Bishop Media Sport Network

New Sting?

By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.

GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services

By now, we are all aware the Paul Johnson has stepped down as Georgia Tech’s head coach. He was replaced by Geoff Collins. I’m not sure how I feel about this hire so let’s take a look at Collins and his coaching history.

Collins is from Conyers, Georgia so he’s back in his home state. He played linebacker at Western Carolina (1989 – 1992). After graduation, he coached at his alma mater during the 1993 and 1994 seasons.

Following a year coaching high school, Collins became the linebacker coach for Fordham in 1996 before becoming the defensive coordinator at Albright College from 1997 through 1998. Collins would leave Albright to become a graduate assistant at Georgia Tech under George O’Leary for the 1999 and 2000 seasons.

He was promoted to tight ends coach at Tech for the 2001 season. Collins would return to his alma mater to become Western Carolina’s defensive coordinator from 2002 through 2005 before returning to Georgia Tech in 2006 as the Director of Player Personnel. The following year he became Director of Player Personnel at Alabama.

He became a defensive coordinator at FIU (2010), Mississippi State (2011 – 2014) and Florida (2015 – 16). Then he took over as head coach at Temple for the past two seasons.

One good thing is that Collins has experience coaching at Tech. He’s also a much better recruiter than Paul Johnson. The current recruiting class ranks 48th nationally and 10th in the ACC. For Johnson’s recruiting classes that is typical. The highest recruiting class under him was 41st.

Collins is aware that there are recruiting challenges unique to Georgia Tech but he is already aware and prepared for that. As the Yellow Jackets director of player personnel his 2007 recruiting class was ranked 15th nationally and included Morgan Burnett, Jonathan Dwyer, Derrick Morgan and Joshua Nesbitt.

The Ramblin’ Wreck has been outmatched from a talent standpoint under Paul Johnson. The gap in talent has only gotten wider between them and the upper echelon programs like Clemson and Georgia. If Collins can consistently bring top 20 recruiting classes in, he can close that gap and make them more competitive against their rivals.

In his two seasons coaching the Temple Owls his record was 15 – 10. That does not sound very impressive on the surface. Temple has been a struggling football program for as long as I can remember. They have only become respectful recently. In his first year in 2017 they were 7 – 6. In 2018 he improved to 8 – 4.

From strictly a coaching perspective, I think Collins is slightly above average. His Owls lost the season opener to an FCS team, Villanova. They are cross-town rivals but he should never lose to FCS competition.

I think this is a good hire mainly because the fan base has grown tired of Paul Johnson and it’s time for a change. His triple option scheme has hindered recruiting. Collins is bringing a pro-style offense and that will help with gaining recruits that want to play in the NFL.

He is also a defensive coach and the Jackets have been abysmal on D. In 2018 Temple ranked sixth nationally in yards per play and are tied for third in takeaways. Only time will tell but I believe Georgia Tech should improve under Collins.

 

 

On The Radar

By: Mike Anthony

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Summer is a time for reckless speculation when it comes to college football and – for Sun Belt schools whose summers are especially long and oppressive – there is no shortage of time spent obsessing over how things will play out once the fall arrives.

It has taken nearly two months, but the first cool nights have finally arrived in the Sun Belt just as the race for the top of the conference standings is starting to really pick up the pace.

As for the preseason projections, it’s a mixed bag. The general idea of how things would play out in the conference seems to be going along with the script, but there have been just enough curve balls thrown in that it is anyone’s guess how the second half of the season will play out.

Three teams were the trendy picks to win the Sun Belt in 2018. Troy and Arkansas State are dealing with issues while Appalachian State is steaming right along.

But another contender now has to be acknowledged.

Georgia Southern entered the season with even the most optimistic predictions simply thinking that the Eagles could attain bowl eligibility.

But at the halfway post of the regular season, the Eagles are already just one win from qualifying for the postseason and – more importantly – the owners of a gaudy 3-0 mark in Sun Belt play.

The Eagles found themselves as big favorites in a midweek road game at Texas State last week, only to find themselves in a dogfight.

Georgia Southern’s option offense never got on track, but the defense held tough, stifling the Bobcats throughout the night and denying a late two-point conversion attempt to slip away with a 15-13 victory.

Georgia Southern will take a step out of the Sun Belt this weekend as they embark on another long road trip to New Mexico State.

The Eagles hope to return to Statesboro as a bowl-eligible team, but the real drama lies just a bit farther down the road as an East Division showdown between the Eagles and Appalachian State is quickly approaching.

While the Troy Trojans still control their own destiny in the East Division, their season has taken a drastic turn over the last two weeks.

During an otherwise uneventful steamrolling of Georgia State on Oct. 4, Troy starting quarterback Kaleb Barker went down with what was later found to be a season-ending ACL tear.

