Southern Sports Edition
Left Behind?
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Dabo Swinney became the head coach at Clemson on October 13, 2008.
Tommy Bowden resigned six games into the season and he was named the interim head coach. The Tigers beat South Carolina 31-14 on November 29, 2008. He went 4-3 and was named the head coach on December 1, 2008.
One of the first things Swinney did when he was hired as the interim head coach was introduce a new tradition, the “Tiger Walk”. This is when all players and coaches walk through the parking lot outside of Memorial Stadium about two hours before a game as they head inside for final game preparations. I though this tradition was around a lot longer so I was surprised to find that out.
He made Clemson into a national powerhouse and won two national championships. Coming into the 2025 season, the Tigers were ranked #4 in the preseason poll. They returned several starters from the 2024 team that was 10-4. They won the ACC Championship and made it to the College Football Playoffs.
Senior quarterback Cade Klubnik was considered a candidate to win the Heisman Trophy coming into the season. As you know Clemson has started the season 1-3.
The season started with a home loss to #9 LSU, 17-10. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. They beat Troy the next week, 27-16. The Tigers trailed at halftime, 16-3 before scoring 17 unanswered points in the third quarter. We should have seen then that Clemson has a problem.
They lost at Georgia Tech Week 3, 24-21. The Yellow Jackets were unranked at the time but they are 4-0 now and ranked #16 in the AP Poll.
Swinney was asked about that loss and he went into a diatribe against his critics that he supposedly does not listen to.
“Why are we held to a different standard to all these other teams out there who ain’t never won nothing?” Swinney said.
“If Clemson wants me gone, they are tired of winning, they can send me on my way, but I’m going to go somewhere else to coach,” Swinney said. “I ain’t going to the beach. Hell, I’m 55, I’ve got a long way to go.”
Then they played Syracuse at home this past Saturday. The Orange won, 34-21. The game was never close. Syracuse went into halftime with a 24-14 lead.
Swinney has been outspoken against using the transfer portal and NIL. It seems like he is being left behind with the changing landscape of college football. He has a new critic, Nick Saban.
“Dabo needs to look at what he needs to do in his program to make his program continually be successful” Saban said. “Do you have to change (the use of) the portal? Do you have to change name, image and likeness? …The game has changed. You need to change with it. Otherwise, you’re not going to put yourself in the same position other people are and having the chance to be successful.”
Clemson has a bye week now and the next game is at North Carolina (2-2) on October 4th. This should be an easy win for Clemson.
The real question is, how will the rest of the 2025 season be remembered for the Tigers?
This could be the beginning of the end for Dabo or he could finally adapt with the times and make Clemson a dominant program again.
Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show w Garrett Grady September 18 2025
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick September 17 2025
O-ffensive
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
When Florida quarterback DJ Lagway threw his fifth interception Saturday night to seal the game at No. 3 LSU, athletic director Scott Stricklin pursed his lips and turned away.
Stricklin did not watch the replay. He clasped his hands behind his back and stared at the ground.
What else was there to see? What else is there to say?
The Gators 20-10 loss dropped them to 1-2 this season with plenty of the nation’s hardest schedule still ahead.
The numbers are grisly enough to spark questions about Napier’s buyout ($19.4 million at the end of this contract year) to intensify:
Three games into his fourth season, Napier is 20-21. That’s as many losses as Will Muschamp had, and Muschamp coached in eight more games. Napier’s winning percentage (.487) is the worst by any non-interim Florida coach since 1950.
He needs to win his next 28 games to match the winning percentage of Dan Mullen, who was fired.
Napier is 3-10 against Florida’s primary annual rivals. That’s 0-3 against Georgia, 1-2 against Tennessee and Florida State and 1-3 against the Tigers after last week.
Napier dropped to 4-15 against ranked opponents and 5-14 away from The Swamp.
Saturday was especially troubling if you watch the way the game played out. The athletes have not quit on Napier, and this loss wasn’t due to a lack of fight.
Florida was a willing participant in pregame shouting matches and a brief in-game scuffle.
The defense was good enough to win, starting the game with three consecutive three-and-outs and holding LSU to 316 total yards — the Tigers’ third-lowest output in three seasons under Brian Kelly.
The problem is the offense. Napier’s offense can’t score. Napier leads it after refusing to hire a play caller and doubling down on his role after last week’s 18-16 loss to South Florida.
