By: Colin Lacy

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Wayne County has found a new leader in Jesup. The Wayne County Board of Education unanimously approved Superintendent Toni Williams’ nomination of Scott Roberts as the new head football coach for the Yellow Jackets.

Roberts comes to Jesup after a 1-9 season that saw the departure of former head coach John Mohring after a 0-5 start.

Athletic Director and Head Baseball Coach Justin McDonald took over as interim head coach. In his first game as interim head coach, McDonald led the Yellow Jackets to their first win since 2023 on the field.

John Mohring, who just accepted the defensive coordinator position at Parkview High School earlier this week, technically resigned mid-September after a 0-5 start.

In the 15 games under Mohring between 2024 and the beginning of 2025, 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.

Scott Roberts comes to Jesup after 11 seasons in two stints (including the last 9 years) leading the Swainsboro Tigers program.

Roberts amassed an overall record of 92-43 in his 11 seasons in Swainsboro including a 75-36 record since taking over the Tigers most recently in 2017.

Roberts had made the Tigers and the GHSA State playoffs synonymous with a playoff appearance in every season since he took over Swainsboro in 2017.

The playoff streak includes 3 region titles along with 2 state championship game appearances in back-to-back years of 2022 and 2023 as well as a semi-final game showing in 2021.

Prior to taking over for the Tigers, Roberts spent the 2013-2016 seasons at Bainbridge High School as the offensive coordinator for the Bearcats.

While in Southwest Georgia, Roberts helped the Bearcats to three consecutive playoff appearances including a semifinal match-up in 2015.

He has spent virtually his entire coaching career in South Georgia with stops on staff at Fitzgerald, Cairo, Colquitt, Tift County and Washington County.

After many years of success for Wayne County that came to a rather abrupt end when Jaybo Shaw left after the 2023 season, Justin McDonald did an admiral job getting the first win in almost 2 years, as well as trying to keep the team together and reset the program for the future.

There is plenty of optimism on the field entering the “Roberts Era” and feels like a critical time for the Yellow Jacket program.

While there are many more wins expected, the crucial part of this hire seems to be off the field with the relationships around the program.

Wayne County is an exceptionally invested community that rallies around the Yellow Jackets, and while there were some questions around that piece of the equation with Roberts in Swainsboro, it will be arguably the most important piece to embrace the community to be able to find success again in Jesup.

Wayne County is a program that has the support to be successful on the field, and quite frankly, the Yellow Jackets are a program that makes the South Georgia area better when they are at their best.

Scott Roberts has won everywhere he’s been and looks to continue that in Jesup!