The Forest Park administration has brought home one of its own in an attempt to revive a football program that hasn’t had a winning season since 2000. Rex Robertson, a proud Forest Park graduate, is eager to import his trademark brand of enthusiasm in hopes it can push the Panthers back in the winning column and eventually into the playoffs.
Robertson has been the offensive coordinator at Meadowcreek and helped his childhood best friend Jason Carrera rebuild that doormat program into a contender in a difficult league. The Mustangs ended a 19-year stretch of losing football under Carrera and Robertson and have produced winning seasons in two of the last three years.
Robertson has the same thing in mind at Forest Park, which went 2-8 in 2019, with one of he wins via a forfeit that reversed a 51-0 loss to Lithonia. He also hopes to bring stability for a program that has churned through 12 head coaches since 2004.
Robertson was hired on the Friday before all the public schools were shut down by the government. He was able to squeeze in a brief meeting with the football players and roll out his vision for the program.
“It’s a great group of guys,” Robertson said. “They’re happy to be coached and they’re excited about our vision and what we’re going to do. We’re going to get new uniforms, we’re going to upgrade the facilities, paint them and make it look good, we’re going to go to 7-on-7 camps – everything we have to do to be relevant again.”
Robertson has already started to assemble his staff. His first hires were Mike Rozier, who will be the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator, and Chester Adams, a former lineman at the University of Georgia, who will coach the offensive line. Robertson worked under Rozier during his tenure at Henry County High School and both worked together at Meadowcreek.
“We’re going to give them a great coaching staff,” Robertson said. “The rest of it is getting them excited and enthused.”
The players should be excited to play in the spread attack that will be installed. It’s the same scheme used when Robertson was the offensive coordinator at Griffin in 2016 when the Bears averaged 43.4 points per game and set a state record for passing yards.
The defense will run a 4-2-5 scheme under Rozier, believing it gives them the best opportunity match up against today’s spread attacks, but can be effective against old-school offenses like the wing-T.
Robertson is reaching out to former Forest Park supporters, like recreation league legend Rick Griswell, who coached the old Forest Park Vikings, to ramp up community support. Robertson had he’s received hundreds of texts and messages from old friends who are eager to get re-engaged the program.
Forest Park will be moving into a new region this fall. The Panthers are dropping from Class AAAAAA to play in Region 3-AAAAA. The new league features Woodward Academy, Jonesboro, Mundy’s Mill, Creekside, Banneker, Drew and Tri-Cities. Forest Park’s non-region schedule includes Clayton County rival Morrow, McNair and Osborne.
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