This is an offense that Florida fans expect to light up scoreboards like they did under Steve Spurrier. This offense looks like it’s squandering a third consecutive NFL talent at quarterback, and this one might be the most promising of them all.
In Year 1, Napier’s quarterback was the No. 4 NFL Draft pick, Anthony Richardson. The Gators went 6-7.
For the next year and a half, Napier’s quarterback was Graham Mertz, who was drafted in the sixth round this spring. Gators went 8-10.
Since mid-October, Napier’s quarterback has been Lagway, the former five-star recruit and Gatorade National High School Player of the Year. After encouraging performances in 2024, Napier and Lagway have lost two in a row in 2025. Lagway’s five interceptions Saturday were the most by a Florida quarterback since 1992.
Despite those turnovers, the Gators were still competitive. An optimistic spin is: if you take away the pick six Lagway threw and add the 87-yard touchdown pass that was nullified by a holding call, Florida would’ve been right there.
“We’ve lost two in a row like that,” Napier said.
He’s right. The Gators had a pair of touchdowns negated by penalties in last week’s loss.
That doesn’t make Saturday night look or feel any better, especially because of how poorly the “Bull spit” game aged.
South Florida was blown out 49-12 on Saturday by No. 5 Miami — the same No. 5 Miami that hosts the Gators this week.
Napier is 0-1 against the Hurricanes, in case anyone was wondering.
If Napier is feeling the heat at this biggest pressure-cooker program, he isn’t necessarily showing it. When Urban Meyer lost in Baton Rouge in 2005, he cried in his postgame news conference. Napier started Saturday night’s address by complimenting his players and team leadership.
Stricklin, again, turned his head to the ground. He did not need to watch that replay, either. He’s seen this trainwreck too many times before, only difference is the conductor.
King Bee Down
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Wednesday morning, the Wayne County School System announced that Wayne County Football Head Coach John Mohring has resigned in agreement with the school board.
The news comes after a 0-5 start in the second season under Mohring.
With a bye week this week for the Yellow Jackets, Wayne County will transition to new leadership this week as Athletic Director and Head Baseball Coach Justin McDonald will take over as the interim Head Coach for football.
In the 15 games under Mohring since he took over prior to the 2024 season, Wayne County was winless on the field.
One caveat to that was the 2024 matchup with Appling County. Appling defeated Wayne on the field, but Appling County was forced to vacate wins for the 2024 season due to GHSA violations in regard to recruiting and an ineligible transfer player.
There have been plenty of folks that have been unhappy around the Wayne County program with the on-the-field product, and rightfully so.
Since the beginning of 2024, Wayne County has been outscored in those 15 games by a mark of 584-100 including a 390-41 discrepancy last season. In the 10 games of 2024, Wayne County only scored more than 7 points once (the season opener against Glynn Academy) including being shutout 4 times on the year.
The offensive struggles continued this season through the first 5 games of the year as the offense only producing 106.8 yards of total offense per game (national average is 261.0 for reference).
A team that once dominated teams on the ground is now only averaging 62.4 yards rushing per game and putting up only 44 yards passing per game.
One of the most surprising numbers is this year, the Wayne County offense has only put up 28 points (including extra points), while the defense has elevated a couple scores with 2 defensive touchdowns.
Mohring took over the program after Jaybo Shaw left following the 2023 season.
Mohring left his position at Savanah Country Day in March.
At Savannah Country Day, Mohring led the Hornets to two playoff appearances and a 16-16 record in 3 seasons.
Now Mohring becomes the third GHSA coach to step down/be fired this season already with Banks County Todd Winter fired and Windsor Forest’s CJ Frazier stepping down for “personal reasons.”
Interim Head Coach Justin McDonald joined the Wayne County community when he took over the Wayne County baseball program in 2012.
Since then, he has added the Athletic Director title and also amassed over 300 wins on the diamond and is the all-time winningest baseball coach in Wayne County history.
Along the horizon for Wayne County, they open region play after the bye week with Warner Robins coming to Jesup on September 26th before 5 straight weeks of region matchups.
This year, three of the 5 region contests are set to take place at Jaycee Stadium with road trips going to Benedictine and Ware County.
I’m never a huge fan of making coaching moves in-season, but this felt like one that needed to be made.
Now Wayne County still has everything in front of them with an entire region schedule.
Does this turn around the season? Time will tell, but I know that Justin McDonald is not only a great coach, but a fantastic person and leader of men that can hold a team together.
House of Cards?
