Podcast: The Winnersville Winner

TRANSCRIPT:

Jon Nelson: Welcome to another round of the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast here in Georgia Public Broadcasting in GPB Media. Thanks for accessing us, however you are doing so, large device or small, at GPB, GPB.org, the GPB Sports app. Choice D. All of the above. Alongside Hannah Goodin, I’m Jon Nelson. How you doing?

Hannah Goodin: I'm doing good. Week 6. Wow.

Jon Nelson: I know, it seems like it just started and now we're already in Week 6 of Week 15 and really 15 and a half considering that the championships are gonna be a week and a half after the semifinals. But your big takeaways from Week 6, or Week 5 going into Week 6.

Hannah Goodin: Oh, gosh. Our game of the week at the Branch, it was Jefferson versus Flowery Branch. We promised you a show by junior quarterback Malaki Starks and boy, did he perform. He rushed for 131 yards on 14 carries, the Dragons rushed for a total of 310 yards and didn't even attempt to pass play. Jon, why would you when your quarterback is a running back? And the best running back on the team.

Jon Nelson: And Matt — and Matt Stewart is still loving the —  the halftime and the post game comments from Jefferson head coach Gene Cathcart. Matt’s best interview ever that we've ever had on football Fridays.

Hannah Goodin:  He said he was trying to get our ratings up at halftime. He said, we're trying to put on an exciting show for you with the fans and the guys’ energy. Do you think that they put on a show?

Jon Nelson: No, no. No doubt. They — they definitely showed why they are where they are in the polls in the GPB Top Ten’s behind Marist and ahead of Marist, depending on which poll you look at right now with number one or number two in the state in Quad A. So definitely showed why they are what they are. And it was  — we got to show a lot of folks in the state of Georgia, yes, we know that Jefferson knocked off Rabun County earlier in the year — and we got to show them about Jefferson on Football Fridays in Georgia, too.

Hannah Goodin: Final score in that one was 40 to 10. Jefferson moves 5 and 0 on the year and plays East Hall this Friday. Flowery Branch falls to 3 and 2. They have a week off and play North Oconee on October 23rd. What did you see from the sidelines?

Jon Nelson: Well, a lot of rain.

Hannah Goodin: I was feeling bad for you.

Jon Nelson: No you were not.

Hannah Goodin: No. No you're right. I wasn't.

Jon Nelson: But no it was. It was a dominating performance by Jefferson. And you know, when you — and I'm a fan of the triple option, I'll go ahead and say it. I like to see things that are different because these days when everyone's all spread and four wide, and five wide, NASCAR formations and things like that, to see a team that does the triple option and does it as well as they do — it is assignment football. It drives teams crazy. It is the absolute discipline when it comes to defensive assignments and defensive football for a full 48 minutes. And for me, it's always fun to see those different offenses like we got to see last week.

Hannah Goodin: Yeah. And it seems like we're picking some good games. I mean it was by far the most exciting game, I thought, of the night. What other games did you have your eye on Jon?

Jon Nelson: Eleventy billion of them. Let's see. Winnersville, Swamp War.

Hannah Goodin: Winners — Well, OK, OK, that that was exciting.

Jon Nelson: Yeah. And we'll have Jamey DuBose, the Head Coach of the Lowndes Vikings, coming up. He's the guest this week here on the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast. Swamp War, that one for me, big win for Charlton County. Knocking off Clinch gets a signature win for Russ Murray with his young kids. They only have seven seniors on the Charleton program right now. They put a lot of freshmen last year. Those freshmen are sophomores. Big win in the region of doom for Charlton. Also, another big win in the region of doom in Single A: Irwin, goes to Quitman and knocks off Brooks 21-13. So that was a big win for Irwin as they're getting healthy, they're getting to full song. Maurice Freeman. I give Coach Freeman a lot of credit because when he went on social media after the game was over, he said — and I'm going to probably use this quote all week long, if not all season long — he said that when you get an L, it doesn't mean a loss. It means a lesson.

Hannah Goodin: Love that.

