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BULLDOGS. ..
Trion Head Coach Sosebee
Previews 1986 Grid Season
THE NEWS: I understand that there are some new assistant
coaches in Trion this season. Tell me something about all your
assistants,
SOSEBEE: Of course Coach Ron Williams is back with me
and he does a real good g"ob. He's going to be headinF up my front
7 on defense and coaching the offensive backs. I hired 2 new
coaches — one of them (Gid Samples) coached with me at
Logansville and I think he's ?oing to be a real good addition to
the staff. He heads u%our offensive line and coaches our defen
sive line. T also hired Robert Smith and I think he’s going to be
another fine addition also. He will head up our secondary and
he also assists with the offensive line. Also, we have Coach Dean
Hollis back from last year. He'll be strictly workir;fi;vith our B
team program and my other varsity assistants will work with
the B-team J)rogram. I feel that we are down on numbers and
that we need to really stress getting the fundamentals back up
down there with our younger kids too. So, every coach on the
staff is not only to have varsity responsibility, but B-team respon
sibility also. Coach Williams is going to be heading up our boys
basketball. Coach Samples is going to head u wrestfing for us
and Coach Smith is going to be doing our girrs basketball. I'm
going to do baseball and one of the other assistants is going to
work with me on baseball. Coach J. W. Greenwood is back with
us. He is foing to work the tennis and golf programs and B-team
basketball. I feel like staff-wise we've got one of the best staffs
Trion has had in a long, long time. We want to get all areas of
our athletic profgram a'illp to par as far as competing and this tfi'pe
thing. Not just football, but we have a lot of work to do in basket
ball, particularly our girls program and we want to stress all areas
of our sports program here at Trion.
* * *
THE NEWS: Will you be using the ‘wishbone’ offense this
season; as you did last year?
SOSE B{IE: Yes, I really believe in the wishbone, particular
ly in a situation where you're in small schools. I've never been
in a real big school. Even at West Rome it's not like an AAAA
school where you've got 150 athletes out there. I think unless
you're going to have a situation where year in and year out you're
going to have that big 180-200 pound kid that can step in there
and ?lay tailback and take the kind of punishment you take from
an ‘1" or something, the wishbone is a great offense. The reason
I say that I think it is a team offense. I think all Llyour backs have
to work together. I don't think you necessarily have to have
tremendous talent to run it. There is a misconception about the
offense. A lot of people think that {du have to have more talent
to run the wishbone than other offenses — and that’s not true.
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we are a small class A school. Things have changed in the last
15 to 20 years. As far as the other programs I thixfi( that they've
essentially gone up and I am not sure that maybe we’ve stood
still or not progressed. They’re on weights heavy now. They have
more kids to choose from. Right now, we're as far as a region
schedule, one of the smallest schools in our region, now that%ed
Bud and Fairmount opted to play non-region. Armuchee has 388.
Ours is 180-something; same witi Bowdon. Gordon Lee has more
than us; Chattanooga Valley more and East Rome u;;lto 300. So,
we definitely know that we are going to have one of the toughest
region schedules for the next two years Trion ever had. So, we
need every advantage we can get and I think in running the
wishbone and working on the B-team level all the way up that
it's best suited for the kind of kids we've got, but it does take
time to get it established and I think we realized that last year.
THE NEWS: Did you install the ‘wishbone’ offense in Trion
because of the talent and athletic ability of the players, or do
you just prefer the ‘wishbone’?
SOSEBEE: I believe in it because I've been around some
great coaches, I think, in my time. Roy Lamb — I started out
doing my student teaching with him and he’s won over 200 games
as head coach. He's been running that offense for 15 years. . . so
has Mike Hodges, former West Rome Coach now at Thomasville,
Dan Pitts who has won over 200 Fames runs it at Mary Persons.
Those guys have influenced me a lot in coaching. I've been around
them in a lot of clinics and coached with them also. I feel like
I know the offense, but as far as setting the “I"” done or anythin
like that, we could do it. I just feel comfortable with it. I thinfi
it's a team offense and I think according to your ;})lersonnel you
can dictate what you are going to do. If you don’t have the type
to run the option you can be more of the power lllzlype But, if you're
sitting there in the “I"” or something there’s only so many things
you can do out of it and you better have a 180 or 200 pound
tailback that can carry t}:‘e ball 25 or 30 times a ball game.
