Heritage Generals

Pedal to the metal

In a first season for coach E.K. Slaughter in which his Generals got within one mini-playoff game of reaching the Georgia Class AAAA state playoffs, Heritage surprised a few opponents with its physical style of defense.

However, seven starters were lost from coordinator Jeremy New's unit, including three linemen. Though Isaac Miller and Jacob Riggs are gone - and their combined 116 tackles (26 for loss) and eight sacks - Slaughter believes the defense will be strong again.

"Defensively, we'll be fine," Slaughter said. "We won't have the size there we had last year, but we've got some flexibility to move some kids around."

One proven commodity on the line is junior tackle Tanner Nance, who can move to end in passing situations. Slaughter mentioned Brandon Morell as one of the players who has caught the staff's eye.

The Generals also are trying to piece together the offensive line, and the staff wants to avoid having guys play two ways if at all possible.

"We don't want them to play 100 snaps, which we had to do last year," Slaughter said. "We've got some capable people that are coming along on the offensive line. We've got a couple of guys who have had good offseasons in guards Luke Shehee and Ridge Perkins."

A year ago at this time, Slaughter was trying to get the players to believe they could win after back-to-back seasons of 0-10 and 1-9. He doesn't have that challenge now.

"Last year we were trying to instill some confidence and some swagger into them," he said. "This year they've got that, and now we're trying to tame that back some. That's half the battle, getting them to believe in themselves."

- Capsule by Lindsey Young; contact at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or follow on Twitter: @YoungSports22