Jon Nelson: And he said that he anticipates playing and seeing Irwin again later in the season. It would not surprise me if those two decided to go — the way that the brackets shape up if those two played again deep in the Single A public season would not surprise me one bit. Big win for Brookwood over Marietta, Grayson survives Mill Creek, North Gwinnett shut out over North Cobb. In South Georgia, Lee County knocking off Warner Robins holding them to 7 points. Carrollton got a big win over Rome. Ware County, Jason Strickland, my weekly column is gonna be on Ware County after their win over Benedictine. Coffee, a big win over Camden. Oconee County: Pack a lunch, pack a dinner trip. You know, they won again 14-6 over Veterans. Appling beat Wayne. Fitzgerald knocked up Pierce County. So those are the ones that are on my list; what about yours?

Hannah Goodin: Well, I had the Grayson-Mill Creek game.

Jon Nelson: Yeah.

Hannah Goodin: Second overtime —

Jon Nelson: Uh-huh.

Hannah Goodin: De’yon Cannon throws the 9-yard touchdown pass to Jaden Smith to clinch the victory, then they stopped the fourth down conversion.

Jon Nelson: Right.

Hannah Goodin: That was exciting.

Jon Nelson: Yes.

Hannah Goodin: That was a good game. That's the one I wanted to talk about.

Jon Nelson: Okay. And you just did. It went to double overtime, and I think that that speaks a lot to what we're seeing out of Mill Creek and don't — and don't think for a second that everybody else who's gonna be playing Grayson this year won't be looking at that tape against Mill Creek to see how they go up against the Grayson Rams.

Hannah Goodin: Dacula won by one point against Lanier, 28-27 was the final on that one. Lanier missed an extra point after holding — after a holding penalty that would have tied the game late in the fourth quarter and Dacula recovered Lanier's onside kick and ran out the clock. The drama.

Jon Nelson: Yeah, we've had — we've had those two on during the playoffs one year. And to be able to see that rivalry kind of grow and emerge out there in Gwinnett County, that one’s also pretty special, too.

Hannah Goodin: And North Gwinnett held North Cobb scoreless. 16 to nothing. The Bulldogs go 4 and 2 on the year. Nice defensive performance.

Jon Nelson: Yeah. And Bill — and Bill Stewart has always prided himself on defense there at North Gwinnett and North Cobb. You know, once again, we saw North Cobb with their big wins this season going into North Gwinnett. So it's going to be a challenge for them as well as we see things continue to work their way forward for both—  both of those teams, North Cobb and North Gwinnett.

Hannah Goodin: Well, we will turn the page and talk about what games we're looking forward to watching after we hear from Coach DuBose.

Jon Nelson: So, as promised, Hannah has promised us that Jamey DuBose, the head coach of the Lowndes Vikings are hanging out with us. And guess what, Hannah?

Hannah Goodin: What, Jon?

Jon Nelson: Jamey DuBose is hanging out with us here on the Football Fridays in Georgia. Coach, good to catch up with you.

Jamey DuBose: Well, it's good to be here. I appreciate your letting me come on today.

Jon Nelson: All right. So the question that I'm sure you've never heard in your entire life ever since Friday night. So how was Winnersville?

Jamey DuBose: Well, it was a lot of fun. Of course, with the times we’re under, believe it or not, they say that the crowds are usually bigger and larger. And, you know, just the excitement is unreal. But I thought the frenzy of the crowd and I thought the excitement of the community was — was second to none. I thought it was great. I felt it was a state championship atmosphere and, you know, it was electric. And, you know, it's just a lot of excitement. And it was great getting to be a part of. And we got — we were fortunate to come out of it with a victory.

Hannah Goodin: It certainly was exciting. Coach. You held Valdosta scoreless. It was 19 to nothing for — through the first three quarters. Take me through that game. And what happened there in the fourth?

