GAME DAY 2024: Veterans football looks to bounce back from injury-riddled 2023 season

The Veterans Warhawks have only had three winning seasons in their short history.

After a strong 2-1 start last year, the one loss coming by a score to Perry, injuries derailed any chance of even breaking .500 as they went 3-7.

As unfortunate as scenarios like that are, they’re a reality in every sport at every level. But former assistant strength and conditioning coach at Georgia Southern Sam Zanders is prepping the Warhawks’ bodies and minds to prevent another season like 2023.

“I want to give a shout out to our strength and conditioning coordinator…not only has he helped our kids get stronger and reach their athletic goals, but [be] mentally tough and [help with] injury prevention,” Veterans head football coach Josh Ingram said of Zanders. “I feel like he’s a step above most [strength and conditioning coaches] I’ve ever seen, especially at the high school level.”

“Some of the injuries last year were broken bones and broken collarbones, and sometimes you can’t control that in football,” Ingram continued. “But that has been an issue that we’ve circled and we’re really trying to get our players healthy to try to save their bodies, and get them healthy throughout the year and be able to have them as you go through your season.”

With health squared away for the Warhawks, they do have to address big losses at a lot of positions:

Offense — Through the air

Jake Maxwell only played six games in his senior year, and the Warhawks will miss his arm and accuracy from the pocket a great deal.

Ingram said that the quarterback battle is still open for 2024. None of the options have much if any varsity experience.

Brooks Masters is a senior who did play last year, but only threw four pass attempts. He’s been getting reps with the first team, but junior Trey Byrd and freshman Rowan Singleton are also in the mix.

Singleton ran a lot of designed rollouts in middle school, but had a tendency to float the ball while throwing on the run. He did show some good arm strength and has some zip on the ball in the short and intermediate game when he sets his feet.

Unless Singleton had a great summer and showed a lot in fall camp, it’s unlikely the Warhawks start a freshman. It’s also far too early to make any judgements on his ability as an athlete as he just enters high school.

Either way, the Warhawks won’t have a pocket-passing quarterback in 2024, so the offense will see some adjustments.

Veterans won’t have much established talent at receiver like they did last year, either.

According to MaxPreps the only receiver returning with any receptions in 2023 is Aaron Evans who brought down four receptions for 63 yards as a junior.

Evans is quick from the slot, and can attack deep or be used in sweeps or screens with his shifty running. Ingram said that Evans reminds him of Preston Byrd in space

Sophomore Kaiden Gutierrez is another wideout to watch. At 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds he has exceptional speed and acceleration getting yards after the catch. On the freshman team he was used on a lot of short curls and screen passes.

The Warhawks also have junior Mouhamadou Mane, a big 6-foot-2, 175 pound receiver with solid speed. He’s also a good blocker and can absorb some contact while running. Ingram noted that Veterans hasn’t had a receiver like Mane in years.

Gregory Collins is a junior who looks to have good speed going down the field. Ingram also said there were other receivers competing for time.

The offensive line lost Jacob Skipper, a Region 1-6A Second-Team Offense member in 2023. They do have a couple of solid, agile interior lineman, though they’re a bit undersized.

Idris Evans is 5-foot-11 and 225 pounds, but solid in both run blocking and pass protection. Evans is agile enough to pull quickly in the run game, which should be useful with a more mobile quarterback under center this year.

Jadin Spano is 6-feet tall and 225 pounds. He can play either guard, but also played some center in the spring.

The tight end room is young, and there’s not a lot of information available, but Ethan Stewart stands at 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds as the only senior listed.

Offense — On the ground

Running the ball wasn’t something Veterans did a ton of last year, but they do return quite a bit of production on the ground.

Nick Hicks, Edward Bryant and Ernest Sandiford do take a lot of production with them, but the Warhawks return Justin Shine and Nictavious Furlow. The two combined for 251 yards and four touchdowns on 77 carries in 2023.

There’s not much offensive tape available on Shine, his sophomore reel is him on defense. In Veterans’ scrimmage against Howard, though, he was used on inside runs as a power back. There is a fair amount on Furlow, though.

