Mary Persons enters Class AAA as a historically strong football program that has made the playoffs each of the past nine seasons in Class AAAA, with semifinal appearances in 2016 and 2017. The Bulldogs enter the newly formed 2-AAA with Peach County, Crisp County, Americus-Sumter, Upson-Lee and an up-and-coming Central-Macon program, among others.
"I think (Region 2-AAA) is pretty tough," said Mary Persons head coach Brian Nelson. "But every coach in America thinks their class or region is the toughest."
Nelson took over the Mary Persons program in 2012 after Rodney Walker's departure and led the Bulldogs to the state quarterfinals his first season. In 2015, Nelson began a streak of four region titles in 2-AAAA before losing the region last season.
The classification might be new to Nelson, but he's familiar with the opponents.
"Obviously, Cedar Grove and Crisp are returning and have a ton of players back," he said. "We played Peach County the past few seasons. I mean, you know that they're going to be there and what they are about. I think it's just pretty tough. We were a little down last year, but we have been fortunate enough to be successful a bit."
Nelson took time Wednesday to discuss a variety of subjects during a telephone conversation:
Q. Walk me around the classification that you are entering.
A. I think it's pretty tough if you just look at it on paper. We played Peach County in the past few years, and Cedar Grove is always a tough program. GAC is good. Oconee County is coming down from AAAA and they played for the state championship last year in AAAA, so that's a tough one. It's going to be a tough classification, and 2-AAA is going to be a tough region. And I think this year is going to make it even more different than it's ever been because I don't think anybody really knows what's going to happen.
Q. What's your new region look like to you?
A. There are a lot of teams in our region that made the playoffs last year, so now there will be some good teams that might not make it. Peach County is always in the playoffs; Crisp County is in the playoffs. Americus-Sumter was in the playoffs last year in AAAA. Upson-Lee was in the playoffs in AAAA. Jackson was in the playoffs. Pike has been usually good. … Central-Macon is getting better. So you look at those teams, a lot of them made the playoffs. So there's going to be some knockdown drag-outs, I think. If you finish third or fourth in our region, you could still do some damage in the playoffs.
Q. How are you all weathering the pandemic?
A. About like what everybody else is doing. You can communicate with (the players) and we sent them their workouts online. You just sit there and hope the kids are doing what they need to be doing and staying in shape and not eating potato chips and playing "Fortnite" all day. And it's just going to be interesting.
I think our philosophy, moreso, is just whenever they say we can get them back we're going to hit it. We're going to do some things different than we've done in the past, in terms of getting ready to play the season. I think the biggest thing that the GHSA has got to look at is that they have to give these kids some time, and not just Mary Persons kids, but all over the state and even in the country. You got to give them time to get back acclimated.
I think every program is probably in the same boat. But I think you're going to have a big gap between where kids are. We've got kids in our program who are doing everything we send them to the best they can possibly do. We got some kids in our program that say 'Yeah, coach, I did some push-ups and sit-ups yesterday' and 'I went out and ran around my house,' and then you got some kids who aren't really doing a whole lot of anything. So when we do get back, the gap between where guys are from a strength standpoint and from a conditioning standpoint is going to be about as wide as you ever get it as a football program.
I think sometimes football coaches are creatures of habit and you have everything mapped out and everything's planned. And then when you throw a big, a big wrench in it like this, a big kink in your chain like this where you got three months off, I mean it changes how coaches think and what they do. I think everybody's got their plan and you expect that plan to run to perfection. But after we've been away from our kids for two or three months, and now we got to get them back and start over? There's no point ever in the last 15 years of football where any programs have ever taken three months off.
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