By: Mike Anthony

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

It has been a decade since the Statesboro Blue Devils have been considered a state power on the football field, but the program’s ongoing trudge back from some dark times aims to take another step forward this fall.

Now four years removed from the only 0-10 season in school history, Statesboro head coach Jeff Kaiser – who was announced as head coach ahead of the 2017 season – has his team steadily improving.

The Devils have qualified for the state playoffs in each of the last two seasons and got back to the .500 mark last fall for the first time since 2014.

As has been the case for teams all around the country, this summer’s training has been significantly hindered by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

School was called off more than a month before the scheduled spring practices for Statesboro and simply getting students – football players or otherwise – through the academic year will be tough.

Kaiser and his staff continued to communicate to the team through texts, emails and phone calls, with players left to their own devices to continue to study playbooks and stay in shape.

When June rolled around, word came from both the GHSA and Bulloch County that there would be a slow roll-out of parameters for practices that will gradually include more football-related activities with more players allowed at each practice.

All of the virus-related restraints on team activities are just one facet of what will be a challenging 2020 for the Devils.

While they have made the state playoffs two years running, Statesboro played those seasons in a five-team Class-AAAAA region. With Ware County and Wayne County dominating the region, the Devils’ postseason prospect essentially boiled down to a two-game season with games against New Hampstead and South Effingham, with any of the teams able to clinch a playoff berth with as little as one region win.

That will change this fall as Statesboro bumps up to Class-AAAAAA and will join a region with more teams that features plenty of old rivals.

South Effingham joins Statesboro in the move up and they will group in with Brunswick, Glynn Academy, Effingham County, Richmond Hill and Bradwell Institute.

The Devils have been region rivals with all of these teams at some point in their past, most notably with Brunswick, which traded region championships with SHS for three consecutive seasons at the turn of the last decade.

The Devils lose relatively little in total personnel from last year’s squad, but still have some big holes to fill.

Always a run-first team, Statesboro will have to fill the shoes of running backs Jaylin Roberson and Davardrian Lipsey.

Also departed is Corey McCullough, who anchored the linebacker corps and also served as a stellar blocker and short-yardage back on offense.

If Statesboro is to continue its track record of improvement, it will stem from both lines.

The Devils were forced to play with inexperienced and – at times – undersized linemen over the last few seasons. But a more veteran crew this season that has taken to Kaiser’s emphasis on growing in the weight room should now provide the Devils with a formidable presence up front whether attacking an opposing quarterback or paving a clean path for their own runners.

Statesboro is slated to kick off the season against former region rival Wayne County in the Erk Russell Classic at Georgia Southern’s Paulson Stadium.

The Devils will also take on Swainsboro, Houston County and Jenkins before spending all of October and November in their region slate.