Colquitt County football fans accustomed to seeing John Gray, above, wearing No. 52, will have to get used to watching him wear No. 14 this season. The senior linebacker is expected to see some time offensively carrying the football in certain situations and the lower number befits a ball carrier.

Colquitt County’s Jeff Hammond said this year’s Packers have a chance to have as good an offense as the school has produced.

And many expect the defense to be just as good.

But when the Packers take to Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium at 7:30 tonight to face Norcross in the annual scrimmage, they will be without seven players who were expected to be prime contributors.

Those players were introduced along with the rest of the 2012 Packers and cheerleaders on Thursday at the annual Meet the Packers banquet sponsored by the Packer Touchdown Club.

After the players were introduced, Packers head coach Rush Propst extolled his team’s depth and quality.

Some of that depth and quality will have to wait at least another week before being put on display.

Offensively, the Packers will be without center Dalton Dillon, guard Seth Weeks and tight end Colby Reneker.

Two corners, Johnny Ward and Michael Sutton, will be sidelined tonight, as will safeties Tony Simpson and O’Shay Williams, leaving defense similarly short-handed.

And the Packers would like to have the defense intact to try to handle running back Alvin Kamara, who has received offers from Georgia and Alabama.

“And Alabama and Georgia don’t offer bad backs,” Propst said.

Norcross will have its entire offensive backfield back from a team that went 8-3 last year.

The Blue Devils run an offense similar to what the Packers will see from North Gwinnett in the Georgia Dome on Aug. 25.

The Packers will try to stop Kamara and the rest of the Norcross offense with a front that will start Jamiyus Pittman and Mike Parrish at the tackles and Ikeem Blakely and Jeffrey Lawson at the ends.

Ta’Phari Wright and Bam Turner will be the primary backups at tackle. Travis Register, Clay Hawkins, I-Key Pinkins and Creig Harris will be in reserve at the end positions.

Propst said that as many as 12 players could play the defensive line positions tonight.

John Gray, who will wear No. 14 instead of his customary 52, will start at middle linebacker.  Quintin Hampton will back him up.

Bull Barge will start at the Sam linebacker, with Sam Holloway behind him.

Brandon Key will be at Will. Tomarcio Reese will spell him.

Carlos Johnson and Quan Patillo will start at the corners, with Bobby Hill, Kenji Thompson and Taif Smith also playing.

Jamal Phillips and Garrett Pearce will start at safety. John Peterson also will play there.

With Dillon on the shelf, Jeffery Davis will start at center. Register will be at right guard and sophomore Cade Blackburn will be at left guard. Octavius Jackson will start at left tackle and Gabe Mobley will be on the right side.

Alfred Brown, Logan Moody and Micah Edwards will rotate in on the offensive line.

John Boatwright will start at one running back. Also carrying the football will be Tim Sanders, Javonta Woods, Maleek Lewis and Sihiem King.

At the X receiver will be Kishaun Taylor, with freshman Kiel Pollard as his backup. Bobby Hill will start at Y, with Dillon Frazier behind him.

Todd Boyd will be the Z receiver. Andy Bush also will play the position.

When the Packers use tight ends, Nate Madison and/or Austin Hunnicutt will be in the game.

Senior Cole Segraves will start at quarterback, but Propst said Daniel Mobley will play.

Tyler Yost will be the punter with Britt Jones snapping.

Andy Bush is the backup punter and John Mark Williams is the alternate snapper. Yost also will be the holder.

Will Bannister will kick the extra points. Roberto Vega will kick off and will make the first field goal attempt.

Hill will be the punt returner and Hill, Lewis and Sanders will return kickoffs.

“My worry is that our kids are not taking this scrimmage seriously enough,” Propst said.