GAME DAY 2025: Warner Robins football sees lots of new faces after big losses in the offseason

The nature of high school sports is that every year you lose big contributors and have to rebuild your roster.

Some years hit harder than others, though.

The 2025 offseason hit Warner Robins pretty hard — they lost 29 seniors and at least half of those were starters.

That means that on both sides of the ball they’ve got some serious rebuilding to do, though playing younger players has been a focus of head coach Shane Sams since he arrived in 2023.

Welcome to Demon Country:

Offense — Through the air

Arguably the biggest position that’ll see new faces is quarterback. This will make it the third year in a row that Warner Robins will have a different quarterback, though with the options they have in 2025 that could be remedied.

The two in competition for the spot are sophomore Chandler Dyson and junior Ellison Dantes.

“Right now they’re neck and neck. They both bring different things to the table,” Sams said. “They both are good [leaders], they celebrate each other. It’s something fun to really watch and get after. So right now it’s neck and neck and we’ll see how the season goes.”

Sams said that the quarterbacks are in a similar place when it comes to throwing the ball, but one of their key differences in mobility.

Dantes is said to be quicker evacuating the pocket to the outside, while Dyson, who is 6-foot-5 and 213 pounds, is a physical force inside.

Dantes is much shorter and lighter at 5-foot-11 and 152 pounds, but time will tell whether his mobility wins out over Dyson’s physicality.

The receiver room is one of the more familiar groups from last season, with returners like senior Ezra Goings and sophomore X’Zavier Cannon.

Goings is a big possession receiver at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds, while Cannon thrives making plays with the ball in his hand using speed and agility.

Jacoby Parsons is another senior who saw some varsity snaps last year and offers some size at 6-feet tall. That along with some young receivers like sophomores EJ Adside, Makhi Scott-Adkinson, Daylen Kirksey and Antavious “Tay Tay” Hawkins make up a receiver room Sams is excited about.

“[There are] some good things that we see, we got a really good group of receivers. We’re excited about them and we’ll see what they can do on Friday nights,” Sams said.

Offense — On the ground

The running back room took some of the biggest losses from last season with Da’veon Latimore and Kesley Perkins graduating while Travis English Jr and Jordan Perkins transferred to Northside and Houston County respectively.

Not to mention Skyler Williams who did a great deal of running for the Demons at quarterback.

That being said there are a couple of backs that have impressed Sams and should be around past this year.

Junior Alijah Alexander is the main name at 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds. There’s not much film, and not any on varsity, but he seems to navigate his lanes well and has the size to bust into the end zone on goal line situations.

Senior CJ Gunnings is another mentioned by name, though he doesn’t have any available game film.

“Those are two guys that we’re excited about,” Sams said. “We got a young guy in [sophomore] Jaden Hill who really shows some stuff, and we got a freshman that’s really balled out, Kamarion Smith that we’re excited about. So we think we got really good depth at running back that we’re pretty excited about.”

Some good news for the Demons’ rushing offense is they return some veterans on the offensive line.

Senior tackle Tre Glover is the most recognizable name with a commitment to Appalachian State. He’s 6-foot-4 and 295 pounds but still moves up the field well when run blocking, and is quick backpedaling in pass protection. He earned an All-Region 1-4A 1st Team selection last year.

Another experienced returner is All-Region Honorable Mention Chase Plank at center. He stands at 6-foot-2 and 280 pounds and can get it done in both run blocking and pass protection. You’ll also rarely see him commit a holding penalty — he’s very conscious where his hands are and not holding on too long when the play has advanced.

The Demons also added Houston County transfer Kasey McKever over the offseason. He’s a senior at 6-foot-2 and 268 pounds and is listed as a guard.

Juniors Ayden Bourda, KJ McDavis Jr and Davious Lankford make up the others of a group the Demons are comfortable rolling out.

“We got seven guys that we feel like we can go to war with right now that’s not even including the tight ends,” Sams said. “It’s something that we feel will grow as the year goes on but we expect to be physical from the get go.”

Warner Robins’ tight ends have been big and lengthy for the last couple of years, and that doesn’t change this year.

Junior Peyton Zitterman and sophomore Johnathan Riley are the two to keep an eye on. Zitterman is 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds and looks to have some decent hands.

Riley is 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds with no available tape.

Defense — In the trenches

The Demons’ defensive line will sorely miss Isaiah Gibson, Jakai Woodford and others, but Sams seemed optimistic about the returners. Senior nose guard Daeveon Dixon has some power going into the chest of his opponents, but doesn’t have much film to go on.

Sams mentioned senior defensive end Quincy Davis, who stands at 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds and provides speed off of the edge. Senior Jerron Farrow is another name Sams brought up.

“I thought they did a great job against Peach County shutting down the run,” Sams said. “It’s a tough challenge to really step up to the challenge but I think they’ve done a great job.”

There’s a lot of competition at the second level, too, with a flurry of names Sams has to fill out the linebacker corps that lost Khaedric Edwards and others.

As far as seniors go on the outside there’s Derrick Smith and Quon Gordon. Gordon is the bigger of the two at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds with Smith weighing in at 175 pounds at 6-feet tall.

Juniors Jamari Timpson and Galvin Sidney will hold down the inside of the formation with senior Montreal Daniels and junior Cordero Dugger Jr filling out the rotation.

“We feel like we got a good mixture of linebackers that are preforming…we’re excited about those group of guys,” Sams said.

Defense — The secondary

The secondary was no exception to the big losses last year with Rasean Dinkins, Nick Linder, J’Korian Rumph and plenty of others gone to graduation.

Dinkins in particular was more than just a defensive back, he played everywhere. He contributed on special teams, at safety, a man-to-man corner, a receiver, you name it.

While Warner Robins doesn’t have anyone who can quite fill those shoes in this year’s secondary, there are still some players Sams is encouraged by.

Seniors Lekevious Bryant, Zayvon Burke and Justyn Hunter will be featured at cornerback. Seniors Jamarcus Allen, Demarquis Cooper and Jessie Roberson will be the last line of defense at safety.

These are just a few in the rotation, and Sams feels comfortable with several in the rotation.

“We feel like we got about seven, eight, guys that can rotate and go get it done,” Sams said.

The schedule

Warner Robins’ schedule still features some of the toughest matchups in the state, starting with a Week 1 battle against Lee County that’s been going on for four years now.

The Demons are still searching for their first win over Lee County under Sams, and 2025 will be the first time they’ll have home field advantage during his tenure.

Another couple of must-see games are (obviously) the Crosstown Showdown against Northside on Aug. 29 and the rivalry game against Ware County on Oct. 24.