviously, you know, do is going to be the best for that program, you know, and, and, and to help it flourish for sure. And then obviously, every head coach is gone, you know, has gone through the COVID deal. So, I think I think now I think I think we're a little better, better prepared to, you know, to handle that. But sometimes, it's just on-the-job training. You know, I kind of describe it as before you have kids, you know, you know, are you ready to have kids? You can read all the books and baby and baby proof your house. And, you know, it's kind of the same thing. You're ready to be a head coach. You just kind of prepare yourself and then on the-job training and learn on the fly.

Hannah Goodin: You're never ready for kids. I have twins, so no one's ever ready for that either.

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: No. So, our first two, they're not twins. They're 15 months apart. Wow. So, I mean, it was pretty there's pretty close, but not twins. So. Yeah.

Hannah Goodin: Well, you're coaching in South Georgia, too. And I know you're familiar with South Georgia because you were a quarterback at Valdosta State. But being in the hot seat like we talked about earlier, being the head coach, what's the pressure like? I know you're just getting settled in, but I know we used to talk to Justin Rogers a lot about this at Colquitt County, and the pressure was insurmountable at times. How are you feeling?

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: You know, in I one, my administration, the community, nobody's going to put more pressure or higher expectations on myself than I am. Yeah. You know, I want to win every game that we go out. That's what that's what we prepare for. Is-is that going to happen? No. And you know, and I know that. But you just got to you just got to fully believe in your day-to-day, week to week, month to month, year to year. And you just got to build that program. And, you know, and you want to sustain it because winning is hard. Like people don't understand how hard winning is. And especially down here in this region. And then and then all the 7A football, the good Lord has given me patience and, you know, and the ability to, you know, to handle stressful situations. I think you kind of mentioned me being a quarterback, me playing that position. I think it's helped me in my profession. I mean, you know, just all the similarities from playing quarterback can't get too high, can't get too low, and all that stuff. I mean, that's I try to be as even keel as I can, you know, you know, the kids will never see any panic in me and, you know, and so I just try to handle it, handle it the best I can, and I'm just going to do the best job that I can. And hopefully, at the end of the day, when we're talking football-wise, you know, that's more wins than the other word.

Jon Nelson: How long did it take you to be patient? Because I know that-.

Hannah Goodin: I'm still working on it every day, Jon.

Jon Nelson: That's what I-Yeah. You and me both. Because there are a lot of folks out there. I'm sure that, yes, they want to win 120% of the time. Yes, they want everything to be perfect. And if things don't go perfectly each and every single time, it's-there's-you get frustrated, and the frustration mounts and mounts and mounts and mounts. If you're a hyper perfectionist, how long did it take you to understand that patience must be a part of the deal when it comes to being a coach?

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: Great question. So, I learned it. I mean, I think I learned it when I started being a coordinator. And that was, and that was a little bit ago at little old Berrien County in Nashville, Georgia. And it was because, you know, you can get as frustrated and this and that. But it but right there in that situation and in that moment like that doesn't help anything. And I think you got to know your kids. You got to know how they respond. And yeah, sometimes I get frustrated. I, I know that this player, I can react a little bit differently. You know, I could maybe, you know, be a little sterner. You can talk to him a little bit louder. You know, this other one, if you do that, he's going to shut down. And so that's just learning, you know, learning how to deal with your kids. But I am very OCD. Anybody that's worked with me knows that. So, I definitely want everything to be perfect. I just know in the end, you know, it's not going to be, but we're still going to strive to be that. And I've just tried to learn over the years that even if it doesn't, I'm not going to lose it. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. But we still strive to be there, though, and to get there.

Hannah Goodin: Your patience will certainly be put to the test. Looking at the schedule on these games you've got coming up. So, Stockbridge is next. Let's preview that one before we get too ahead of ourselves. Tell me what you've seen on film from them and what's it going to take to get another W at home.