The Trojans and air-raid savant head coach Neal Brown were hopeful that backup Sawyer Smith could step right in, but Smith was shaky and the rest of the Trojans looked even worse as they were upset by first-year FBS program Liberty over the weekend.

If there is a silver lining, it’s that Troy is now able to reassess itself during a bye week. The rest will be welcomed by regular starters and the extra time before conference play resumes will be vital for getting Smith and the Trojan offense back on track.

While Troy’s role as a conference title hopeful is suffering due to injury, Arkansas State’s presumed shot at another Sun Belt championship is fading of its own volition.

The Red Wolves were picked to cruise to the top spot in the West, but have been beaten up by the East, losing to Georgia Southern and Appalachian State in consecutive weeks to begin its conference schedule.

Arkansas State still controls its destiny as the rest of its division hasn’t fared any better against the East.

However, a season finale with Troy would be a high hurdle to clear if it’s a necessary win for ASU to make the conference title game. The Wolves’ offense has shown enough flaws over the last two weeks to cause plenty of concern even against divisional rivals that didn’t appear to be threats at the beginning of the season.

MCA Buccaneers Coach’s Show with Tony Glazer October 16

MCA Buccaneers Coach's Show with Tony Glazer October 16
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Troubled Waters

By: Kipp Branch

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The Brunswick High Pirates traveled to Springfield and got run out of the stadium by Effingham County 45-14.

The Pirates trailed 14-6 at half after surviving three first half turnovers and 10 penalty flags they got boat raced in the third quarter 23-0.

A running clock and a last second TD pass and two-point conversion by the Rebels made the final score of 45-14.

The loss drops the Pirates to 3-5 on the season and 0-2 in region play. The Pirates playoff hopes are on life support after last night’s performance.

Pirate Report Card:

Offense: C. KJ Lee turned the football over on three straight possessions in the first half and was replaced by Anthony Mountain.

Mountain came and provided a spark and led the Pirates on a ten play 80-yard TD drive late in the half by completing an 18-yard TD pass to Kyle Patterson.

Jaylen Trimmings ran hard all night long and the run blocking was good. Pass blocking was average and the receivers had too many drops.

Six holding flags tossed by the same official doomed any chances of momentum as they were timely and killed four nice drives in the ball game.

BHS won the holding call battle with Effingham 6-0 as the Rebels were not flagged for a holding all night long. In the end, BHS could not overcome the turnovers and 14 flags on the night.

Defense: D. This unit kept BHS in the game in the first half but came out flat after halftime. Effingham scored on the first possession of the second half on all running plays and BHS never recovered.

Stopping the run is a huge issue for this defense. Octavius Butler made a few impact plays, but the unit got manhandled in the second half.

Special Teams: F. Special teams were awful in Springfield. A missed extra point, big kickoff return, a big punt return set up a touchdown, a blocked punt for a TD by the Rebels on a one man rush and three two-point conversions converted by Effingham made this easily the worst special teams perform ace of the year.

Coaching: C. The offensive game plan was very good. If it had been executed properly it would have produced a win.

Defensively, BHS can’t stop the run and other than putting 10 in the box I don’t know what you can do. Also, giving up so many two-point conversions on the same look was troubling.

Overall: D. Let’s face it Pirate fans, the Pirates are not very talented on the defensive side of the ball.

Not enough size and intestinal fortitude to stop downhill running football teams. There is not enough consistency on offense at QB and drops by wide receivers kill drives.

The playoffs would be a miracle at this point. Special teams, lack of execution, turnovers, and penalties put a very winnable game out of reach in the third quarter.

Next up is the City Championship game against Glynn Academy.

BHS has lost four straight in the series and Glynn may not throw a pass next week if BHS does not find some answers on defense.

BHS could salvage the season with a big win next week in a series where the unexpected happens a lot.

Glynn Tames Wildcats

By: Jason Bishop

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The Glynn Academy Red Terrors entered Friday night’s game coming off a bye week.

The bye week may have come at a good time for the Terrors as the team had dropped three consecutive games; Wayne, Ware and Camden.

Glynn kicked off their region schedule Friday night hosting the Richmond Hill Wildcats. Richmond Hill was coming off of a 41-7 blowout win over Brunswick High and was sitting in first place in the region.

The Wildcats had lost their starting running back in week 2 and had struggled scoring points ever since, until the 41-point explosion against the Pirates.

Richmond Hill entered the game at 3-3 and the Red Terrors also entered Friday night’s contest at 3-3.

The Red Terrors had not lost four straight in the Rocky Hidalgo era. Speaking of Coach Hidalgo, the Red Terrors head coach made change at QB. Senior Sam Wagner got the start under center.