Jamey DuBose: Well, you know, we had some breakdowns. We played really sloppy. I felt like in the third quarter offensively, not defensively, but offensively — we came out and I felt like we had a chance to put another one on the board in the first half. We missed an opportunity there after an interception, had the ball first and go with the five. And, you know, we had two plays there that we felt like we could’ve scored on and we missed the opportunity. And — and, you know, we've got three out of it. But then the third quarter came back and we just — we got out a characteristic on offense. We just didn't play very well. I don't know. We played pretty solid all year, but we had a lot of weird things go on that didn't usually happen. We fumbled the ball twice, which — I — I take that back, we fumbled once. Tried to run the clock out late in the game. And, you know, we had some miscommunication on some signals and, you know, just weird things go on. And that — that kind of confused me a little bit. Defensively they were able to get to us on a couple of passes, on some broken coverages and, you know, which has been uncharacteristic of us. We've been a very solid team lining up and running the coverages and doing the things we're supposed to do. But we kind of got — kind of got out of whack a little bit there in the second half. But the proud thing I am of our team is we found a way to win during an adverse situation and during times when things just wasn't going well, we found a way to win. And number one thing is we put it on our shoulders of Jacurri Brown and let him find a way to win late in the game.

Hannah Goodin: Yeah, what a performance by Brown. He rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries, including a game winning 64-yard run in the final minute. He was also 8 to 17 through the air for 101 yards. Two more scores that way. What a kid, coach.

Jamey DuBose: Well he is, he's an outstanding kid and you know let me say this. He's a great football player, but he may even be a better person. And that's what impresses me more than anything when I come in here. Since I've been in this town since last January, I haven’t found one negative thing to be said about this kid, and I'm talking about on — about off the side, the lay on side. Either side you want to talk to about. This guy's a first class guy. And, you know, he just — he's very mature. You know, when you talk to him, you don't think you're talking to a guy that's a junior in high school. You think you're talking to a sophomore, junior in college. And, you know, he — he really carries on conversations. Well, he's very well-respected in the community and on this team, of course. And, you know, it just seems like he's been playing and starting for six years. But, you know, he has been going since a freshman. The guy has accomplished a lot since he's been here already. He's got his sights set on hopefully a state championship. That's what our goals are. And, you know, we don't try to overcomplicate things. It got late and we needed to keep scoring to win and keep that lead in front. So we put it in his hands and he found a way to get in the end zone.

Jon Nelson: And obviously, one of the subplots to — all of the subplots for this game was the fact that there were two coaches who have done tremendous things in their own right in a neighboring state, now doing things with two tremendous programs in the state of Georgia. What's it like going up against Rush when you guys were on the same staff at Eufaula? I think you were an assistant under him at Eufaula, right?

Jamey DuBose: Yeah. He was the first guy to give me a job back in 1993. He hired me at Eufaula. I was there for a couple of years with him and then I went on to Opelika where I became a coordinator there under Spence McCracken, which was a legendary coach in Alabama also. And, you know, I've just been blessed and fortunate to be hired with good guys. And, you know, we — we had battles when I was at Prattville for state championship against Hoover, when he was at Hoover and I was in Prattville, we battled each other for state championship. So we've got a long line of going against each other. And, you know, we've known each other and, you know, he's a good football coach and we come out of all the same tree of coaching. You know, when you go back in Alabama, you got Bill Clark at UAB. Bill and Rush were friends. Me and Bill are friends. I worked for Bill also, you know, and John Grass, which is at Jacksonville State, work for — me and John Grass were actually all Rush’s staff at Eufala together. So, you know, we all come out of the same tree and got kind of a lot of the same beliefs when it comes to how we run a program and, you know, the process that we do to get there. And, you know, so it's always fun and it's great to have great match-ups against people, it’s very competitive. We're friends after the fact but, you know, when the white lines are between us, you know, we — we — we’re gonna get after each other.

Jon Nelson: What's the first lesson that you learned, whether it was from Bill or Spence or Rush that stuck with you as a coach, that helped you formulate your philosophy of being a coach?