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: Oof, it's going to take-it's going to take four quarters of every of everything we got. Like it doesn't, I think they're there 4A, but you throw on the film. From what I've seen, they can compete in 7A because they got a lot of really good football players. They're really fast and athletic. Offensively, they play three running backs; they feature two of them. I think. I think one of them's a highly recruited kid. He's a mean-he's a big running back. They got a big physical offensive line. The receivers are, you know, quick, athletic. They got a good quarterback who's mobile. He can, you know, he can tuck it, and he can run a little bit. So, our defense will have their hands full. And then Stockbridge on defense, they based out of a four-man front, and I mean, it's four dudes that you want to have. I mean, they're long at the defensive ends. The two interior guys are big. They're really physical in the secondary. They got a corner. He's one of the top kids in the country. He's committed to Clemson. They have the other corner who's another Power five kid. They have a lot of really good football players. Any time we're going up against an opponent, I look and see if they have good coaches and good players, and Stockbridge has them both, and they're going to come down here, and they're not going to be intimidated. They're not going to be scared of us. And, you know, and you can see on film, I mean, they play with confidence. I mean, they play with swag. And so, we need to have a great week of practice and, you know, and be able to execute and just play our game that, that, that I think we can for the first home game of the season.

Jon Nelson: So. Region 1- 7A: There are a couple of coaches that you're pretty familiar with. You've spent a lot of time with them. One happens to be about 40 minutes down the road, let's say to your southeast. And the other is about another 15 minutes over. Zach Grage at Lowndes. Shelton Felton at Valdosta. You there at Colquitt three coaches in the same region that have the Rush Propst coaching tree as a part of your DNA. I guess my first question in all of this is, are Zach and Shelton still on your speed dial or at least six days out of the week?

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: One. What are the odds of all of that happening? Like this.

Hannah Goodin: Zero.

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: And. And two. Yeah. Like I saw Grages, you know, at the classic right in between the end of ours and the and the start of his. Me and Felton, you know, we talk, you know, pretty, pretty, pretty frequently. We hung out at the Nike elite summit coaches deal here a couple of months ago. So, we're all buddies, we're all rooting for each other, you know, and we want everybody to win every game except when we play each other, you know, and, you know. And that's, and they're going to say the same thing, you know, on game night. You know, I'm going to have a little small talk, but I'm not going to wish them good luck because they're not going to wish me good luck. And that is, you know, that doesn't mean anything. And now but they're they're-they're really good men, and they're really good coaches. Both of them have great families. They're-they're running great programs, and they're going to do a really good job. And we're all just battling for the same trophy region and state-wise. So.

Jon Nelson: One of the other things that I wanted to get to talk to you about today is. People that you carry with you from one job to the next. And I mean that not like coaches or everything, but personalities and folks from town to town that you will always carry with you, whether it's in your heart, in your messages, in these kinds of things. And what I wanted to do was bring up Chase McDaniel really quickly.

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: Yes, sir.

Jon Nelson: And. For those that don't know the story. Chase was a football player who was diagnosed with cancer, then two months admitted to the ICU. And this is back; I want to say 2019. And in your office over your shoulder. And for those that watch the 1v1 that we did when we were doing Southern swing, you still have towels. You still have the pictures. You still have those thoughts and images and the vibes of Chase who passed away 2019 back in November. When you bring Chase forward, and you bring his legacy forward with you to wherever you stop, whatever your stops are, what are those first conversations like when people sit there, and they see you put that towel in that place of prominence in your office when they see the pictures that you have of Chase, you know, running out with the football team? What are those first conversations like about who Chase was and what he means to you to this day?

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: I smile because I get to, I get to share stories how, you know, no matter how brief I'm just an absolutely amazing individual that touched so many lives. You know, his brief time on earth and is continuing to touch lives by the way he lives and the way he lives out his last couple of months and by his parents in their Chase the Victory Foundation. And it just and it's just awesome because I love sharing about him this story, you know, because there's so much more to it than, you know, than just the cancer part. And, yeah, so he's so he's-so he's-he's with me forever. And I'm on the board of their Chase the Victory Foundation. That's unbelievable. And everything that they do. But he'll always be with me just because of how much he's impacted me, you know? And I talk to our players about that, too, like, you want to learn from other people, and it doesn't matter the age, like even me, like I can learn from a teenager, and you know, and Chase is one of those that I learned a lot. And, you know, and I still kind of think back to, you know, stuff that he has said and done. And so, yeah, it's a constant reminder that I need for sure.

Jon Nelson: What did you learn?