THE NEWS: How is the offense unit coming along?
SOSEBEE: The last 4 or 5 ball games last year we were as
different as night and day. We've got a lot of things to do on
our offensive line. We're going to be a real young team. We only
have four seniors on the squad. We're justafiomg through one
of those cycles here at Trion. We have small classes, not that
many athietes that want to participate or just not that many
athletes in the classes period. You're talking about 60 or 70 kids
and half of these girls. You're lucky to get 8 or 10 good athletes
out of these. We feel like we're improving. We know that our kids
have got a good attitude. One thinfi that happens when g'ou come
in to a place and start working kids and I'm talking about year
round, you've got to do that, particularly anymore to compete,
at schools like Trion which is going to be short on numbers and
have less athletes than say for example East Rome. You don’t
have to phase them out. Th((?' phase themselves out. The kids
that courdn‘t take it, that didn’t want to pay the price, they’ve
eliminated themselves from the program. I feel like that probably
we had some kids out there last year that hung on that maybe
just didn’t have their heart in it and those kind of things. All
it does is hold you back. We've got about 30 kids left out there
right now on the varsity. They have paid the price. They've gone
through the off-season program. They know what's expected of
them. I'd rather have 25 to 30 that want it than 50 out there
where 5 or 10 of them are %oing to cause you problems and always
talking this quitting stu i and*t.hat }und of thing.
THE NEWS: How do the Bulldogs look defensively?
SOSEBEE: We've been putting a lot of time in on defense.
The problem we have is, early on, I thought we were going to
be able to play more people. But, like I say we’ve had some kids
hase out of the program and we have come around on defense
?feel like. We stfil have a long way to go there too. There's no
doubt that we're going to be better than we were last year defen
sively. We're going to be able to do more things. We're goinfi
to be able to give some different looks. Last year we were sti
emphasizing glocking and tackling (I know you've got to em
hasize that all the time) the sth or 6th week of the season. Our
Eids were as fundamentally poor as most B-team football pro
grams you'd see. I think that attributed to just lack of doing what
they needed to do over the last few years.
I think you have to do more
coaching to run it, because it is
the type offense where there is
a lot of reading and this type
thing involved. Also at times we
are not ioing to have the big of
fensive lineman that can set in
there and block even if we work
hard on the weights as a 200
pounds tackle from a LaFayette
or East Rome team or whatever.
And, we do a lot of veer block
ing. which means we release in
side or outside with our tackles
and read them, and what they do
dictates what we are going to do.
If they come down and take our
fullback, we are going to pull and
go out and have another option
off of it. I think that gives us an
advantage because, let's face it,
THE NEWS: How about the kicking game? Who will likely
handle the punting, kick-offs and field ¥oals?
SOSEBEE: We have a lot of potential there. We have David
Peek comin%off the B-team. He‘fl be doing our kick-offs and ex
tra points. That's a vital part of your game. That cost us two
ball games for sure last year. If we had ended up 6-3-1 that would
have been a successful season for us considering the cir
cumstances we came in under. I feel like it's going to improve.
He's real inexperienced. He's only been on the B-team and I'm
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games. If you don’t emphasize it you can be really versed in every
one but you go out there, miss an extra point and that costs you
a ball game; or you can't make a field goal when you need to or
get a punt blocked. It's not just being afile to have a good punter,
it's the whole area of it. As far as kick returns and that the thing,
at small schools you can only spend so much time on things and
that’s one area I don't think that's going to beat you. We work
on fielding, but we don’t put a lot of time in on kickoff returns
and punt returns and that type thing. Of course, we don’t have
a tremendous amount of speed, so I think it is foolish to sit out
there and spend 45 minutes a day working on setting up a wall
for a punt return or something. Because, in high school ball, nor
mally, you don’t get the ball kicked that deep anyway. Unless
it's punted 40 to 45 yards, setting up a wall really doesn’t do
you that much good anyvxay. . ¢
THE NEWS: Is Trion going to be a better offensive or defen
sive team this season?
