Preps Preview: Murray County Indians

Friday, August 17, 2012

BY THE NUMBERS1 - Spots dropped from Murray County's GHSA classification, down to Class AA for this season.4 - A's in the Indians' classification the last time they had a winning season.83 - Times that Murray County threw the ball last season.SCHEDULEAug. 31 Coahulla CreekSep. 7 at Christian HeritageSep. 14 Gordon CentralSep. 21 at Armuchee*Sep. 28 at Chattooga*Oct. 12 Model*Oct. 19 at Calhoun*Oct. 26 Dade County*Nov. 2 at Pepperell*Nov. 9 Coosa** Region 7-AA game

MURRAY COUNTY INDIANS

Coach: John Hammond (second season, 2-8 here and overall)

Stadium address: 1001 Green Road, Chatsworth, GA 30705

RECENT HISTORY

The Indians took a hit when North Murray County High School began playing football in 2009, because some players were zoned for the new school. The Indians have won only two games in each of the last three seasons and last had a winning season in 2005, when they went 7-4.

Here's a look at the regular-season win total for the last five years:

2011--2*

2010--2

2009--2

2008-1

2007---------9

* Received two forfeit wins

THREE STRENGTHS

1) Work ethic. Coach Hammond said the Indians had a historic level of participation during summer workouts. "It's been good so far in our early practices, and we're getting in shape," he said. "We've used the early part of the day to get better."

2) Youth improvement. The Indians had four freshmen and two sophomores who started last year. Junior defensive tackle Clay Thornbury is leading the way while sophomore linebacker Jordan Walls and classmate Spencer Baggett are helping to carry the leaderships role.

3) The quarterback. Senior Brady Todd was a quality leader last season before he broke his collarbone. The Indians moved running back Jake Born, now graduated, into the quarterback position and it produced few victories. But Brady is back. "He is our leader, and when he went down, it showed in our first game," Hammond said.

THREE CONCERNS

1) Team speed. The Indians have little size and perhaps even less speed, which is not a good combination. Hammond said his biggest player is 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds. "We're not big enough on defense to play a base, so we're going to have to move a lot," he said. "We'l be stunting guys and moving kids to get them in position."

2) A lack of players. Hammond is honest. "The biggest issue is depth on our offensive and defensive lines. We graduated four from our offensive line, so we have to find four replacements."

3) The unknown. The Indians are playing in Region 7-AA for the first time in school history. "We've never played any of the teams in our region," Hammond said. "We don't know anything about them and have no past history. It's going to be a new experience."

THREE QUESTIONS WITH BRADY TODD

(Senior quarterback)

Q: How much time do you spend in the team meeting and video room?

A: I spend about 30 minutes after practice each day going over things.

Q: What's the most time you've spent in this meeting room?

A: Probably about two hours. I looked at what the defense was going to do and how I could get better.

Q: What sort of season are you expecting?

A: We don't think we'll win them all, but we feel that we'll get a few this year. It's not going to be like last year when we were losing 70 to nothing.


ROSTER

1 Spencer Baggett - Sophomore

3 Alex Younquist - Freshman

5 Andrew Grigsby - Sophomore

6 Cole Moore - Sophomore

8 Justin Smith - Sophomore

9 Brian Trout - Senior

10 Christian Torres - Sophomore

12 Zach Harry - Senior

14 Petee Waldon - Freshman

15 Brady Todd - Senior

17 Aaron Chambers - Junior

19 Miguel Barajas - Senior

20 Trent Glover - Freshman

21 Tristan Green - Freshman

22 Leon Pritchett - Senior

24 Bailey Rogers - Sophomore

26 Ethan Weaver - Sophomore

28 Nathan Williams - Sophomore

29 Jordan Wall - Junior

31 Tielor Johnson - Freshman

32 Matthew Scott - Freshman

33 Donnie Silvers - Senior

41 Jacob McClure - Freshman

42 Gavin Weaver - Junior

48 Antohny Boggs - Senior

50 Zach Broome - Junior

51 William Hernandez - Freshman

53 Kevin Chavez - Sophomore

55 Willy Amador - Senior

57 Justin Trout - Sophomore

58 Dakota Patterson - Junior

59 Seth Gilbert - Junior

61 James Domingo - Sophomore

62 Mikey Palmer - Senior

63 Clay Thornbury - Junior

65 Madison Cook - Junior

67 Brandon Epperson - Senior

68 Kolton Clayton - Senior

69 Tino Wheat - Senior

70 Diego Leon - Freshman

72 Kevin Pintor - Sophomore

73 Kyle Padgett - Senior

75 Zach Ellis - Sophomore

76 Allen Roberts - Senior

77 Leon Reyes - Senior

78 Garrett Hammonds - Freshman

79 A.J. Martinez - Senior

80 Trey Burnette - Freshman

81 Jon Logan - Freshman

85 Hector Perez - Freshman