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: Oh, he always talked about the most important days today. And that was one of his big sayings. He was an absolute selfless human being. Chase and his family are they believe in the Lord, which I do, too. And, you know, and so it was about a lot of servant leadership and just putting everybody first. Chase is in the hospital, and he's going through cancer, and he's not doing good. And he's talking to everybody in the hospital about, you know, about in the future, here's what they can do better to brighten these kids' lives and this and that and how to improve everything. And he's not even worried about himself. He's worried about everybody else. And just like, you know, it's just it's just that impact. It's like, wow, like, give me some of that. Like, I need like, I'm like I, I, I need more of that. And so anyway, that's just, that's just a little bit of it and but very special, very special to me and my family.

Jon Nelson: Well, thanks for sharing. I wanted to let folks know about Chase and understand about him and his impact that he has on your life regardless of what city that you're in. I wanted to make sure that folks knew about Chase as we got to talk to you for the first time this season now that you're back down there in Moultrie in Colquitt County. Thanks for hanging out with us, and thanks for letting everybody know what's going on with you, with your family and your extended family still back up there in Carrollton.

Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County Head Coach: I greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Hannah Goodin: Glad to have him back in Georgia, Jon.

Jon Nelson: Yes, it's fun stuff. And I thought it was it was really cool to be able to share the story about what high school students mean. And, you know, like I said, it just it doesn't matter where you are. You always have those folks that impact you in all the places that you are, you know? Coach mentioned his time at Berrien. You know, Berrien, where you learn from somebody like a Ross New and, you know, have somebody like an Ed Pilcher who is at Berrien and later on. But, you know, you have all those folks that you carry with you and to be able to share the story about what he got to carry with him and still to this day carries with him from Carrollton. Sometimes it's those who are 16 and 17 that you learn the lessons from that you carry with you forever.

Hannah Goodin: Really important story. So last week was Shamrock Storytime. Yes, this one is.

Jon Nelson: It's Sean's story time.

Hannah Goodin: Oh, it could be a Story time with Sean.

Jon Nelson: There you go.

Hannah Goodin: There we go. Okay. All right. Well, let's preview our Football Fridays in Georgia game of the week. We've got Westlake versus Crisp County, 7A versus 3A. Westlake lost to North Cobb, 21 to 17 in week one, going 0-1. And Crisp County won their season opener. They go 1-0 beat Dooly County 17 to 6.

Jon Nelson: This one's going to be fun because.

Hannah Goodin: I love Crisp County.

Jon Nelson: Well, because it's Cordele.

Hannah Goodin: I just they are a cool little school.

Jon Nelson: Yeah, and you know, once again, Crisp is one of those schools that, as we mentioned like I Hapeville Charter anybody any place any time twice on Tuesday, it doesn't matter. Well, let's line them up, knock it down, and we'll go. And, you have Rico Zackery now coaching back in the high school ranks in the state of Georgia. He's the new head coach at Westlake. And with Crisp and what they do, you know, go back going back to Brad Harber in his tenure, it's like, all right, let's line them up. Will play will go wherever. And it's you know; we get we have a Southern school making their way North to take on Westlake. And so, I think it's going to be a fun matchup for a bunch of different reasons.

Hannah Goodin: We need to get Brad back on the podcast.

Jon Nelson: Yeah. So, we got to go through-.

Hannah Goodin: We'll just have a check-in with Brad.

Jon Nelson: Well, we'll go through Von Lassiter.

Hannah Goodin: Yeah.

Jon Nelson: When we have Von Lassiter on from Bleckley County to talk about stuff in A, can you get Brad Harber on the phone for a second and Hannah wants to talk to Brad?

Hannah Goodin: Von, we're not actually wanting to talk to you. Can you put Brad on the phone? I mean, we could ask.

Jon Nelson: Yeah, we could. And I'm sure Von would sit there, and he'd go, "Brad, Hannah, wants to talk to you."

Hannah Goodin: Brad would come right over and get on the podcast.

Jon Nelson: Of course, he would, anyway. And he would do it in a heartbeat because he wants to talk to you. Always see, this is the kind of craziness that you're starting already. So, this is the second weekly show of the year, and you're already causing discord among coaching staff in the state of Georgia about your interview priorities on the show.

Hannah Goodin: We're off the rails.

Jon Nelson: We were never on the rails.