The Glynn defense and special teams dominated the first half. A pick six gave the Red Terrors a 7-0 lead. GA would extend the lead on a returned missed field goal for a 14-0 lead. The Terrors would add a second pick six for 21-0 2nd quarter lead.

Glynn would take that lead in the locker room at the half.

The Red Terrors would then go into clock chewing mode, which is something Glynn has always done under Rocky Hidalgo.

The Wildcats would make a long field goal to get point on the board in the 3rd quarter.

That score would be the score heading into the 4th, 21-3.

Glynn QB Sam Wagner would score a late touchdown diving into the end zone from the one-yard line.

The Red Terrors would close out Richmond Hill 28-3.

With the win the Red Terrors improve to 4-3 on the season and take first place in the region at 1-0.

Next week Glynn Academy will play a desperate Brunswick High Pirate team for the City Championship. BHS has lost to both Richmond Hill and Effingham in the region and will be in “must win mode” to make the playoffs.

MCA Buccaneers Coach’s Show with Tony Glazer October 9

MCA Buccaneers Coach's Show with Tony Glazer October 9
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Clipped Wings

By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Is it too early to call this a lost season for the Atlanta Falcons?

They were just trounced 41-17 by Pittsburgh, bringing their record to 1-4. Going in to the game, we thought it would be a shootout because both teams have high powered offenses and putrid defenses.

The biggest surprise is that the Steelers kept the Falcons offense in check. Pittsburgh statistically has a worse defense, ranked 29th in total defense. Atlanta’s defense is 28th, giving up 398.6 yards per game. The Falcons have given up more points than any NFL team this season.

Matt Ryan threw for 285 yards, 1 touchdown and he was sacked 6 times. He also fumbled while being sacked by T.J. Watt and it was recovered for a touchdown. Ryan spent the final minutes of Atlanta’s third straight loss on the sideline with the game out of reach.

Devonta Freeman returned for the first time since Game 1. He had 8 carries for 32 yards and Tevin Coleman had 7 rushes for 15 yards. Surprisingly Austin Hooper was the leading receiver with 9 catches and 77 yards. Julio Jones has still not found the end zone this season. He finished with 5 catches and 52 yards.

Matt Bosher also had a punt blocked and the ball was recovered at the Atlanta 19-yard line. That led to an easy James Conner touchdown. The Falcons were outscored 28-7 in the second half.

“I recognize the question if we have enough firepower with some of the injuries there. I do, and in some cases, there’s some on-the-job training, and we expect that. But by no stretch is our entire team decimate, and by no stretch are the guys we have playing not capable for the job. I stand by who we are and (expect) the talent that we have to play well. We missed it this afternoon, in the second half especially,” Dan Quinn said.

Right now, it looks like it’s going to be a long season. To put it in perspective there are still 11 games remaining. There is a chance to turn things around but I think it will be very tough. There are so many injuries on the defense that will be difficult to overcome.

The offensive line was very porous against one of the worst defenses in the league. They need to shore that up to protect their $150 million dollar investment.

“Everybody knows our protection needs to be better than it’s been,” said Ryan. “The hardest part for players is having to watch that film and critically evaluate yourself. I think with the kind of guys that we have there’s not going to be a whole lot that needs to be said.”

The next game is at home against Tampa Bay. The Bucs lost two straight games before going in to a bye week. They took Ryan Fitzpatrick out after his hot start and Jameis Winston will be the starting quarterback for that game.

This should be a game that Atlanta can win but we will learn a lot about them. Tampa Bay struggles at running the ball so I expect them to rack up a ton of passing yards. Winston takes risks so he should throw a couple of interceptions.

If the Falcons lose this game then it will be hard to find more wins on the schedule. On the bright side they may be getting ready for a top five draft pick.

Frederica Academy Knights Trot To Win

By: Rich Bontrager

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

For the second consecutive week the Frederica Knights enjoyed “running clock” the entire second half of their game and claimed a 48-2 victory of Westfield School.

With the atmosphere extra charged up for Homecoming ceremonies, the Frederica Knights Football squad came extra prepared to make sure the crowd enjoyed a complete celebration.

Frederica would once again receive the coin flip and elect to start on defense.

Westfield’s first possession only lasted four plays before he had to punt to the Knights.

Frederica would respond by scoring the first of 2 first-quarter touchdowns. First running back, Denver Anthony, scored from 22 yards out and a few moments later, Jaylin Simpson (QB) to Josh Meadows (WR) 24-yard pass reception.

William Brock made both of his point-after kicks making it 14-0 after one-quarter of play.

The Knight’s defense would effectively shut down the Hornets offense all night long, while Frederica’s offense worked at sizzling pace and scored almost at will.

