MOULTRIE – When Colquitt County met Coffee in the recent spring football finale in Douglas, the newest member of the Packers staff felt right at home.
Javiontae Martin, who is the team’s new defensive line coach, played his high school football for Coffee High and had some memorable moments on the field at Jardine Stadium.
Martin then went on to play at Valdosta State and was an outstanding player for the Blazers before suffering a season-ending knee injury in the fifth game of the 2022 senior season.
But he remained at Valdosta State, serving as an assistant defensive line coach in 2023 and 2024.
Martin played on some excellent teams for both the Trojans and the Blazers and will put that knowledge to use as he fills the final vacancy on the Colquitt County defensive line staff.
He joins defensive coordinator Stan Luttrell, linebackers coach Zach Stanaland, safeties coach Brian Simmons and cornerbacks coach Dextra Polite.
He started at defensive end and tight end for head coach Robby Pruitt at Coffee and the Trojans were a combined 27-12 during his final three seasons.
Coffee reached the state championship game his senior year in 2017, but the Trojans came up short against Lee County, falling 28-21.
During his senior season at Coffee, Martin had 89 tackles, including 11 sacks, and was named to the All-Region 1-6A first team.
At Valdosta State, he contributed to three Gulf South Conference championship teams and was part of the Blazers 2018 National Championship team.
As a freshman at Valdosta State in 2018, he played in five games and was credited with an assisted tackle as the Blazers won the Division II National Championship over Michigan’s Ferris State University.
The next season, he played in all 11 games with eight solo stops among his 22 tackles.
He also was credited with 2.5 tackles for losses and assisted on a sack.
He had a season-high five tackles against Mississippi College.
As a junior in 2021, he played in all 14 games and had 10 starts on the defensive line for the national runner-up Blazers.
His best performance resulted in eight tackles against Delta State.
In the loss to Ferris State in the National Championship game, he was credited with four tackles.
He was named a team captain and again started for the Blazers in 2022. But his season and career were cut short by the ACL tear.
Martin was credited with 102 tackles as a Blazer.
In 2023, in his first season on the Valdosta State staff, he helped lead the Blazers to another conference championship and a berth in the Division II national quarterfinals.
He was on the Valdosta State staff again last year when the Blazers reached the National Championship game, only to come up short against Ferris State.
Martin earned his undergraduate degree in exercise physiology with a minor in coaching from Valdosta State in 2021.
In 2024, he completed his master’s degree in teaching in health and physical education, also from VSU.
Martin also is a certified exercise physiologist.
He takes over a defensive line group that lost a pair of key starters from last year’s 8-4 team: Amari Wilson, who is headed to Georgia Southern, and Jartavius Flounoy, who will play at Georgia State.
But the line built depth in 2024 and this year’s contingent of Stacey Lambright III, Nyneson Jeudy Jr., Kamdon Gay, Ja’Corey Anderson and Ty’Mhyr Moore is expected to be a strong one.