Hannah Goodin: Staff whip around time. Okay. Lassiter.

Jon Nelson: Yes.

Hannah Goodin: We have everybody in this room.

Jon Nelson: Naturally, she goes to her first.

Hannah Goodin: Duh.

Jon Nelson: She goes to her lineup first.

Hannah Goodin: Of course, why wouldn't we do yours first?

Jon Nelson: I figured we could do mine last.

Hannah Goodin: So if I actually do have you-.

Jon Nelson: So, can you explain so can you explain what you're doing?

Hannah Goodin: Everyone here in this room, in the production room over there. Right. Went to high school in Georgia.

Jon Nelson: Or has ties.

Hannah Goodin: Or has ties to.

Jon Nelson: Yes.

Hannah Goodin: High school blender in Georgia, so Georgia.

Jon Nelson:  Family ties.

Hannah Goodin: We're stretching it.

Jon Nelson: Yeah. There are connections to all five of us here. Whether it's you, me, Commander Sandy, King James, or Jake the Snake. There are ties to all five.

Hannah Goodin: Every week, we're going to do a quick staff whip around my Lassiter Trojans alma mater shout-out. Lost to Etowah, 25 to 17 at home.

Sandy Malcolm: Aw.

Jon Nelson: Do we have the Price is Right and loser?

Sandy Malcolm: I know, right? We need, like a whoomph-whoomph.

Jon Nelson: Yeah. See, now, if Snake could come up with the Price is Right Loser horn, I think that'd be epic.

Hannah Goodin: Sandy, what's going on with Decatur?

Sandy Malcolm: Yeah. So, I looked at the scoreboard like the third quarter, and they were getting crushed. And then all of a sudden, I saw the final score, and it was 38-39, and like, what happened? I don't know.

Jon Nelson:  It was crazy. Yeah. So Flowery Branch.

Hannah Goodin: Jon, what happened?

Jon Nelson: At Flowery Branch? Won, 39-38 that's what happened. Survive in advance. Go on to week two.

Hannah Goodin: All right. Jake the Snake, Parkview. Oh, he's not on a headset.

Sandy Malcolm: How did they do? Yeah.

Hannah Goodin: What Parkview do, Jon?

Jon Nelson: Parkview. You won 52- 7 over Johns Creek in their first game, so snakes off to a 1-0 start with 45 points.

Sandy Malcolm: Strong Team.

Jon Nelson: Yes, very.

Sandy Malcolm: Jake’s got a strong team.

Jon Nelson: That they do. And they are ranked in the top ten list. Let me see if they're ranked in the top ten, and are they ranked in the top ten? I guess they probably will be now after that that that's showing. So yeah, anticipate rankings for Parkview, anticipate rankings for the Parkview Panthers. All right. So next, who's up?

Hannah Goodin: James, Central Macon.

Jon Nelson: King James and the Chargers. So, what did they do?

Hannah Goodin: Well.

Sandy Malcolm: They lost.

Jon Nelson: They lost to West Side.

Sandy Malcolm: Yeah.

Jon Nelson: They lost to West Side. And so, the directional rival they're in.

Hannah Goodin: They lost 39 to 12.

Jon Nelson: And it's —

Hannah Goodin: Sorry, James.

Jon Nelson: It's the 25th season of Shed Risper to be with the Westside, Macon program, so Shed Risper, a friend of the program. He got the duke over King James's side, so it was a Seminoles over Chargers and 39-12. That was your final.

Sandy Malcolm: And we're burying the lead here.

Hannah Goodin: We are completely burying the lead because Jon's team, that is true, got a big W.

Jon Nelson: Lakeside DeKalb beat Berkmar by the score of 20 to 6. So, we start with Morris Starr, whom you got to catch up with it the DeKalb County Media Day.

Hannah Goodin: Love Morris Starr.

Jon Nelson: So when you're getting the-.

Hannah Goodin: Shout out to the coach.

Jon Nelson: The turf is being put in behind the school to help things out back there. So good stuff with Lakeside DeKalb, the Vikings. I say Lakeside. You say Vikings. Lakeside.

Sandy Malcolm: Vikings.

Jon Nelson: There you go!

Hannah Goodin: Trojans.

Jon Nelson: See.

Hannah Goodin: I refuse.

