Veterans boys showing flashes of Brandon Driggers’ desired program, look to build on first region victory

Veterans head coach Brandon Driggers spends a lot of time on the football field during the year coaching defensive linemen.

On the defensive line, physicality and toughness are not desired but mandatory. You are going against the biggest, strongest players on the field every single snap for four quarters.

Driggers wants that kind of toughness from his boys basketball program, which he took over this past summer after the resignation of Chip Flemmer.

Win or lose, no matter the margin, one of the first thing Driggers always brings up is toughness.

“The more physical team’s gonna win the game,” Driggers said. “When I took the program over, I’ve been telling everybody I’m trying to build a tough program.”

He’s seen flashes of it, but not consistently which has been the Warhawks’ main problem this season.

One of the first bouts of that was at the Bear Brawl at Houston County High School. Veterans was handled decisively by Long County and Valdosta because they didn’t play tough. Driggers didn’t mince words after those losses, either.

“We got to be tougher. We still ain’t tough enough,” Driggers said after the loss to Long County. “[Long County] took a few charges and then we get scared of playing off of two feet…That’s not how the game goes. Play on two feet, play basketball the right way. But ultimately we got to be tougher.”

Then, against Valdosta:

“Once again the biggest thing is being tough. Then when we weren’t physical enough we got beat again,” Driggers said. “So at the end of the day, if you’re not tough, you ain’t gonna win even a rec ball game. So that’s the bottom line, man, toughness. We’re not tough right now.”

Their current low-point of the season was their five-game losing streak that extended into region play, leaving them 0-3 in Region 2-5A before heading to Northside.

“For five games there were moments when we played tough, but in basketball or whatever you’re doing, there’s not moments where you you can play tough,” Driggers said. “You got to be tough all four quarters of football, all four quarters of basketball. Whatever you’re doing, man, has got to be tough.”

“There were spurts in the last five games where we played tough at times, we took care of the ball at times, but there were times where we just shut down.”

Shutting down can take many forms. Not hustling after a turnover, being scared to go up strong after getting fouled or getting your shot blocked. Not cutting as hard as you should.

One of the things Driggers and his staff does to encourage his players to push through the rough patches is amp it up in practice every day.

“We’re gonna get after it at practice. It don’t matter what the situation is, we’re gonna get after it,” Driggers said. “We’re gonna coach you hard because if we’re not coaching you hard we’re not holding you to that standard that you need to be at…We can really build on that, but they have to mentally lock in and know, that’s where we’re going with this.”

But for him, it goes a lot deeper than just on-court productivity.

“The ball’s gonna stop bouncing one day,” Driggers continued. “Once they can physically and mentally lock in, those situations are gonna get tough. I need to lock in, I need to be tougher, that’s going to take them a long way even off the court.”

Veterans still has a season to finish out, and they’ve given themselves playoff hope with their win against Northside.

With Thomas County Central’s win against Lee County there are no teams winless in Region 2-5A. One win against Northside is a good start, but when the rematches start rolling around the Warhawks are going to have to produce with much more consistency than they have thus far.

“We’re going to keep going to work,” Driggers said. “If your practice is hard, the game should be easy. I know it’s kind of a cliche, but I believe that if you’re really busting it at practice, the game is going to be a breeze.”