SOSEBEE: I really hope we'll have pretty good balance. I
don’t think we're going to have a trememfous offensive or defen
sive team. We'll have to scrape for everything we can get. But
I do feel like we'll be better on both si(i;s of the ball, %)ecause
we're stronger and our kids are better technique-wise: We have
better discipline with our kids as far as self-giscipline. We had
discipline last year — we established that from day one that we
were goinito work at Trion. We were going to say yes-sir and
no-sir and have discipline. But, we didn’t have self-discipline, and
in football, self-discipline is as big a key as anything. If you can’t
motivate yourself; if you can't get out there and go when you
figt a little bump on you or bruise — then you're not going to
very good.
5 * * *
THE NEWS: Who are some of the younger players that will
see playing time?
SOSEBEE: As far as experience, we have Richard Tucker
back at quarterback; Rusty Maddux at fullback; the Covington
boys, Sheldon and his brother, George — We're expecting big
things out of them. These four boys are the only seniors we've
got. We were counting on a freshman, Dewayne Bynum, to start
or us. He's really worked hard, but he broke his leg the other
day so we are not going to have him. We've got another kid that
was Foing to start for us on the line that's coming around and
isonly a gunior, Derek Davis. He's got a bad sprain and has been
on crutches the last couple of days. I think he'll be back. Heath
Whited and Tim Deßerry have really looked good. They played
some last year, but they didn't start all the time. Both are runn
ing backs and play on defense. Heath just had an accident and
I'm not sure about his status. I feel like, if he progresses we might
have him for the first gax;le an*d we*might not.
THE NEWS: How many returning starters do you have from
last season?
SOSEBEE: We've got (either starters or played a lot) pro
bably 6 or 7 guys on both sides of the ball. Even though we're
inexperienced, most of our guys are coming back. Our quarter
back started all last year. Our fullbacks started all last year. Both
of our halfbacks at least played some. Our center started last
year until he had a knee injury. Our guards started. Coming in
you don’t know your personnel that well and we've had to flip
around, so they may have started at one position last year, say
as a back, and now we've got them on the line. We've basically
got 5 to 6 folks on both sides of the ball that have got playing
experience.
* * *
THE NEWS: LaFayette is your opening game opponent.
What do you know about or anticipate from the Ramblers and
how do the Bulldogs match up with them?
SOSEBEE: I know they run the wishbone just like we do.
The key to their team is their backs. They got everybody back
from last year. They've probably got as good a group of backs,
as a whole, as anybody in the northwest Georgia area. In the
spring game, they destroyed Calhoun who had a real good season
last year. I've got the spring %ame here but haven't had a chance
to break it down yet, but we'll be looking at that film this week.
Trying to prepare . . . 1 basically know pretty much, what they're
going to do. Defensively, I look for them to play a ‘SO shade’ and
some 5-3. The key is going to be putting the helmet on those big
backs. I think their line is not going to be all that good. It wasn’t
that fiood last year and they graduated some eopFe. I don't think
it will be any worse than it was either. TEey've got this big
Allgood kid back. The thing about it, their offensive backs are
the strongest geople they've got too. Their left halfback, at 160,
won a f)ower-li inichampionship. The other halfback is over 200,
6-2. All three of their backs and even their quarterback run at
least 4.8 or better with a couple at 4.6 in the 40. They have a
{)unior and a senior working at quarterback. The junior is pro
ably the best athlete of the two. So, they definitely have the
talent back there. They're probably going to be able to play more
people than us. I definit,egl think we'll %e in better shape than
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sure we'll be hurting there early
in the year. We've gl?lt Jeff ’l‘répp
doing our punting. He punted in
the spring and he’s worked at it,
but he's got a long way to go.
But, we iad an inexperienced
fiunter last year; a senior that
ad never punted before and I
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First row (left to right) are Richard Tucker, Brad Spears,
Victor Clark, Brandon Floyd, Michael Montgomery,
David Peek, Rusty Maddux and Derry Maddux. Second
row (left to right) are Michael Crabtree, Heath Whited,
Dewayne Bynum, off team, Montag Choate, Tim
Deßerry anc{ Billy Clark. Third row (left to right) are
Derek Davis, Bill Roach, Jeff Tripp, Jim Brooks, Steve
Sosebee Praises Trion Tradition
Trion Bulldog head football coach Tommy Sosebee is
originally from Blairsville, where he letterecf’ in football,
baseball and track at Union Counéy High School. He is a
graduate of the University of Georgia and has been
coaching for 10 years.