Jon Nelson: Commander Sandy's hanging out. She knows how these plays. So, Lakeside is 1-0.

Hannah Goodin: Did I tell the story about how Coach Starr came over, and he was like, "Are you still doing an interview?" And I was like, "Well, yes, sir, we're still doing interviews," and he said, "Well, this year I'm going to do one." And I said, "I looked for you last year, and you avoided me." And he said, "I wasn't ready." So, we had him on, and we did the interview, and it's posted on GPB Sports, so go check it out.

Jon Nelson: So, there we go. So that's your staff flip around. We'll have that every single week.

Hannah Goodin: Fortunately for all the listeners, it's fun for us.

Jon Nelson: So, yes, it's fun for us to catch up with our alma mater.

Hannah Goodin: All alma maters.

Sandy Malcolm: Alma Mater.

Jon Nelson: Alma Maters.

Hannah Goodin: Alma maters for sure.

Jon Nelson: Not like mothers. It's not like mothers-in-law.

Hannah Goodin: Oh, gosh.

Jon Nelson: Poets Laureate.

Hannah Goodin: Mothers in-laws.

Jon Nelson: No, it's mothers-in-law.

Hannah Goodin: I know.

Sandy Malcolm: Attorneys General.

Jon Nelson: Attorneys General.

Hannah Goodin: It's got to be alma maters. Anywho. We will get back to you on this.

Jon Nelson: Yes. For those who are English majors, who might know the plurals, the plural of alma mater.

Hannah Goodin: There's-there's a reason we're in sports broadcasting. Okay. So, our streaming game is TBD. The second screen experiences, as Jon, to likes to call it.

Jon Nelson: And when we know, we will let you know. On all the GPB social media platforms.

Hannah Goodin: Tomorrow, probably announce it. GPB Sports. Follow us on everywhere.

Jon Nelson: Yes.

Hannah Goodin: Speaking of social media, we're on TikTok. We're doing a cool challenge.

Jon Nelson: We're on the TikToks.

Hannah Goodin: We're doing a cool challenge. Follow us on TikTok at GPB Sports for more information on that. Hmm. Like I said earlier, don't forget, Countdown to Kickoff every Thursday with Jon and me. It is so fun. We'll talk to you guys in the comment section. We preview, we recap, and we go in more in-depth than we do here on the podcast crew.

Jon Nelson: True.

Hannah Goodin: So, check that out. Recruiting 2022 here at 7:00 before the broadcast.

Jon Nelson: Check.

Hannah Goodin: Blogs are coming out.

Jon Nelson: Check.

Hannah Goodin: Jon still figuring out what he's writing about.

Jon Nelson: Check and Sandy, did we get everything?

Sandy Malcolm: I think so.

Jon Nelson: We're all out of those things.

Sandy Malcolm: So, although shout out to Denmark and that TikTok video.

Hannah Goodin: Yes, Denmark won our very first TikTok challenge.

Jon Nelson: There were a lot of folks in that video.

Hannah Goodin: There were.

Jon Nelson: I mean, there were like 75,000 people from Denmark High in that TikTok.

Hannah Goodin: I mean. They took it seriously.

Sandy Malcolm: Yeah, it was really cool. Roswell did a nice job.

Hannah Goodin: Yes, they did. They did.

Sandy Malcolm: So, good job.

Hannah Goodin: They did a great job.

Jon Nelson: So Crisp County and Westlake. You are on the clock for your TikToks.

Hannah Goodin: Jon's on TikTok too.

Jon Nelson: Well, because GPB Sports said. Here, Jon, read this copy.

Hannah Goodin: Read this now.

Jon Nelson: He read this on the TikToks. And so, I read it. And so that's how I'm on the TikToks. I think that's a show.

Hannah Goodin: My stomach is growling.

Jon Nelson: So, I guess that means it's time for lunch as we're putting this one together. So, for everybody here at GPB Sports, thanks for accessing us however you doing. So don't forget to like for and be a part of the conversation on all the social media platforms, which now include TikTok. For GPB Sports and YouTube as well for Commander Sandy, King James, Jake the Snake, and Hannah, for me. I'm just Jon. Play it safe, everybody. Thanks to Sean Calhoun of the Colquitt County Packers for being our guest this week. Play it safe. Enjoy the game.