Jamey DuBose: Well, our number one thing is you got to be yourself. You can't be Bill Clark. You can't be Rush Propst. You can't be Spence McCracken. You've got to be yourself. And you've got to find out who you are and how you want to run a program. Now, do I steal a lot of things from those guys who I was with? Yes. That's what coaching is about, you steal all the things you like. And, you know, you kinda put them in your twist and what you want to do and how you want to run a process. There are things that you know I admire about Bill Belichick. There's things I admire about Nick Saban that I do in my program that — I mimic what they do, somewhat. You know, maybe not to the extent, but you've got to find those guys that you really want to follow and you go about doing it. But at the end of the day, you've got to be your old self. You can't be them all, but you can steal things from them, of course, to run your program and and look a lot alike. But I've got, you know, I got something different from each one of them. That's a neat question you ask, you know, from Spence McCracken, he was a great people person. And that's the one thing I got out of him, you know, touching the flesh, you know, getting out in the community and getting involved with the community. He was very good at that. And, you know, he was very good with talking with people and how he handled the players, you know. With Rush, he was an X and O guy. You know, Rush was a guy that understood the X's and O's part of it. He understood how to — how to scheme and how to do the things. And then with Bill Clark, he was a program guy. Bill Clark is all about the process. You know, how you got to run your program and what you got to do is like a CEO, as a business. And, you know, so I was fortunate enough to get something from a lot of these guys and put it into action and put it into play to how I run my program.

Hannah Goodin: We're talking about all these legendary coaches across the state. You're definitely one of them, Coach DuBose. What is it like to coach down in Valdosta for those listening who don't understand South Georgia football?

Jamey DuBose: Well, I appreciate the comments you made, the kind remarks about me. I don’t see myself as that, I see — I still see myself as a good assistant coach in some way that's just having a good time. I love what I do but, you know, I tell you: coming to South Georgia, I'd already heard about, you know, Winnersville, I'd heard about Tattnall. I'd heard about the excitement down here that goes along with high school football. But, you know, it's high school football steroids. I mean, I hate to say that, but it really is. It's the closest thing to Texas or to Ohio. I know I played both of those states over my career and I think both of those states have just crazy football fans and — and support, which I think is unreal. And I'd heard about it down here. But when I got down here, you know, I told somebody, you know, I've done radio shows my whole life, you know, during football season. But, you know, down here, I'm doing radio shows about our football team in January and February. That doesn’t happen everywhere. And, you know, I thought that was so unique and so different because we're talking about all season, we’re talking about the upcoming season, we're talking about spring training. We're told about things that are going on in January, February, and March. And I'm attended, and there's people calling in and there's people sending in questions and there's interest about it. And in a way, it never stops. I mean, it's — it's a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week thing. Year-round down here. And people talk about it. And then, you know, I've told the story to ESPN last week, and it's a true story: When I came down here to interview for this job, I gave them my process for winning the state championship, what I believe in. And, you know, at the end of the interview, one of the board members raised his hand and I said, “Yes, sir?” He said, “Coach, that is a great talk and we're excited about it, but how much film have you've seen of Valdosta? What do you think about Winnersville?” And I found out real quick how big that game meant to the community and what it meant. But, you know, it's — it's a unique place down here. But I will tell you, some of the best support I've ever had comes down here. They've got a tremendous touchdown club. This place at three o'clock in the afternoon, they get school let out and immediately they start letting tailgaters in. I'm talking about — I peeked out at the first home game at about 4:15 in the afternoon — I peeked out of my office in the parking lot and it’s wrapped up. 

Jon Nelson: Good luck finding a parking space. Well, because as you and I both know, the Four Seasons are not summer, fall, winter and spring. It's football season. It's spring football. It's crootin and National Signing Day. Those are the Four Seasons.

