Staff photo by Robin Rudd / Chattooga senior running back Lashaun Lester is ready to add to his career rushing total of more than 3,000 yards.To read about more schools, click here.
CHATTOOGA INDIANS
Head coach: Shawn Peek (3-8 here; 53-21 overall)
Returning starters: 5 offensive; 7 defensive
Last year's record: 3-8, lost in AA first round
Key players: Lashaun Lester (5-10, 195) Sr. RB/S, Brody Mobbs (5-9, 155) Sr. ATH, Rowan Burdick (5-11, 165) Sr. DB, Zander Cook (6-2, 238) Sr. DE, Devin Heroch (5-7, 205) Sr. LB
Season outlook: The offensive game plan for the Indians would appear to be simple: Unleash Lester and ride his considerable talents back to the Class AA playoffs. He already has 3,000 career rushing yards and enters the season in the best shape of his life, so any Chattooga game plan has to feature Lester, right?
Peek, though, has been around long enough to know even the best backs will only go as far as their offensive linemen take them, and for the Indians that's an area of much concern. There's very little experience up front and not much size, but Peek said the group has shown great progress since the spring.
"We've had a good summer up front and have found five or six guys who have stood out and worked hard," he said. "We were worried in the spring that our (defensive) linemen would have to play 100 snaps a game to go both ways. Right now, if we played today, none of those guys on offense would have to play defense."
A freshman, Rocko Coppola, will start at left tackle, with senior Chandlar Laney at right tackle and sophomore Bubba Bass and junior Thad Teems at the guard spots. Sophomore center Bryson Pollock (6-1, 320) is by far the biggest of the bunch.
And led by Lester, who also is a key part of a talented secondary, the Indians have the skill players to be dangerous.
"There aren't many out there like him," Peek said. "We've got some other guys who can do a lot of things offensively, like (receiver) Jaylon Johnson and athletes Brody Mobbs and Nic Hester."