Swing Your Sword

By: Kipp Branch

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

As I always say it is never too early to talk Pirate Football.

When you follow a program as closely as I have followed the BHS program as a former player and now broadcaster you develop some special bonds with former and current players.

One of those current players that I am really close to is senior LB Kam Futch. Futch is one heck of a football player.

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The Streak

By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Let’s just go ahead and get this out in the open; I know next to nothing about college baseball and I am perfectly fine with that.

I don’t watch any games during the regular season. I don’t follow it at all during the tournament. I’m not even sure I could name a current player or coach. I’m about as knowledgeable about college baseball as and member of Metallica is about playing the piccolo.

So, why in the hell would someone who has absolutely no interest in a particular sport spend his time writing about it? Because, even I can appreciate when something extraordinary is happening.

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The Human Tackling Machine

By: Kipp Branch

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

I was sitting around in a hotel room in Haiti last week thinking about local high school football and in my 40 plus years of being a football fanatic in Glynn County you openly debate things in your mind, like who was better the better team the 1999 Pirates or the 2015 Terrors?

Who was better Darius Slay or Dee Jay Dallas? The list can go on and on, but then I asked myself ‘who is the most productive linebacker in all of your years watching football in this county’ and the name that comes immediately to mind is the heart and soul of the 2017 Glynn Academy Red Terror football team and his name is Hunter Hall.

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Sunshine State Football

By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

There are a lot things to love about Florida: weather, beaches, plenty of activities to keep you busy.

Coincidentally, a majority of those positives can easily turn into negatives. (Seriously, what kind of masochist enjoys visiting Orlando in July.)

You can go ahead and add Florida’s three NFL teams under both categories. They’ve all had their struggles over the past decade or so, but there’s good reason to think better days are on the horizon.

All three teams had high expectations entering last season. Miami and Jacksonville were both thought of as playoff contenders; to a point some people looked at them to be dark horses to win their respective divisions.

Tampa wasn’t exactly looked at to be a contender, but the expectation for drastic improvement upon their previous season certainly was there.

Two of the teams kind of hit their mark. One, not so much. Jacksonville had the type of season that would’ve made someone like Kelly Anne Conway want to pat the whole organization on the head and say, “Shhh. Mama knows. Mama knows.”

To compare the Jaguars’ season to a dumpster fire would be doing a disservice to dumpster fires everywhere. Blake Bortles is going to get a majority of the blame and he certainly deserves the lion’s share of it, but he was far from the only player that underachieved.

However, I do like the fact they brought in Tom Coughlin and Jacksonville does have some young talent to go with the free agents they’ve brought in.

Those are a few of the things for Jaguar fans to like about this team. Unfortunately, for those same fans, at the risk of beating a dead horse, picking it up off the ground and body slamming it as if I was running for political office in Montana, it’s all going to depend on Bortles. Good luck.

Miami did at least make it to the playoffs, although it wasn’t by much. About halfway through last season I wrote about Tannehill’s struggles, only to have him immediate follow my article and put together the best stretch of his career.

The defense has been better than perceived and as long as Adam Gase doesn’t wait until Week 5 or 6 to realize Jay Ajayi is on his team, the Dolphins have the making of a team that could be fun to watch for the next few years.

Tampa didn’t make the playoffs last year, but you could see the potential. Jameis Winston is coming into his third season and is going to have enough offensive talent around him that he could probably throw left handed and still put up All-Pro numbers.

Before the season began I was extremely critical when Tampa fired Lovie Smith and promoted Dirk Koetter. It’s only been one year, but so far so good. Out of all three teams in the Sunshine State, the Buccaneers probably have the brightest future, as it stands right now.

When it comes to professional football the state of Florida hasn’t had much to cheer about, on any type of consistent basis. If things continue to progress as they should, both Miami and Tampa Bay will bring a little more joy to their respective fan bases over the next few years. They are certainly on the right path to get there.

As for Jacksonville….well, I guess Meatloaf was right when he sang Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.

Sorry Jacksonville fans, I just don’t see it happening.

Spring Game Report Card

By: Kipp Branch

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Several weeks ago Brunswick High School and Glynn Academy renewed an old tradition of having an annual spring football game as the Pirates beat the Terrors 21-12 in the varsity portion of the contest. Both squads had 9 days of practice to prepare for the contest.

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Rookie Fantasy Draft

By: Christian Goeckel

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

If you’re like me, you take your fantasy team very seriously. And if you’re very much like me, you need all the help you can get. It’s almost the time of year where the fantasy magazines will start rolling off the press, and I will have my nose in all of them.

One of the things I always look to is the new crop of players entering the league. Guys like Zeke Elliot can step right off the college gridiron and make your team an immediate contender.

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Falcons Offseason

By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The 2016 season ended in heart break for the Atlanta Falcons. I don’t need to go into it, we all know what happened. On the bright side, I think they were a year ahead of schedule based on the results.

Now the question is can they at least get back to the Super Bowl in 2017? The last team that lost the Super Bowl and reached it the following year was the 1992 Buffalo Bills. I’m saying that to just put it out there that it’s going to be a difficult journey.

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Hawks Future Flight

By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

There’s nothing groundbreaking in talking about how important decisions being made during a team’s offseason will have far reaching implications on their future.

That said, it seems like whomever the Hawks decide to bring in as their General Manager this summer looms even larger than usual.

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Glynn Academy and Brunswick High Scrimmage

By: Jason Bishop

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The Spring Scrimmage has come and gone for the Glynn Academy Red Terrors and the Brunswick High Pirates.

The two squads took advantage of a rule passed by the GHSA allowing a spring scrimmage to be played against another school if so desired.

The cross-town rivals took advantage and played one half of varsity football against one another to a pretty large crowd for a spring scrimmage.

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