SCOUTING REPORT : by Clint Thompson - Special to the Times-Enterprise | photos : file
Explosive Warriors eyeing championship season
BROOKWOOD SCHOOL
WARRIORS
GIAA District 3-AAA
SCOUTING REPORT : by Clint Thompson - Special to the Times-Enterprise | photos : file
Explosive Warriors eyeing championship season
The Brookwood Warriors run onto the field for the last regular game of the season , where they crushed the Panthers .
THOMASVILLE — Brookwood ’ s potential to repeat as GIAA Region 3-AAA champions and advance to the state championship could rest on its offensive weaponry . After all , it has the potential be the most explosive offense Shane Boggs has ever coached at Brookwood .
It returns what Boggs deems the best quarterback in the GIAA in Rodge Waldrop , an electrifying running back / wide receiver T . J . Thomas and a deep and experienced offensive line .
“ One of the things I ’ m so excited about is this team could bring the best offensive balance potentially of any team I ’ ve ever coached . I believe that because we ’ ve got the best quarterback in our association , by a lot ; I believe probably the best quarterback in Georgia ,” said Boggs . “ We ’ ve got a running back / receiver who had a chance last year to be a 1,000-1,000 guy in terms of receiving and rushing yards . He was 50 yards away from that , and it wouldn ’ t surprise me if he went over that .
“ We ’ ve got a bunch of receivers that we believe in and an offensive line that we believe in . Any time that you can bring balance offensively , you have a chance to be great . I think we ’ re going to have the ability to do that .”
Waldrop passed for 3,185 yards and 36 touchdowns last year en route to being named All-region and All-state . Thomas , last year ’ s region player of the year , finished with 1,031 rushing yards and 946 receiving yards with 27 touchdowns .
While Brookwood has proven its ability to throw the ball all over the field – as evidenced by its multiple school records during Waldrop ’ s tenure as quarterback – Brookwood looks to be more balanced in its offensive attack this year . It returns seven offensive linemen who started a game last season . That should help .
“ I think a lot of people have pegged me to be pass happy or at least a pass-first guy . I ’ m not ashamed of the fact that we believe in throwing the football . I do want to say that in ’ 07 when we won the state championship , our big game against Trinity in the semis , who was the defending state champ , we ran for over 400 yards ,” Boggs said . “ The beauty of being able to be balanced is defenses , they gameplan but you wouldn ’ t let them dictate . If they ’ re going to load the box , then yeah , we ’ ll throw it all over the place . If they ’ re going to put three defenders over our two receivers on a given side , then we ’ re going to be able to run the football .
“ We ’ ve got really good linemen who are tough and scrappy and smart who work really well together .”
Brookwood ’ s offensive line will be anchored by senior Chapman Wolsfelt at guard . He will be joined by senior Cole Warren at left tackle and senior Kaleb Lewis at right guard . Sophomore Beau Spence , junior JT Reed , sophomore Wyatt Vaughn and junior Henry Frye also return with starting experience .
“ It ’ ll be the deepest O-line group we ’ ve had since our ’ 14 , ’ 15 , ’ 16 run ,” Boggs said .
Junior Rex Schofill and sophomore Briggs Daniel also provide Boggs extra options at the skill positions .
“ Rex Schofill is a kid that he ’ s either a high 4-5 or 4-6 guy who ’ s really competitive and has great ball skills ,” Boggs said . “ He ’ s very capable of making big plays for us , and I expect he will .”
Daniel provides the Warriors a big , strong target at tight end at 6-foot-2 , 200 pounds .
Wolsfelt could be the difference on defense as well . Not only will he play offensive guard , he will also lead the linebacking corps .
“ We lost great players at every level . We certainly lost all-state type of players literally at all three levels . We ’ ve got a handful of core guys who we ’ ll build the defense around ,” Boggs said . “ There ’ s so many guys that I think could have a good year for us , starting with junior Isiah Hill . We ’ ve got Chapman Wolfsfelt . I think he ’ s absolutely a leader on the O-line at guard . He ’ s played a ton of snaps for us at linebacker . He ’ s got
SOUTH GEORGIA FOOTBALL 2023 11