MOULTRIE – For two years in a row, it was a distinct possibility that Colquitt County High Packer football would only have a nine-game regular season. Some last minute deals with schools outside the state of Georgia got Colquitt to the 10-game maximum for both 2016 and 2017.

In both of those seasons, Colquitt already had one out-of-state opponent on the schedule. One of those games had such a profile that it was picked up for live broadcast on ESPNU. Those cameras were set up on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium, and the national audience saw American Heritage from south Florida defeat the Packers in a close contest.

While the scrimmage portion of the 2018 season has been a problem for head coach Rush Propst (it was reported in the June 12 Moultrie Observer that the Packers had no fall scrimmage opponent in the preseason), he still holds a spot in the regular season for what he calls a ‘national game.’ On Aug. 25, Colquitt County has an 8 p.m. kickoff against Trinity Catholic out of St. Louis, Mo.

This will bring a 5-star quarterback to Moultrie in Isaiah Williams. Williams verbally committed to Illinois in March. He reportedly had more than 60 Division I offers, but he chose to join head coach Lovie Smith. Smith hired Cory Patterson as his tight ends coach during the offseason, and Patterson was Trinity Catholic’s head coach.

“When you play games like we’ve played in the past … we’ve played several teams out of state,” said Propst. “Good football teams. That puts you in the national spotlight.”

There is a ‘way-too-early’ Super 25 by USA Today, and at No. 3 is a school that didn’t win a state championship – didn’t even play for it – in Georgia in Class 7A. That would be Grayson High, which is on the Colquitt County schedule as one of four Packer out-of-town games. But not only do the Rams have linebacker Owen Pappoe (who committed to Auburn in May), there’s linemen Tru Thompson and Wanya Morris, both committed to Florida State. Another lineman, Trente Jones, has committed to Michigan.

Archer High is also there at No. 16 with a few names back from a defense that held Colquitt without a touchdown in the state quarterfinals. They are senior defensive back Jalyn Phillips, lineman Colby Wooden and defensive back Andrew Booth.

The Packers won that game, by the way, 12-7.

Marietta is in the mix at No. 19 with an elite quarterback in junior Harrison Bailey, who threw for 1,885 yards in six games. He missed the rest of the season, seven games, due to injury.

But absent from the list is Colquitt County, which did play for the 7A title in 2017.

“He didn’t realize how many players we had coming back,” said Propst about talking to Jim Halley, who comprised the list. “He’ll probably shuffle that.

“I think your fan base wants to see that. You have no advantage playing teams that are smaller than you. There’s nothing you gain. You are supposed to beat them. If they beat you, everybody’s upset. I’d rather play the big boys like we have in the past.”

Colquitt is playing Thomasville High, a Class AA school just down Hwy. 319, for the next two seasons, and Propst said that’s something he doesn’t mind doing once in a while. He said he thinks having a close rivalry non-region game in addition to Valdosta High is good in addition to the Corky Kell Classic and the ‘national’ game. In 2017, Colquitt played both Vista Murrieta of California and Bishop-Sullivan of Virginia.

Bishop-Sullivan was the third team to take that slot on the schedule after two schools from Florida backed out.

“Both those teams were good with a lot of talent,” said Propst. “When Trinity comes in from Missouri, that’s going to intrigue people. It’s a good weekend to have it because it’s before college football starts.

“I think we’ll have a good crowd with Thomasville. They will bring a great crowd. Most of our people will come (Sept. 1), but you have Georgia opening the next day. You’ll lose a little bit to that.”

Propst started looking at out-of-state football foes while still at Hoover High School, and those games were nationally televised. He said they went to Tulsa Union in Oklahoma in 2006 and became the first team to beat that school at home in 15 years.

At Colquitt, Propst scheduled teams out of Mississippi and Florida not to mention Hoover.

“We’ve played big-time national games and did really well,” he said. “You’re not going to win all of them. But I think it sharpens you. They get ready to play when it’s somebody new.”

COMMITS?

So Colquitt’s schedule has players already committed to the next level, but what about all those Packers brimming with offers?

Propst said it’s still crazy around the school with now 87 colleges coming through, 16 for the first time. This week alone, in addition to the 7-on-7 tournaments (one at Auburn), will involve official visits to Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky. He said 10 to 11 Packers have offers, the most he’s seen here in the month of June prior to a season.

With the new early signing period, which is six weeks before the traditional February signing day, official visits are starting now. Propst said there will be more in July and others during the high school season.

“I don’t let mine take (visits) unless we’re open,” he said. “Like Oct. 5 or Nov. 3, I project some of our guys going on official visits.

“Sometimes, you have to commit early … or you may have a chance of not getting what you want. Unless you’re a 5-star or certain 4-star guy, you get left at the altar so to speak. There are no 5-stars (here). (Tackle) Kam Bell could wind up being a 4-star before it’s done, but right now he’s 3-star. Some of these guys are going to have to commit in August before it gets going good. How do you do that without taking an official visit?”

Bell and cornerback Jay Ward are two Packers in particular with numerous Division I offers, and Propst said by the end of the week those players would have visited a lot of places. He said Ward wants to visit West Virginia and perhaps Iowa State. Bell, too, he said is looking at West Virginia and Florida State. The coach said Bell’s offers are from Ole Miss, Florida, Auburn, Mississippi State and Kentucky. Ward also has a Kentucky and Mississippi State offer plus one from Alabama Propst said is not ‘commitable.’

“There are offers that are commitable and offers that put you in their firing line so to speak,” said Propst. “You are above the cut line, in the conversation every day.”

As for kicker/punter Ryan Fitzgerald, he too has been everywhere there’s a kicking camp or clinic. He has interest from Georgia State plus service academies like Air Force.

“He’s definitely a Division I kicker,” said Propst. “A Power 5 kicker, no question. I don’t know if he’ll be a starting punter, but he could be the back-up punter. But definitely a kick-off and field goal specialist.”