Pack to focus on defense during spring practice

Published 3:15 pm Monday, April 24, 2023

MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County football staff will begin the process of replacing eight defensive starters from 2022’s 13-1 team when spring practice opens on Monday, May 1.

The Packers also will be searching for a backup to quarterback Neko Fann, the reigning Region 1-7A Offensive Player of the Year.

The varsity Packers will practice at 6:10 a.m. on May 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9,11,12 and 15 before playing host to Cairo at 7 p.m. on Tuesday May 16, on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium.

Packers head coach Sean Calhoun said the early morning practice times will enable the football staff to work with both the varsity and ninth-grade teams on the same day, to enable college recruiters to get an early jump on seeing the Packers practice and also help the players get their practice in before heading off to class, enabling them to get home earlier in the day.

Spring practice will help Calhoun and his staff assess how well the work the players have put in since the end of the 2022 season will translate to on-the-field performances.

So far, Calhoun has been pleased with how the off-season has progressed.

He said weight-room numbers and speed and agility numbers are improving to his liking.

“We hope those translate into a faster, more explosive team,” he said.

More specifically, Calhoun and his staff — which is the same one that was on board when the 2022 season ended — need to find some new defensive starters.

Colquitt has defensive linemen Tyshon Reed and Amari Wilson and linebacker Nick Pace returning for the 2023 season, but the Packers will need to find replacements for the other eight.

The entire secondary graduated as did four other starters.

Several underclassmen — including linebacker Jerron Blakely and cornerbacks Jah’Boris Fuller and Kam Williams — did get some experience as rotational players.

But there are still some openings on the defensive side of the ball.

On special teams, the Packers return place-kickers Brett Fitzgerald and Ethan Ramirez, but must find a long-snapper to replace the unsung and reliable Will Tapscott.

Also gone is Jack Luttrell, the dual-threat punter.

The Packers will see if they can replace Luttrell with a similar athletic punter or a more conventional kicker.

That search will begin next week as well.

Offensively, the Packers return many of the key performers from the Region 1-7A champion team that scored 564 points last year.

Fann, who since last season was named to the All-Region 1-7A baseball first team, will be back to direct the Colquitt offense.

Over the last two years, he has thrown for 4,782 yards and 59 touchdowns.

The Packers top two receivers also return.

Landen Thomas, ranked as the top tight end in the nation, will be back. Long committed to Georgia, Thomas recently flipped to Florida State

Ny Carr, whose commitment to Georgia is still firm, is one of the state’s top wide receivers.

And with Zay Williams and Markese Wilson also coming back, the Packers have plenty of speed and skill at the wide out spots.

Running back Charlie Pace has taken his considerable talents to Georgia State, but Ramsey Dennis and Day’shawn Brown have shown to be capable at moving the football on the ground.

Three offensive linemen — three-year starter Turk Daniels, Jay’den Williams and JaNas Daniels — will be back, as will Khalil Collins, who got considerable playing time last fall.

Xavier Nickerson, who was injured much of last year, could move into a prominent role on the line this season.

The offensive speed, skill and experience has led the Packers to embrace the mantra “No punts.”

“We don’t want to punt the ball,” Calhoun said. “We want to score.”

Calhoun is optimistic about the prospects for this year’s team.

“Our effort since the end of last year in the weight room and the class room has been at a level to get us to the championship game,” he said. “That is the sign of a team that’s hungry and wants to avenge getting beat (in the semifinals) last year.”

The Packers will compete in three top 7-on-7 competitions this summer, going to Florida State on June 7, Florida on June 14 and Georgia on June 22.

The Packers took part in only two 7-on-7s last year and won them both on back-to-back days at the University of Georgia and at Roswell.

The summer’s 7-on-7s are important in the development of an offense that relies so heavily on the pass.

“We want to compete, to throw and catch and to defend the pass,” Calhoun said. “And we run the stuff (in the 7-on-7s) that we run during the season. We treat it as much like a game as possible.”

Colquitt also will attend a padded camp at Bainbridge on June 27 and 29 and another camp at Fitzgerald on July 18.

“We want to stay busy during the summer, but it is a fine-line with not wanting to burn them out,” Calhoun said. “Monday through Thursday, we work these kids really hard. So we are going to try to give them some three-day weekends.”

The summer work will lead to the August 4 preseason scrimmage against Peach County, which also will be played in Moultrie.

The season-opener will be on Saturday, August 19, against Dutch Fork High, a perennial South Carolina powerhouse, also on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium.

The two scrimmages and the season-opener are three of nine games that will be played in the Hawg Pen in 2023.

Calhoun said he hopes the community will be generous in its support of this year’s team.

“We don’t want to take the time we have with this group of kids for granted,” Calhoun said. “You don’t get kids like Neko, Landen, Ny and Nick all the time.”