Furlow did a lot of East-West running in his clips trying to beat defenders outside. He doesn’t have the type of speed that can nullify defenders’ leverage, but with some good blocks he can turn those types of runs into productive plays. Tylan Glover was also used as an East-West runner in the scrimmage.

Defense — The front seven

The offense will have a lot of young, unproven players vying for snaps this year. The defense, however, is something for Warhawks fans to be excited about.

Unfortunately it will be their third different defense in three years because of turnover at defensive coordinator, but there is some electric talent on this side of the ball.

Kane Byrd  is one of those players.

Byrd has been used in the past as a traditional defensive lineman, and he ripped through blockers. He single handedly creates pressure both against the pass and the run.

He’s got the speed to blow by tackles and the strength to overpower guards and tackles, he’s an absolute monster on the ground. He was elected to the Region Second-Team Defense recording 55 tackles (29 solo), 14 tackles for loss, 12 quarterback hurries and seven sacks.

Ingram said that in Jacob Lautenbach’s defense Byrd will be used as an outside linebacker. At 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds that role probably suits him best.

Bryan Williams is another member of last year’s defensive line, and is best defending the run. He’s not quite fast enough to get around tackles on the outside, and doesn’t create as much pressure in the pass rush, but he excels at closing holes in the run game. Last year he recorded 41 tackles (26 solo), 10 tackles for loss and one sack.

Junior Hudson Warden will potentially line up opposite of Byrd at outside linebacker. Warden has great reach for making tackles, and will be useful in stopping outside runs from getting in space. Last year he recorded 30 tackles (15 solo), three tackles for loss and two sacks.

Junior Lincoln Goode is one to watch as he locks down the middle of the field at inside linebacker. Though he was used off of the edge a few times last year.

Defense — The secondary

The Warhawks’ secondary took a massive hit over the summer.

Antonio “Tone” Scott, elected to Region First-Team Defense last year, is gone along with Sam Mitchell who was elected to the Second-Team.

Elijah Wright led the team in pass deflections with seven, and Shamarr Murray who brought down two interceptions is also gone.

Veterans has a lot of young faces in the secondary this year, and some of them bring size and length to the position.

Ricky Houser is a junior standing at 6-foot-2 and 170 pounds. Christian Askew is another junior, and definitely a name to watch with his 6-foot-3, 172 pound stature. 

Askew is a pretty hard-hitting tackler for a cornerback, and he’s very good in press coverage. He doesn’t fall for many moves and stays with his assignment through breaks in the route. Whether he can keep up with the fastest receivers is to be seen, but against most high school receivers he should be a good matchup.

There are several players at safety who provide different things at the position. Brody Mason is a junior who brings speed, but lacks size at 5-foot-8. Vontreaz Cowen, another junior, provides size and length at 6-foot-3. Jasiah Duncombe provides a bit of both at 5-foot-11.

The schedule

It’s not a stretch to say Veterans has the toughest schedule of all six teams in Houston County.

They travel the most miles out of any other team in the county in their six away games, and they aren’t visiting many if any bad teams.

They start traveling to Jones County, then Statesboro (likely their most winnable game), then Starr’s Mill. They take a quick break at home to play Perry before wrapping up non-region play at Warner Robins.

That’s not even to mention a region schedule with Houston County, Thomas County Central, Lee County and Coffee.

With the Warhawks having to rebuild so many position groups this year, it’s difficult to see this being their first winning season since 2019.

That being said, this is not an accident.

“For us to compete at [a high level], we have to be the most disciplined team on the field. We’ve got to be the most mentally [and] physically tough team…We’re not gonna run from the schedule. We’re not gonna run from playing people because I think getting younger guys around those type of environments is how you take the next step in your program,” Ingram said. “We’ve had some big games here at Veterans…We’ve had teams on the ropes and had them on the ropes late. We win against teams that we expect to win [against], but now we got to take that next step in our program…We have to win them games. We have to be able to line up and play with some of the top talent really in the nation.”