Jamey DuBose:  Well, and they live it here. And when I tell you that, it's — you know, it's — I'm busy every day with football. Somebody always ask, you know, what are you doing all season? Well, of course, working kids out. But I'm still meeting with people, I'm talking at civic organizations. I'm doing radio shows. We have something going on down here year round with football. I found that out after I got here in January and it's just — you know, just a few weeks ago for Winnersville coming up. Matter of fact, I was headed home about 9:30 at night and I looked over when I went past the board office where they sell tickets and there was people lined up on the street at 9:30 at night on the sidewalk. And I was — I had to whip in because I was like, what? What's going on? So I turn in. And I ask somebody, they said, well, we're here, we've been waiting in line all afternoon to get our Winnersville tickets. And I said, well, how long are they open? They said about 11, 11:30 if we don't get up there by that time — I said what do you do? They said, we'll be back here at 4:00 a.m. in the morning, getting back in line to get them. So it's just the passion of it, like I said, and the support. And it's — it's just an unreal situation. But we have good talent here. There's been legends go through here, and I'm just happy that I was a part of it and had the opportunity to be a part of one Winnersville anyway, right now.

Hannah Goodin: Right now, at the top of the show, I was telling Jon, I can't believe we're in Week Six. There's still a lot more Lowndes home games and fans to pack the stadium to go. Let's talk about your schedule a little bit. I see you have Alcovy coming up this Friday. You got Colquitt County, November 6th. I'm looking down the line, you know, which games do you have circled on your calendar?

Jamey DuBose: Well, you know, for me as a coach, I'm mean — I'm — well I’ll give you the coach spiel, which is truth about me, is that they’re all circled. I take them all like it's a state championship game. But we've got Alcovy this week and then Mitchell County coming up the next week. And then we follow it with our region games, which will be Tifton first here. And then we've got to go to Colquitt, which I've heard is a tough place to play over there. I've heard it's a very difficult place and, you know, their fans are right on top of you and they get after it also at Colquitt. So we're looking forward to that trip over there, which I guess is a circled game right now. Colquitt is a very good football team. They've got some really talented players and they've got some tradition. And I think right now at our region, that's the one that everybody’s kind of looking at as possible, could be the possible region champion. But then we got Camden at the end of the year, which has had spurts this year to show — Coach Spire does an excellent job and they've been playing really well. So, you know, we got them at the end of the year, so — and we get a break before playoffs come. But I would think right now, you know, you look at our schedule four of those five are at home and that's an advantage to us. I — we played Lee County here a couple of weeks ago. And, you know, I've been fortunate enough to be in some other that Cincinnati Bengals Stadium up been down in Miami and play Miami Northwestern. And, you know, we've been all over the world or all over the Southeast and played high school football, I feel like. And, you know, I’ll tell you — we played Lee County a couple weeks ago and it may have been the loudest place I've ever been in our state —

Jon Nelson: All those motorcycles?

Jamey DuBose: Yeah, it was — it was crazy. A lot of times I hear —

Jon Nelson: No doubt.

Jamey DuBose: Yeah. Well, our band, you know, is 400 plus members, the Bridgemen are just incredible. And then our fans get loud. If the Bridgemen aren’t playing I think our fans get louder than the Bridgemen. So it was just this concrete palace down here — I don't know if it's because of the concrete or what, but it's — it's tough on teams and there when it gets loud and, you know, it's just an incredible atmosphere. So to tell you we got four of the next five at home is a really good feeling for me as we get through the schedule and get there. But it's going to be a tough one over in Colquitt County to go to Moultrie and play them.

Jon Nelson: Where do you think you are as a team right now?

Jamey DuBose: You know, we're still growing. I mean, you know, I'm still new. Our staff is still new here with the shutdown and all. I've been proud of our kids on how they've handled everything we've put in front of them. And I think they've handled it in a mature way. I think they're really focused to try to get back to the state championship game. My motto when I came in here with them was this: You know, no senior wants to see a new head football coach come in because everybody wants to say it was a three-year process. Well, I'm not that way. I came here and told our seniors, you know, we're at Lowndes and Lowndes reloads, we don't rebuild. And and what we were out to do, as I told them, our goal No. 1 is to win Winnersville. No. 2 is to go undefeated. And No. 3, win the region. And at No. 4, be in the state championship game. So right now, we've won Winnersville, we're still undefeated at the moment. So as I told them this past weekend, all our goals are still in front of us at the halfway point and we are in control of our destiny right now. So we've got to go seize the moment each and every week and try to get to our goals and keep knocking them off. But, you know, we're — we're  — our — our season — it — we're getting better. We'll get to know each other. You know, our motto around here is, “one percent better every day.” And, you know, a lot of people talk about how much you've got to be 100% better. I don't think that's realistic. You know, we told our kids, just go out and give me one percent more than you did the day before. If you could do that in learning video, if you can do that in becoming a better teammate, if you can do that in becoming a better football player, then we're gonna have a chance to play in December. And that's what we're trying to sell them on right now and our guys are doing a great job of just doing that and trying to be that one percent better each and every day.