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
LSU is 3-0, ranked 3rd in the country, and last Saturday beat Florida 20-10 in a rivalry game. On paper, things look great in Baton Rouge. But if you really watch the games, the Tigers’ start isn’t as flawless as it seems.
Brian Kelly made headlines after that Florida win for snapping at a reporter about LSU’s struggling running game. He later apologized, but honestly, you can’t blame him.
The offense has been frustrating to watch. Through three games, LSU is last in the SEC in scoring at just 20 points per game and has only five offensive touchdowns.
In a league like the SEC, if your offense isn’t clicking, even wins start to feel shaky.
The running game has been the biggest problem.
Against Florida, LSU barely managed 100 yards on the ground, and half of those yards came on one big burst from Caden Durham. Outside of that play, the Tigers were stuck in neutral.
Kelly insists LSU can run the ball and points to the last play of the game as proof. Sure, one play is nice, but relying on a single breakaway won’t get you through the tougher SEC matchups coming up.
Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier has had a lot to deal with too. He’s now battling a torso injury and lingering knee issues and is limited on how much he can throw in practice.
Still, he’s completing 65 percent of his passes, but the offense hasn’t looked like the high-powered unit everyone expected with a potential first-round talent at quarterback. If Nussmeier isn’t 100 percent, the pressure on the running game only grows.
The defense, thankfully, has been carrying the team.
Even after All-American linebacker Whit Weeks was ejected for targeting in the first half, LSU forced five turnovers against Florida and played physical from start to finish. Transfer Jack Pyburn and the secondary stepped up big time.
But let’s be real: in the SEC, you can’t expect the defense to win every game. The offense has to start showing up, or the schedule is going to catch up to them fast.
Outside of on field action, there’s been some good news for the Tigers this week. LSU just landed 2027 quarterback Peyton Houston, the top-rated pocket passer in the nation for his class, and the godbrother of former LSU star Devin White.
He’s the first commit of that class and gives hope for the future at a spot where LSU has struggled to find consistency. With Nussmeier leaving after this season, Houston or another QB recruit is going to have to step up eventually.
So where does all this leave LSU? Unbeaten? Yes. Ranked in the top five? Check. But the offense looks sloppy, the quarterback isn’t fully healthy, and the run game has no rhythm.
Kelly might be right that fans can get spoiled, but when you’re running an SEC powerhouse, just winning isn’t enough. People expect domination.
The next few games will tell the story. The Tigers host Southeastern Louisiana this Saturday in what is supposed to be a tune-up, but the real test comes when LSU heads to Ole Miss on September 27.
If the Tigers struggle there, all the questions about the offense will come screaming back. If they pull off a convincing win, Kelly’s outburst and early offensive struggles might just fade into the background.
Right now, LSU is a bit of a paradox: unbeaten with a frustrated coach, a hobbled quarterback, and an offense that hasn’t hit full stride.
Wins are nice, but the cracks are already showing, and the rest of the SEC is ready to expose them if LSU doesn’t clean things up.
Camden County Wildcats Coach’s Show w Travis Roland September 16 2025
At The Top
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
We are almost midway through the high school football regular season. Let’s take a look at some of the top teams in 6A.
#1 Grayson: The Rams are the defending state champions and are off to a 4-0 start. They started the season with a 51-3 win at Colllins Hill. They beat Rabun Gap-Nacoochee 24-19 and Thompson (AL) 24-23. Their last game was September 5th against Mallard Creek (NC) and they won 63-13.
The Rams start region play this week against Grovetown (3-1). Grayson is by far the best team in Region 4 AAAAAA and they are the only ranked team in the region. I expect them to finish the season undefeated.
#2 Buford: The Wolves (4-0) just beat #4 Douglas County 34-26. This game featured at least 25 players with Power 4 offers. Florida State coach Mike Norvell and Georgia State coach Dell McGee attended this top five showdown.
The Wolves started the season with a 20-13 win over Milton. They followed that up by beating Benedictine on the road, 42-14. They destroyed Roswell 65-21 in Week 3. They begin region play this week against Discovery (0-3). Buford does not face any other ranked teams in Region 8AAAAAA.
#3 Carrolton: The Trojans (5-0) lost the 2024 state championship to Grayson. Five-star quarterback Julian Lewis graduated and he plays for Colorado now. Carrolton is showing they are an elite program and they were not just successful because of Lewis.