Sose%ee feels that his three year stint at West Rome
as defensive coordinator was probably the best experience
he received as an assistant. He had previousll{ coached the
offensive backfield and defensive line at Miller County in
south Georgia for the same head coach that he worke(f’ for
at West Rome.
His first head coaching job was at Class AA’Loganville
High School.
“It was a kind of situation where thefi' hadn't exfi)erienc
ed any winning in football and we had a hard time that first
year. We ended up 1-9,” Sosebee stated.
%’S :,m | %sg :mm‘
.
RON WILLIAMS
we were last year. If we had another five minutes to go last year,
we could have won the ball game because they were just out on
their feet in the last quarter. We scored twice right there toward
the end. They fumbled the last four or five times they had the
ball. What we have to do is put some hats on those backs early
and let them know they're going to be in for a long nifiht. If we
can do that, we feel we've got a chance to whip them. Now if we
let those guys get some momentum %:)eing on us and we don't
put some hats on 'em early, it*coulcl a long night for us.
THE NEWS: Which other opponents on your schedule do you
feel will be the toughest for your team this season in the region?
SOSEBEE: The main thing that really kills us (and I'd like
to be able to get a little momentum going) is we play Fairmount
after LaFayette. Then we come in there with Bremen and Bowdon
which over the last few years have been the strongest teams in
the region. I don’t think Trion has ever even beaten Bowdon and
then we've got East Rome in our refiion now t00...50
heck .. . those three teams there — East Rome ended up 7-1-2
in AA last year. They're ranked 7th in the state in the pre-season
polls. So tfiere’s no doubt we're plafyin% the toughest re%ion
schedule in the history of the school for Trion. Those first four
games, we've got LaFayette in AAA, Bremen and Bowdon which
will be two of the best teams in the region with the exception
of East Rome; Fairmount in between which is a non-region game.
They're in our region, but they opted to play a non-region
schedule. They're just trfiing to get something going. They
shouldn’t be as tough as the others. We could be improved and
still be sitting there in trouble after four games. What we’ve got
to do is get better week by week. LaFayette is a big game. If
we can get by them . .. our kids have worked hard . . . I think
we'll be ready to go and at least split with Bremen and Bowdon
and we're sti{l in the hunt for the region championship. The way
they've got our playoff system set up, you lose more than one
ame and you're out of it. That could be real critical to us because
gy the luck of the draw we got the two toufihest teams in the
re%ion early and if you lose two games, you know you're out of
it because there's no playoff s;pot. It’s hard to keep your team
going in the sth or 6th game of the season when they Know they
don’t have a chance for tixe plz:yoffs;
THE NEWS: What are your immediate concerns about the
Bulldogs chances for a successful season?
SOgEBEE: I'm worried about injuries. If we have three or
four people go down, that could kill us because of depth and how
we can (so in these first four games. If we go out tl‘l)ere and our
kids get down on themselves . . . I tell you what . . . when you're
working kids as hard as we do, and you don’t see any results from
it, kids tend to get down. It’s hard for them to realize they are
improving. We can be improving and play good football; have
a couple of key injuries or things just not go our way and we can
be sitting there 1-3 after four games. We went through that situa
tion last year, even though our schedule startiillf out wasn't near
ly as tough as it is this time. I'm not realy thrilled about the wa
the playoff system is set up — I didn’t have anything to do witi
that. I feel liKe it just creates more interest if you have a playoff
type situation because, like I say, if you pla{ some region afi:mes
early in the year and you lose a couple of them you are already
out of it. I think last year, if our kids hadn't at least still had
a shot at the playoff, we might not could have improved like we
did, because at Keast you can keep thiem motivated by saying,
“Hey, we've still got a shot at gecting in those playoffs. Now
1986 Trion High School Bulldogs
By DAVID ESPY
Columnist-at-Large
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GID SAMPLES
The Summerville News, Thursday, August 28, 1986 .
