Class AAAAAAA football won’t be the same this fall without Colquitt County coach Rush Propst on the sidelines.
Propst, fired last week, led the Packers to state titles in 2014 and 2015 and nine semifinals over the past 10 seasons, an unprecedented run of sustained excellence in Georgia’s highest classification.
Valdosta in its glory days had 10-year stretches that netted more state titles, but even legendary coaches Nick Hyder and Wright Bazemore had occasional off seasons. The Packers have either won the state title or lost to the eventual champion in the playoffs in each of the past 10 campaigns.
Colquitt County finished 2-8 in 2007, the season before Propst arrived. The Packers hadn’t won a region title since 1999 or a state title since 1994. They had just one playoff victory in the previous eight seasons.
‘’The most striking thing about Propst was how he was able to beat the Atlanta-area teams every year, especially going up there and winning,’’ said Wayne Grandy, who has covered Colquitt County football for the Moultrie Observer for over 30 years. “Colquitt was 36-8 in the playoffs, including 19-5 on the road. Not all against the best in the Atlanta area, but a lot of those wins were. That will be test. Not only beating Lowndes down here, but continuing to win the postseason.’’
Grandy hosted a one-hour TV show with Propst during football seasons. He wrote the story last week of Propst's demise and the allegations that led to his firing.
‘’Of course a lot will depend on who replaces him, but there should be a number of well-qualified applicants,’’ Grandy said. “The facilities are excellent, and the program is strong, including some promising athletes in the lower grades, especially from this year’s junior class on down.’’
Grandy notes that 17 players signed of the 2018 state runner-up team. The hardest to replace will be Ryan Fitzgerald, one of the best place-kickers in state history. He’s going to Florida State.
But plenty of talent returns. Daijun Edwards is a blue-chip running back. Cornerback Nyquann Washington might be a Division I signee. Quarterback Jaycee Harden and receivers Lemeke Brockington and Tyler Walker were productive players last year. .
‘’If the new guy can get in and get a good staff together quickly, maybe the transition won’t be too bad,’’ Grandy said. “He will need to make sure there aren’t too many kids leaving the program because of Propst’s departure. There was a tremendous amount of community support for Propst and perhaps will carry over to the new guy. The booster club is strong, and if the new guy can work with it that will be a positive.’’
Propst had perhaps a growing number of critics in Moultrie but many large pockets of support.
‘’Propst also took good care of a lot of the neediest kids in the program,’’ Grandy said. “He was extremely popular in the black community because he pushed the kids work in the classroom and get to college.’’
Grandy guessed that Colquitt would hire from outside the current staff, but there are advantages to staying in house.
‘’A replacement from within would make sense in that it would provide some continuity and some comfort level for the players, especially with spring practice just two months or so away,’’ he said. “But there should be some other outstanding and experienced guys applying.’’
Another media personality who has good perspective on Colquitt County and south Georgia football is Chris Beckham, host of the Football Friday Night radio during football seasons. His weekly sports talk show on WVGA Newstalk 105.9 in Valdosta has analyzed the news surrounding Propst in recent weeks. He was asked if he thought Propst’s ouster would lead to a power shift in Region 1 or Class AAAAAAA football as a whole.
‘’I think it's really too early to tell,’’ Beckham said. “A lot will depend on who they hire and how quickly and smoothly that transition goes. They've still got great players and great facilities, and if there is a noticeable drop in community support, it will heal. The Packers have been around over 100 years, so the community can weather the storm.’’
Beckham did say that the news can’t be bad for the other programs in Region 1 – Lowndes, Tift County and Camden County. One prominent Lowndes supporter, Andrew Rodgers, agreed with that.
‘’Every year our freshmen beat Colquitt 49-50 points; our sophomores beat them three out of four times,’’ Rodgers said. “By the time they are juniors, they are taller and bigger than us. Out of Propst’s 11 years we have fared fairly well against them. [Colquitt was 6-5 against Lowndes during the Propst era.] But one thing we know, they aren’t likely to find another coach as good as he is on the sidelines on game day.’’
Beckhan agreed: ‘’You'll get a lot of different opinions in Moultrie about the decision to let him go, but you can't argue the success, and he had a lot of it.’’
But Beckham did wonder if the fan base would be as hungry as it was when Propst arrived. Propst himself talked the past couple of seasons about the need to rekindle the excitement.
‘’That's how any of these situations work,’’ Beckham said. ‘’Alabama fans were hungry for success when they hired [Nick] Saban because they hadn't had any in a long time. Now they expect success, and that's where Colquitt County has been for the last several years. That's what I mean about waiting to see who they hire and how that transition goes. It's going to be important, more important than in other jobs, to toe the line to the extreme while still winning. There are programs that do it every day, so it's not a magic trick, and they'll have plenty of resources to do it.’’
Propst’s previous employer, Hoover, was a good example of that, Beckham pointed out. Propst built Hoover into a national power while winning five state titles. The program has won six more under coach Josh Niblett since Propst stepped down amid similar controversy there.
‘’That program kept winning after he left because of the support and facilities and players,’’ Beckham said, ‘’and someone will have a chance to do that in Moultrie.’’
About the Author