The only game that was decided by one score was the Week 3 win at Rome, 28-21. In the other four games, the closest margin of victory has been 22 points.
They are in Region 2AAAAAA with #4 Douglas County. They will play in the season finale. Region play will start 10/3 at Westlake. I think the winner of the last game will be the region champs.
#4 Douglas County: The Tigers (3-2) have a lot of talent but they have played a tough schedule. They lost to the #2 team in 5A on the road, Hughes 44-31. They lost to #2 Buford on the road the following week, 34-26.
They started the season with wins over #6 North Gwinnett, Jonesboro and Newton.
Their next game is against 2A Columbia (0-4), so they should blow them out. Like I said above, their next challenge will be in the season finale against #3 Carrolton.
#5 Valdosta: The Wildcats (5-0) are looking to win their first state title since 2016. The only close game they have played was against Jesuit (FL) 21-14. They have beaten Tucker 63-19, Mundy’s Mill 60-14, Dougherty 52-3 and South Gwinnett 41-3.
They are in the toughest region in the state, Region 1AAAAAA. They have a bye this week and start region play 9/26 at #10 Camden County. The following game is at #9 Colquitt County and the season finale is against #8 Lowndes. If you are keeping track, that’s four top 10 teams in the state in the same region.
I don’t think Valdosta will make it out of region play unscathed.
The Long-Snapping Way
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
When you think about impacts on a football team, specialists aren’t usually at the top of the list.
One position that gets even less love and really goes un-noticed until something goes wrong is the long snapper.
However, the Southeast Bulloch long snapper is absolutely drawing attention not only from the Brooklet community, but from college recruiters in a positive light.
Talon Stokes is a couple of games into his senior year for SEB, but the path has been far different than what he envisioned when he began the journey as a Jacket.
Stokes began his high school career as a tight end and a pole vaulter for the track team, but the path to starting quicky changed. After being buried on the depth chart as a tight end it sparked a conversation with Southeast Bulloch Special Teams Coordinator Randy Lee.
“In ninth grade, Talon, a wiry 5’6”, 140-pound kid, walked into my office dreaming of making an impact on the football team. The varsity field seemed a distant goal for him, but I saw his fire,” said Lee. “Our long snapper was graduating, and I told Talon that role could be his if he worked for it. Never having snapped a ball before, the odds were steep, but Talon didn’t flinch.”
Stokes dove in headfirst. He began working with a snapping coach, going to camps and doing everything possible to learn the niche craft. Which paid off.
“By June, he wasn’t just filling a role; he was dominating it,” explained Coach Lee. “In my 17 years of coaching, Talon’s become the best long snapper I’ve ever seen.”
From what started as an idea to get on the field, it turned into a passion for Talon. Putting in countless hours and hundreds of snaps outside of SEB practice each week and working with one of the premier snapping instructors in the country in Rubio Long Snapping, Talon has turned SEB special teams into a coach’s dream of not having to worry about the snap.
“Unnoticed by the stands but invaluable to our staff, he grinds daily, perfecting his times and lace placement on PATs and field goals,” said Lee.
That dedication over the past four years has not only garnered attention from the coaching staff for SEB, but also college coaches across the country. This past summer, Talon and his mom, Shelley, went on a 10-day journey to specialist’s camps all over the country.
It began in Morgantown, WV to impress the Mountaineer coaches. Then they made the drive to Starkville, Mississippi where Talon ended up winning the Mississippi State camp for both punt snapping and Field Goal snapping in SEC country.
The excursion ended up in Jonesboro, Arkansas in the shadows of the water feature in the endzone at Arkansas State. Couple that success with visits also to Coastal Carolina, Wofford, and countless other schools, Talon is a known commodity in the college world.
Talon is the epitome of a “team guy.” Always upbeat and a smile on his face at practice but took a need of a team and turned it into a mission.
As a freshman going to Coach Lee and asking how he can get on the field, then dedicating himself to be the best long snapper he could be for SEB (which was a foreign concept at the time), now as a 4-star Rubio long snapper is an impressive journey over a relatively short period of time. It’s something that’s not lost in the Brooklet community.
“They say if you work hard, all things are possible—Talon’s living proof,” said Coach Lee. There aren’t many in the country who can touch him or out snap him. I’m glad he is a SEB Jacket, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”
That future undoubtedly will be snapping at a high level in college football and it’s just a matter of where.
Brantley County Herons Coach’s Show w David Shores September 11 2025
