GHSF Daily asked Georgia head coaches to answer these four questions. We'll report from a different head coach each day.
Jamie Abrams, Lamar County
1. Who is/was the most influential person in your coaching career? "My father, Jerry Abrams. He was big on things like toughness and attention to detail, which as we all know are extremely important in the game of football. My dad was not a high school coach. I can't narrow it down to one [coach] because I have worked for three great coaches in this state - Tim Glanton [South Paulding], Roger Holmes [Dublin] and Franklin Stephens [Lamar County]. I learned different things from all of them that I now use to run the program I am charged with leading."
2. Who is the best Georgia player you ever faced? "Probably Jerick McKinnon at Sprayberry. He played quarterback, and we couldn't keep him contained either year we faced him when I was at South Paulding."
3. What is the best team you ever faced as a coach? "The best I've faced would probably have to be last year's Benedictine team. There is no disrespect to Lovett [which beat Lamar County in the 2013 Class AA final after Lamar beat Benedictine in the semifinals], I just feel that Benedictine was the best team we faced, and we just happened to play our best on that night. Both of those games could have gone either way."
4. If you were Gary Phillips, the new head of the GHSA, what would be the first rule that you would try to change? "Being at a small school, I would have to say the private-school debate is the biggest issue. I just don't feel like we are on a level playing field year in, year out."
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