Hannah Goodin: Seize the Moment is kind of the theme of high school football across the country with the landscape we’re in because of this pandemic. How has this season been different for you?

Jamey DuBose: Well, I mean, it's the unknown. I mean, I'll tell you, you know, from the season, whether not — and you're right, we're going to Week 6 right now. And it still amazes me we’re in Week 6 because at one time, I didn't know if we'd have a Week 1. And, you know, I'm just happy that our seniors are getting to play. That was my whole ambition behind this, is our seniors being able to play the game and finish out their career. But, you know, I'll tell you what, it's — it's been it's been the unknown because, you know, you don't know from week to week who you’re gonna have. We still have at our school the tracing, the one all where, you know, we'll have athletes possibly sent home for sitting next to somebody or around somebody that tested positive for COVID. You could lose them and they could go into quarantine for 14 days, that may be two football games. That's happened to us, you know, two times this year, I think. So, you know, we keep our fingers crossed every day that we continue to work and we continue to grow. And you know that we have all our teammates here. We're all healthy. We — you know, we do a lot of different stuff now than we used to do. I have to sanitize, you know, we've got sprayers that we sanitize the locker rooms every night and the weight room. We're doing that every day when they come in, when they come out, we're washing things on a repetitive basis. We're having to cut down on the numbers in meetings and doing things. And, yes, you know, there's a lot of different things we're having to do. Even today, I'm sitting in here as we get into Week 6, and, you know, I'm trying to come up with ways how we can limit access to things but continue this program and continue it going. So, you know, it's made things more difficult this year. But I would sum it up, my best word about this year is “unknown,” because it's a day by day task to come in. It's gotten better because, I will tell you, during the summer, we would show up for work, wait and see what the next protocol would be or what next week would hold. And, you know, fortunately now we've been able to get going better and do things. But it's still, to me, the unknown of what you know, what does November hold mean? We're in October, but what does November have for us? So, you know, we just hope that we can continue to go as we’re going on right now. And if we can, you know, hopefully we'll be successful.

Jon Nelson: Well, Coach, thanks for hanging out with us, especially after your first Winnersville Classic heading into the game at — at the Palace this week with Alcovy. Thanks for hanging out with us here in the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast. We'll be keeping an eye and we'll catch up with you soon.

Jamey DuBose: Well, thank you so much. And go Vikings.

Jon Nelson: Good to have Jamey DuBose on, the head coach of the Lowndes Vikings after his first Winnersville experience.

Hannah Goodin: Good stuff, I love when a coach is candid and tells you really how it is and how he's feeling. And I felt that he gave us a lot of good information.

Jon Nelson: Alright. Heading into Week Six, what's on your mind for the games that you have — that you have in your spot shadow? I've got like eleventy billion in mind. What are on your mind?

Hannah Goodin: You know the game that's on mine, Jon.

Jon Nelson: Yes, I do.

Hannah Goodin: It's our Football Friday Game of the Week! We are heading to the Big Orange Jungle, one of my favorite places.

Jon Nelson: Well some of us are heading to the Big Orange Jungle.

Hannah Goodin: Well, you are. I get to watch the game from the studio.

Jon Nelson: Uh-huh.

Hannah Goodin: This one's in Lilburn, it's a Region 4-AAAAAAA battle between Newton and No. 5 Parkview. The Rams are loaded with college prospects, including senior cornerback Nyland Green, who I spoke to for the Recruiting 2020 show. He's being looked at by Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee. I could keep going on.

Jon Nelson: Yes.

