Sandy Creek coach Darius Smiley previews first two games against 7A powerhouses
Today’s Four Questions interviewee is Sandy Creek coach Darius Smiley, whose team was the 2025 Class 3A champion. The Fighting Patriots completed their first 15-0 season since 2012 last year with a dominant 27-7 win over Jefferson.
1. What was the legacy of Sandy Creek’s 2025 championship team?
“That was a group that had to fight through a lot of adversity dating all the way back to the start of the summer, when we lost a teammate, Ty’leal Glaser. We lost him to a car accident, and we were without a field house due to construction of a new facility, so we were in trailers. Trailers served as our locker rooms for the season. There were just a lot of things that the 2025 team dealt with, and anything that was placed in front of them, they overcame, and that’s the biggest thing. I think they bonded together when we went to FCA camp in July, and I think we had an opportunity to come together as a team and bond together, and I think that was kind of the turning point of our season. I felt like it was going to be tough for anybody to beat us because of how close-knit that group was. They were a group that played for each other. They didn’t care who got the accolades. They just wanted to win, and I’m very proud of them, very proud of our coaching staff for all the accomplishments that we were able to accomplish last season.”
2. What are the strongest areas of this team, and what areas need the most work?
“I would go ahead and say our defense, I feel like that’s our strong area. We return a lot of guys, whether they were starters or guys who played meaningful minutes, we return a lot of guys on defense. So I’m very, very excited to see how they open up the year. Also, from a quarterback standpoint, we bring back our quarterback, Caleb Hill, who was the state championship game MVP, so very excited about him, and he’s had a lot of growth from last year to this year. Special teams wise, we bring back our kicker and punter, Trey Love. He’ll be a rising sophomore who I think helped us in numerous games being able to flip the field and just provide that third element of football that we put a lot of emphasis on last year that I think helped us to be able to get over the hump. Those would be areas that I would say are areas we should be strong in. Areas that we can improve in, I think you ask any high school football coach, depth on the offensive line. I feel like we’re a young group up front. We have two veteran leaders, but we do have three guys that are filling in for starters last year that we lost. Offensive line-wise, while I think it’s going to be a really good group, that’s kind of the question mark as we head into the 2026 season.”
Note: Sandy Creek returns 11 of its 19 all-region players. Those include quarterback Caleb Hill and region defensive player of the year JT Austin.
3. Before you get into your region games in Class 4A, you play two of the best Class 7A teams in Grayson and Douglas County. What are you looking forward to seeing in those games?
“Just the opportunity to be able to face two premier programs in the state. A lot of respect for Grayson and a lot of respect for Douglas County, and a lot of respect for (Grayson coach Greg Carswell) and (Douglas County coach Johnny White) at those respective schools. We had trouble scheduling schools that were similar to us in size, so we kind of stepped out and tried to put our guys on the map, so to say. And we feel like these are two games that if we can play well and play solid football, we feel like we’ll give ourselves a chance to be in the game, and that’s all I can ask of our guys as we go into those two contests. We’re looking at it from a standpoint also with the new power rankings that we’re facing two high-quality 7A schools that are going to potentially be region champs or region runner-ups in their regions, which would help us regardless of if we win or lose the game. So there was some strategic placement with that as we were looking at who we wanted to schedule, and luckily, those two schools were willing to play us. We’ve definitely got our hands full with those two games, but I do think our kids will be up for the challenge knowing that we’re getting a crack at two bigger schools.”
4. If you had to name one coach that impacted your career the most, who would it be?
“There’s two coaches. Grant Chesnut, who is now the offensive coordinator at Bremen High School. I had the opportunity to coach under him at Central (Carrollton), and just kind of how he went about his business from a planning standpoint, I think I was able to take a lot of things from him. And then Rico Zackery, who had some stints at Westlake and Villa Rica, and then I also had an opportunity to coach under him at Central, as well, when Grant Chesnut left Central and went into the college game. Those are two guys that I would say that I’ve taken a lot from, Grant more so from the planning side of things, and then Rico just from the overall aspect of how to be in the community, player relationships, things of that sort. I just want to recognize those guys for helping me to be where I am right now, and then I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my current staff. They allow me to do a lot of things, and I trust those guys a lot to just coach our kids while I be more of a head coach. There’s a lot of things that go with sitting in this seat that you don’t particularly see on a Friday night, but I do have a staff that I trust, and I know that they’re getting the job done to coach our kids up. They’re building relationships with our kids, and I feel like we’re getting the most out of our kids, so I definitely want to shout out my current staff for all they do, but I definitely want to recognize Grant Chesnut and Rico Zackery as two of my mentors, so to say, within this head coaching deal.”