Veterans’ Francesca Jones, Warner Robins’ Gavyn Williams among others facing new, elevated roles after key departures

The nature of high school sports is that there’s constant turnover as players come in, reach their peak and graduate, leaving others to fill that void and go through the same cycle.

With basketball that effect can feel exaggerated because of the roster size.

Football can have nearly 100 participants on varsity alone. Baseball and softball, while having more players on the field at once, can have anywhere from 15 to almost 30 players.

A high school basketball team is lucky to have a full 15, much less that many to actually play on varsity.

One player graduating can shift the dynamic of an entire team, much less multiple.

Francesca Jones and the Veterans girls are feeling that the most after losing four starters and five players over the offseason.

Jones mostly served a bench role last year, helping to keep things running smoothly while Nariah Nelson, Jessie Ortiz and the other starters were off the floor.

Now as one of the most experienced players on the team she (as well as Ayonna Scott) will be asked to do much more.

“We’ve both seen what it’s taken to go to state playoffs,” Jones said of her and Scott. “I would say we’ve both had to step into bigger roles this year and just lead the girls as far as on and off the court. Showing them where to go and what to do.”

One of the differences the two noted, though, was that the team will operate different from last year.

The Lady Warhawks relied heavily on the scoring output of Nelson, the three-point shooting and ball handling of Ortiz and defense and rebounding from Addyson McClendon.

This year, Scott and Jones believe, will be more of a round table with everyone contributing.

“Last year we was all really depending on one of our key players, but this year is different because we have to work together,” Scott said. “The younger girls, they’re really not used to playing with someone who scored a lot of points, so it’s kind of easier for them to understand versus us, we had to get used to it.”

“I would say we definitely had to depend on some key players last year. But this year it’s more of a unit I would say,” Jones said. “It’s not like one person doing this on the court, but rather five strong players on the court. We all have to be playing together and feeding off of each other. That includes being able to execute an offense because there won’t always be a game where we can have one person just go and drop 30 [points].”

The Warner Robins boys are going through a similar transition with the losses of Gabe Jacobs, Trey Bradley and Justin Hill who were just a few of eight graduating seniors.

For the last several years the Demons have had an “alpha” entering the season. Cam Perkins and Jay Johnson served that role in 2023 and Jacobs in 2024. Now they don’t have that firm hierarchy, but they do have players fighting for that top spot.

The two players head coach Jamaal Garman brought with him to the Houston County Basketball Media Day were senior Gavyn Williams and junior Tyler Harris.

Both were complimentary players last year, with Williams playing primarily as a Three-and-D guard and Harris as a wing defender around the basket.

They have acknowledged that this year they will have much more asked of them not just on the court, but as leaders and examples off the court.

“Now all the young boys look up to me so I gotta make sure I’m doing right by [the coaches] and right by me,” Williams said. “Every day I come here and represent that Demon head in the middle of the floor.”

“I’ve been staying in the gym. I worked on my shot a lot because last year I had a role where I didn’t need to take as many shots, but I know this year that I have to shoot the ball,” Harris said. “So I’ve been working on my shot a lot, my basketball IQ, still staying with my rebounding and my defense. So I’ve been in the gym.”

The Veterans boys, too, are getting a facelift as Brandon Driggers takes over the program and they lose Tristan Abner, Aiden Sweenor and others.

In the last two years Houston County has seen six new head coaches take over programs. As they transition, players will have to learn and adapt, too.