Hannah Goodin: So look for their defense to be really stacked. He said he just wants to execute against Parkview and get the win. I asked for his recruiting process. He has not committed yet. Doesn't even have a timeline. He is focusing on the here and now in this Parkview game. So I am really excited to see what that Newton defense brings against a high powered Parkview Panthers offense, Jon.

Jon Nelson: GPB Sports Recruiting 2020 starts your Friday night at seven o'clock. Kickoff of Football Fridays in Georgia with Newton visiting Parkview a little after 7:30. And then after the conclusion of the game, the evening resets. So you'll — if you missed Recruiting 2020 the first time, it comes on after the broadcast ends on the live side, then the football game comes on after that. So our football lineup for Friday replays after we go off the air live with Newton and Parkview this week. Alright, here's a small sample of my games to watch. Grayson at South Gwinnett. Mill Creek, North Gwinnett. Camden at Warner Robins. Cartersville, Cass. HoCo and Veterans. Hapeville Charter, Marist. BC, Appling County. Early County and Thomasville. Athens Academy and Wesleyan, Macon County and Taylor, and Wilcox and Wheeler. That is just a small sample of what is on my mind this week.

Hannah Goodin: I'm looking at my alma mater. I'm looking at their schedule to see.

Jon Nelson: Yeah, who does Lassiter have this week?

Hannah Goodin: Lassiter is playing Kennesaw Mountain. Lassiter is 1 and 5. Okay, Kennesaw Mountain’s 1 and 4. So maybe the Trojans will win one.

Jon Nelson: OK, so Lassiter and Kennesaw Mountain, Hannah’ll be keeping an eye on that one. So once again, seven a seven o'clock Recruiting 2020 with Hannah and me and Matt Stewart. Kickoff with Matt, Wayne, Hannah, and the GPB army is a little after 7:30 here on Georgia Public Broadcasting. Once again, thanks to Jamey DuBose for hanging out with us, the head coach of the Lowndes Vikings. It's good to catch up with him because you're going into that cauldron that is Valdosta City football, Lowndes football. And, you know, it's — you got Rush at one school and you got Jamey DuBose at the other school and they go against each other in their first Winnersville Classic. That was some good stuff.

Hannah Goodin: Something we didn't last ask him about — he kinda answered it — is the pressure. So much pressure down there.

Jon Nelson: Ehhhh. Yeah, I know. I know, it's — it's one of the great environments for high school football here in the state of Georgia. We'll keep an eye on their schedule as we go, as they head into region play in Region 1-AAAAAAA. Final thoughts before we go:

Hannah Goodin: Don't forget Countdown to Kickoff every Wednesday at noon on the GPB Sports Facebook Live. We recap. We preview. We touch on — we touch on the games in the podcast, but we really break things down a bit further in our thirty-minute show there on Wednesdays. Join us.

Jon Nelson: And we also and we also have the most important question that we always ask every single Wednesday. What's for lunch?

Hannah Goodin: Yeah, the best part about that show is we interact. So if you're commenting during the live show, we bring you on and we call you out. And Jon's favorite question to ask everybody is what’s for lunch as well, as our stomachs growl through the mics.

Jon Nelson: Basically, yeah. So we get — it gives us good ideas to what we can get after we're done taping the — doing that particular show, getting ready for Recruiting 2020. That is another round of the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast here at Georgia Public Broadcasting. Thanks for hanging out with us. Thanks for accessing us however you are doing so. Like, friend, be a part of the conversation on all the social media platforms. Alright, so let me get this straight. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and subscribe to the YouTube channel.

Hannah Goodin: Yeah. So my — my interviews, these Zoom interviews with these recruits will be on YouTube and obviously on the Recruiting 2020 show. But YouTube is a good spot to get a sneak peek of those because I put them up before the show

Jon Nelson: A little — little sneak peek?

Hannah Goodin: You can just go to the YouTube page and watch it.

Jon Nelson: A little preview? As always, the Football Fridays in Georgia podcast is produced by the irreplaceable Sean Powers. We'll be back doing this again next week. Play it safe, everybody. Enjoy the game.

Transcript by Eva Rothenberg