SCOUTING REPORT : words & photos by William Huff
Thomas County Central focused on maintaining success
THOMAS COUNTY CENTRAL
YELLOW JACKETS
Region 1-5A
SCOUTING REPORT : words & photos by William Huff
Thomas County Central focused on maintaining success
Thomas County Central runs onto the field at Atlanta ’ s Mercedez-Benz Stadium .
THOMASVILLE — For the first time since 1997 , the Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets will enter the football season as reigning state champions . However , this Yellow Jacket squad will look very different in 2024 , at least on the offensive side of the ball .
With Tre ’ von Pringle moved to defense , quarterback Jaylen Johnson will be the only returner for Central on offense . What this means is sort of the polar opposite of how Central handled the beginning of last season .
Last year , as Johnson took over at QB , Central leaned heavily on the run game , not putting too much pressure on the young quarterback and giving him time to get used to the pace and play of live Friday night football . Now , it ’ s Johnson who will need to carry the load while the rest of the offense gets their legs under them at the start of the season . But , head coach Justin Rogers feels that Johnson is ready . After all , Johnson isn ’ t that unknown kid from Thomas County any more . He ’ s a bonafide star , a state champion and hasn ’ t lost a high school football game as a starter .
“ He ’ s going to have to carry the load early . Last year we were able to let the run game carry the load as he got experience ,” Rogers said . “ I think this year it ’ ll be he ’ s going to have to carry us and get us in good spots while everyone around him gains experience .”
With all of the new faces , inexperience and production that needs to be filled , Central ’ s fall scrimmage on Aug . 2 will be more important than ever . That ’ s why they are facing one of the tougher programs in South Georgia , former 7A program Lowndes .
“ It ’ s going to be so many of those guys first time in the Jackets Nest with eyes on them performing . You can do it in practice and perform , but it ’ s a totally different animal doing it in front of people ,” said Rogers on the importance of this game to his players . “ So , getting that moment where your expected to do what you know your capable of doing with no do-overs . It ’ s huge and that ’ s why we wanted to scrimmage somebody with the caliber of Lowndes because playing a great program like that you ’ re going to leave with good answers . You ’ re going to know if your guys can handle it or if maybe we have to back up and punt a little bit . I think those things are very important .”
Replacing production is nothing new for the Yellow Jackets . Last season they replaced Adam Hopkins and quarterback Sam Brown with a sophomore and won the state championship . Though they are replacing a lot more production
16 2024 SOUTH GEORGIA FOOTBALL