Ewing, Robert Lively, Sheldon Covington and Billy Don
Deßerry. Fourth row (left to right) are Stefan Hogland,
George Covinfiton, off team, Shannon Tucker, Chris
Keen, Andy Pilgrim and Scott Daniel. Back row (left to
right) are Head Coach Tommy Sosebee, Assistants Ron
Williams, Gid Samples and Robert Smith. Not pictured
is Tracy Smith.
After that dismal first year, his team ran off three
seasons in a row of .500 or gett,er —the first time in the
school's history that had been accomplished.
When the opportuniti arose to come to Trion as head
coach, Sosebee said that he knew of Trion's good tradition
in football and felt that he needed to jump on that type
opportunity.
“Of course, we've had a struggle in fiettinnithe program
back where it was several years ago. I think that in any
small school you run through cycles where you just don’t
have that many athletes and that's basically what happen
ed to them here at Trion,”” Sosebee addet'f.,
The Trion mentor also stated that he thought it was
essential when going into a new coaching environment that
Kou have some assistants that are familiar with what the
ead coach wants done.
He was not able to bring any assistant coaches with him
at all in his first year at %‘rion.
However, this year, he was able to bring in two new
assistant coaches. He feels that this will “‘help our situa
tion tremendously here.”
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ROBERT SMITH
we've got to keep working at it.”” The only thing you can go on
is pride if Kou are out of it. Kids going out there and getting the
crap knocked right out of him week in and week out, knowing
that, hey, I'm just playing to win and are out of the playoffs.
Since everybod‘y else has 2 pla!off iystem, it's tough.
THE NEWS: What are your most 'Fleased with at this point?
SOSEBEE: The overall attitude. The kids are working hard.
They are familiar with what is expected of them and I just feel
like we have kids that have a lot of character in the program right
now. Thegr are committed to turn this thin§ around for Trion.
The coaches are committed. It just makes for a good working
situation; all of us in there working together; showing pride in
togetherness in our program. =
THE NEWS: I understand that Trion is in one of only two
regions in the state that will not be having a playoff at the end
of the season. What is the reason for this and how will the post
season be handled.
SOSEBEE: At first, our region voted to sub-divide. I felt like
that was going to be the way it was going to hold up. They had
another meeting and voted not to sub-divide — to just have a
region schedule. Now it's a winner-take-all situation. The thing
that I really don't like about it is if you do win it, you're three
weeks away before you are going to be playing a game, because
the other regions have a ;l).llayoff system.?l‘o sit there and not play
for three weeks puts whoever wins this region in a very big
disadvantage.
* * *
THE NEWS: What do you feel the chances are of Trion and
Chattooga resuming their rivalry on the football field sometime
in the future?
SOSEBEE: The way the feelinis were when that thing end
ed up — and I think it was more than just with the players. It
got to be such a rivalry as far as destruction and like I say I don’t
think it was necessarily the kids doini it either. The chances don’t
look real good. I wasn't here when that was going on. From my
standpoint I would like to see us plaé:. because of the gate fac
tor. You're talking about, if we play hattoo%z this gear either
at our place or their place, it would fixrobably a SIO,OOO gate.
The normal gate here, unless we're playing a LaFayette or open
ing up, is going to be $3,000-84,000. We could do a lot of things
at Trion High gchool with $6,000. The way things are right now,
from what f‘ve heard and I wasn’t here when they were playing
each other, I don’t know other than hearsay about things that
developed, it doesn't look real good for that to happen. I've talked
to Coach Windle before about it and I think he also feels the same
way about it as I do. It’s the kind of situations where if that was
going on and it does cause all those problems, you probaby would
e better off not to play. But I think it would be good for the
schools. I'm always in ffivor of rivalries. I think that’s the best
thing in sports. I know pel(:finle %gt a little out of hand with it at
times, but there's nothing like a Friday ;iéht or a Saturday after
noon for a college game between Georgia-Georgia Tech, or a West
Rome-East Rome, a Valdosta-Tift County. Those kind of things
are theufreat thing about coaching and bemfi included in athletics,
particularly football. I don’t care what kind of sport you're talk
ing about — whether it’s football, baseball or basketball, you can
go right down the list of all of them and the enthusiasm you see
in football, to me, is fjust uncomparable to any other sport as far
as the rivalries, and for involvement and community involvement.
You just don’t get that in your other sports.
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