MOULTRIE – Just as football players must work together as one on the field to make up a winning team, Colquitt County High assistant coach Troy Hobbs knows a coaching staff must also be on the same page in order to assure success.

In only his second season on head coach Rush Propst’s staff, Hobbs has the most slashes by his name on the list of assistants (previously, that distinction went to a long-time Propst confidant, Shawn Sutton). But even though Hobbs is now the assistant head coach, and the special teams coordinator, and still holds his original position as inside receivers coach, he shows up to do his job(s) with no more or less dedication than before. Because, after all, he remains one of several names on the roster Propst relies on to get these undefeated and No. 1 ranked Packers ready for a big weekend battle.

“Everyday responsibilities, just like any normal day,” said Hobbs, first addressing the title of assistant head coach and what that means. “(Propst) named me that in the spring. It’s a title. I thank him for it, but I come to work every day and do my job like he wants me to do it. I am the assistant head coach, but I refer to him on things he may need me to do, but there are other things I know from having been a head coach I need to do to keep this ship going in the right direction.”

Now on to Hobbs’ new coordinator’s title. On any football staff, an offensive coordinator works with line coaches, running back coaches and receiver coaches. In the same vein, the defensive coordinator works with tackles and ends coaches, linebacker coaches and secondary coaches.

The special teams coordinator isn’t just figuring out kick coverages and return patterns all by himself. Hobbs said this too is a phase of the game where numerous coaches are looking over the various factors and coming together to form a plan.

“Coach (Jason) Nash did a great job for us last year,” said Hobbs about the 2017 special teams coordinator who moved on to another school in the offseason. “With him leaving, coach Propst brought me in and we talked about it.

“It’s basically special teams by committee. I guess I head it, but every coach on this staff has a different part with me. Coach (Dextra) Polite does punt return. Coach (Phillip) Hale and coach (JR) Ragan do kickoffs. I just head it all up, make sure we have the right kids. I do most of the film study with the guys. We all do it together.”

Here are some of the numbers on special teams for Colquitt County, numbers that cannot be overlooked in how the three games have turned out so far.

Ryan Fitzgerald has a 43.1-yard average on nine punts, and only two times has a kickoff not gone deep in the end zone for a touchback. One of those was an intentional pooch when the senior kicked from the other team’s 45-yard-line instead of his own 40. This means, much more times than not, an opponent needs to go 80 yards or more to score on the “lights out” Packer defense that’s averaging one touchdown allowed per game.

“It’s not just Ryan,” said Hobbs, who started his statement “When you have Ryan Fitzgerald …” “He does a great job of pinning people back.”

Because of the Fitzgerald punting, Thomasville freshman Chad Mascoe had to run the Bulldog offense inside his 15 three times last weekend.

“That’s an advantage,” said Hobbs. “Especially with our defense and the pressure they bring. Being backed up does wonders for our defense. We flip the field whenever he punts the ball. He is a difference maker.

“But you take the other 10 guys on the field with him who are doing a great job of covering on kicks, covering on punts. Our kickoff return team is getting better with Montavious Ponder back deep and those other guys up front blocking. Everybody’s coming together. It’s still early, so we are still putting some pieces to the puzzle on that.”

With Ty Leggett’s injury issues, Ponder has become the Packer to go after kickoffs … whenever the opposing team gets to kick off … again, they are only guaranteed to do one before either half, and one of the four times a team has scored on Colquitt was at the end of the game vs. Trinity Catholic … anyway, Ponder has five kick returns with an average of 28 yards.

“He’s like lightening in a bottle,” said Hobbs about the 5-7 junior who also plays running back. “He hits a crease, and you can’t see him, he may take it to the house. Every time we break it, his motto is ‘Go 6.’ He wants to go to the house every time.”

It was also Hobbs’ duty to coordinate the search for a new long snapper in the kicking unit.

“That was a big piece of that special teams puzzle,” said Hobbs about the graduation of two-year snapper Noah Hightower.

The job went to senior Kaleb Spradley, a former offensive lineman. However, Hobbs said Spradley was banged up in the Trinity Catholic game, so the No. 2 snapper on the depth chart, Max Parker, handled the chores vs. Thomasville.

“That’s a luxury. We have to great long snappers,” said Hobbs. “Max filling in last week, you wouldn’t have known (Spradley was out). He had seven good extra-point snaps and four good punt snaps. They’re interchangeable. Kaleb’s the senior, so he gets a lot of reps. When we can get Max an opportunity, we do.”

That thinking extended to PAT kicking in the Thomasville game when Alex Romulo attempted and made the final try.

Now let’s see what the coach thinks about the receiving game so far in 2018. In the last two games, nine different Packers made a catch from first-year starting quarterback Jaycee Harden, and most of those were receivers.

“That’s what we wanted,” said Hobbs about the balance in distribution. “Last year, Cam Singletary was great. This year, we are an entire unit. We miss Ty Shealey and Cam, but we have a group of guys who understand their roles and what’s necessary inside and out.

“That’s what Jaycee does. He spreads the ball out. He has confidence in each one of them and he knows what they are going to do. (Offensive coordinator Jeff) Hammond puts together a game plan and gives those guys an opportunity to do what they do best for us.”

Hobbs said it was all about developing chemistry between Harden as the new starter and the receivers, and he said it started in the spring and blossomed in 7-on-7 play. Harden then saw what KT Wilson could do, what Marvion McDonald could do, what Desmond Davis could do, what Ja’Naz Graves could do, and so on.

The next time all that work can bear fruit is this Friday on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium vs. Valdosta, a top 10 Class 6A squad and Colquitt’s oldest rival.

“That’s enough said,” said Hobbs. “It’s Valdosta and Colquitt County. We expect to come out and play good football, but we have to play as a team in all three phases to take care of business.”