Veterans football hits the road to open brutal 2024 schedule at Jones County

The Veterans Warhawks have the luxury of facing three state champions and a host of other quality programs in an absolutely brutal 2024 slate.

They’ll open the season on Friday as they play their first of six away games against Jones County, who, despite their losses at receiver, still should provide a tough challenge for the Warhawks.

The Greyhounds do return senior quarterback Devin Edmonds, a dual threat player who passed for 2818 yards and 34 touchdowns last year while adding 263 yards on the ground.

They also return four of their top five rushing contributors, and some of their most productive defensive talent.

Here are three things to watch on the road Friday:

1. Who will be the starting quarterback on Friday?

As of last Friday, the battle for the QB1 spot is still ongoing, according to Veterans football coach Josh Ingram.

Brooks Masters, Trey Byrd and Rowan Singleton are the candidates, and all showed mixed success in their scrimmage against Howard.

Masters is the senior who seems to have a leg up on the other two — an inexperienced senior and freshman are two completely different beasts.

Masters started the entire first half on Friday, while Byrd and Singleton traded drives in the second half.

The trio do have similar strengths and weaknesses, like their mobility and periodic accuracy issues.

The offense is unlikely to change significantly regardless of the pick. They’ll still run the ball more than they did last year, and will instead target the short and intermediate game rather than attacking deep like in 2023.

2. Can the young Warhawks secondary step up?

Even though the Greyhounds lost four of their top five receivers from 2023, with Edmonds and big 6-foot-3 receiver Jaivon Solomon still there, the Warhawks will have to use some of that youth and size to make plays at every level.

Solomon has the ability to create separation at every level with his route running, and if the Veterans defenders do manage to get out of position, players like Christian Askew and Ricky Houser will have to use their size and length to get back in and make a play on the ball.

This was something the Warhawks were able to do at times in their scrimmage against Howard. Although Edmonds is far more accurate than the quarterback they faced on Friday.

3. Can Veterans keep up with the speed of the Greyhounds’ runners?

While the defense played well in many aspects against Howard, keeping up with their speedy runners was not one of them.

Jones County junior Bruno Hicks is a running back with very good top speed and decent agility. He’ll burst through a hole and take it outside to the house if Veterans doesn’t contain him.

They will also have to worry about senior running back David Little, who is a larger, more powerful runner.

Kickoff is scheduled for Friday at 7:30 p.m.