By the end of the first half, Frederica controlled all aspects of the game and found themselves up 41-3.

One exciting play was when Jaylin Simpson stepped forward and intercepted Christin Corbett’s pass attempt. Simpson would run it back 56 yards for yet another Frederica touchdown.

In the first half, Simpson connected on a 55-yard TD pass to senior receiver, Jashawn Sheffield.

Coach Brandon Derrick not only celebrated his team’s 5th consecutive win, but he also stood by as his daughter was crowned homecoming Queen for 2018.

“In all, this was a great night for everyone,” Coach Derrick stated after the game.

With a running clock the entire second half, Frederica was once again able to rest many of their starters and allow many underclassmen to gain more real game time experience.

The ability to groom the younger players at this stage of the season only adds to the strength and depth of an already powerhouse Knights team, as the Knights advanced to 5-2 in the season, only three regular season games remain.

Fans and coaches are beginning to look ahead to the much anticipated final game against Bulloch Academy. The Gators suffered their first loss of the season, 29-15, to John Milledge Academy.

The table is being set for an exciting finish to the season, as the March to Mercer heats up.

Next week, the Knights remain at home and welcome, Trinity Christian to the island.

Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. on the Frederica Academy Campus

Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show with Brandon Derrick October 3

Frederica Academy Knights Coach's Show with Brandon Derrick October 3
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A Tale Of 2 GM’s

By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

With an NL East Division Championship on their mantle (and in fact being the only team in the National League to wrap up their division prior to the last day of the season), the Braves have put together an unexpected and incredible run in 2018.

Lots of people will get credit, primarily and obviously the players, but also the coaching staff and front office, and deservedly so.

Braves General Manager Alex Anthopoulos came aboard during the last offseason and made an impression quickly with a financially clever trade, sending Matt Kamp to the Dodgers for Brandon McCarthy and Charlie Culberson (also Adrian Gonzalez and Scott Kazmir, neither of whom made an appearance for Atlanta).

Anthopoulos continued to put manager Brian Snitker in position to succeed throughout the year, taking gambles when necessary but also not dragging out mistakes out of pride (Jose Bautista, for example). He has been an asset to the team since he arrived, and he’ll get heaps of deserved praise for the season the Braves have completed.

But there’s also someone else who deserves praise and will get very little of it.

Part of a general manager’s job is to add pieces as needed, like Anthopoulos has done. But arguably a much larger part of the job, especially in the current era of MLB, a GM must build a team for sustained success. Alex Anthopoulos just got here, so he can’t claim to have done that for Atlanta.

Instead, erstwhile and disgraced former general manager John Coppolella gets credit for a lot of the Braves’ 2018 success.

He was fired (and banned from baseball for life) for shady dealings, but prior to that, Coppy – along with John Hart – tore down a Braves team that was heading for a tailspin and began crafting the young team we know today.

The formation of the 2018 NL East Division Champions is a tale of two GMs.

Who traded Evan Gattis to the Astros for a young, flame throwing pitcher named Mike Foltynewicz? Coppy did.

Who saw the talent in Kevin Gausman being squandered on a last place team and traded for him, installing the pitcher who would eventually take a spot in the postseason rotation? Double A gets the credit there.

Who moved the Braves’ only All-Star from 2015, Shelby Miller, in a blockbuster trade that brought Dansby Swanson AND Ender Inciarte to Atlanta? That was Coppollela.

Which GM took advantage of service time loopholes to make sure that the Braves get six years of Ronald Acuna, Jr., though it also turned out that Acuna struggled to start the season so maybe the notion that he needed more seasoning was right all along? Anthopoulos.

Who signed 2019 All-Star Nick Markakis to lead the young Braves on and off the field? Coppy again.

Who decided after an abysmal-yet-brief run by Bautista that the Braves didn’t need to hunt for a new third baseman and that Johan Camargo was going to produce at the hot corner? Anthopoulos made that call.

Who signed Acuna and Ozzie Albies as teenagers? Well, Frank Wren, actually. I suppose he deserves a little credit too.

Alex Anthopoulos has already made himself a lot of fans in Atlanta during his brief tenure as Braves GM.  After the season they had, he’s very likely going to be a strong candidate for Executive of the Year.

That’s not unfair, he’s done a lot to make sure the Braves stayed in contention long after they were expected to drop out.

But let’s not forget the impact that John Coppelella had on the team that is heading to the playoffs this week.

He may not have turned out to be much of a model citizen, but it might be worth to raise a glass to him. You’re enjoying the fruits of his labor this season.

P.S. It’s probably also worth noting that one of the very last things that John Schuerholz did before ending his legendary run as Braves GM was draft a kid from California named Fredrick Charles Freeman.