By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Buford High School has been a football powerhouse sicen the 2000’s. The Wolves have won a total of 11 state championships. Ten of those are from 2001 to 2014.

They have won over several different classifications starting in A in 2001 and ending in AAAA in 2014. Buford is a fairly small school with an enrollment of 1,150 students. Now they are in AAAAA.

Their last state championship win was in 2014 so they have been in a drought by their standards. The Wolves did get to the 5A state championship game last year but they lost to Rome, 16 to 7.

They also advanced to the 4A state championship in 2015, losing 30 to 0 to Cartersville.

Buford hopes to bounce back and win a state championship in 2017.

Former Roswell head coach John Ford has taken the same position at Buford. This will be his first year with the Wolves. Ford led Roswell to two consecutive state championship game appearances in 2015 and 2016.

They lose 14 players from last year’s team that received college football scholarships. Five of them are going to Power 5 schools.

Linebacker TD Roof signed with Georgia Tech, where his dad Ted Roof played and is the defensive coordinator. Safety Chee Anyanwu was flipped from Richmond to Northwestern in the last few weeks, athlete Josh Blackwell signed with Duke, offensive lineman Tyler Thurmond signed with West Virginia and linebacker Jake Simpson signed with Wake Forest.

The Wolves will have to reload but they will be led by senior running back Christian Turner. He’s a three-star recruit and he was selected to attend Nike’s annual invite-only camp, The Opening, in Beaverton, Oregon. Only 166 players from across the nation are selected.

Turner isn’t a big back standing 5’10 and weighing in at 185 pounds but he has good speed. At the Atlanta regional for Nike’s The Opening, Turner posted a 4.5 in the 40-yard dash.

He rushed for 1,115 yards and 18 touchdowns last season, shows great patience, vision and acceleration when running the football. He can run defenders over or slash past them in the open field. He’s currently committed to Michigan.

The season kicks off August 18 against 6A Hillgrove in the Corky Kell Classic. Buford has experience playing teams from larger classifications and winning so they will not be intimidated. Hillgrove did beat South Forsyth 27-14 in last season’s Corky Kell Classic.

This year’s games will make history as the first games ever played in the newly transformed Georgia State Stadium. Georgia State is turning Turner Field into its new football stadium and the Panthers’ athletic program is working with the Corky Kell Classic to stage the venue’s grand debut.

Buford will play a few out of state teams before their region schedule starts. The next game is September 1^st against Bishop Timon from Buffalo, New York. The Wolves beat them last year 49-6. They follow that game with International School of Broward County, Hollywood, Florida. The following week is another home game against South Pointe, Rockhill, South Carolina.

Buford is in region 8-AAAAA which includes Clarke Central, Flowery Branch, Cedar Shoals, Loganville, Walnut Grove and Johnson (Gainesville). I expect them to go undefeated in the regular season but we will have to see if they have what it takes to win another championship.