Today’s interviewee is Buford coach Bryant Appling, whose team won the Class 6A championship last season by beating Lee County 34-31 in overtime. It was Buford’s 13th state title. Appling, in his 17th season on Buford’s staff, became the first in GHSA history since Dublin Minton in 1959-60 to win state titles in his first two seasons as a head coach.
Bryant Appling, Buford head coach
1. It has been seven months since Buford won the 2020 state title. With time to reflect, what was special about that team? “First and foremost, I think you have to admire the grit and toughness of the 2020 team. The way they fought once again, coming back from a deficit late in the state championship game, finding ways in our two-minute offense and once again in overtime to just make big play after big play when it mattered most. We just had a bunch of kids that had experienced a lot of the same pressures in a championship game the previous year, and I think it showed in their poise when things may have not necessarily looked in our favor. In terms of last year’s state title and its uniqueness, I think I’ll always remember and appreciate what our kids, coaches and community did to help us get to that point in the midst of a pandemic. We were disciplined and intentional in going through protocols, wearing masks, distancing and other areas throughout the season to ensure that we kept our players as healthy as possible. Even when some issues arose, because we stayed diligent in these guidelines, we were able to minimize the ‘circle’ affected. I can’t thank my coaching staff enough for holding the line, our board of education and administration for allowing a digital option that some of our players chose to opt into, and even other teachers in our building for their support. I mean, we spent the entire year meeting as a team in our school’s theater that seats 950 in order to social distance properly. That only happens because those in our arts programs are also supportive of our kids and our football program in allowing us to use their facility each week, and that’s just one small example of how the faculty and staff at Buford continually supported us.”
2. Buford has won a title the past two seasons as merely one of the favorites. But now as a two-time defending champion, with several key players back, most everyone is going to say Buford is the team to beat from the start. Do you talk to your team a little differently this season to warn of the pitfalls of high expectations? “Ever since I’ve been at Buford, the message to each team is about THIS year’s team. That was something I learned from Coach [Dexter] Wood and Coach [Jess] Simpson as an assistant. Winning a state title is always special. But this year’s team didn’t do that. This group of kids, no matter how many you have returning, didn’t compete for that title as this year’s version of themselves. It is a tremendous blessing to have some of the experience we do returning, but as we’ve always told our teams here, ‘You are only as good as your seniors will allow your team to be.’ This group of returning players, particularly our seniors, must now step into leadership roles that some have not experienced before. The bottom line is, we are Buford. Expectations are high every year. Our kids desire them, our coaches expect them, and our community relishes them. There’s no place like it, and it definitely isn’t for everyone. But the message is always the same each year.”
3. Your schedule is as good as we can remember. Was there a concerted effort to beef it up, and is there a story behind securing the Myers Park and Chaminade games? “You are correct about our schedule. Arguably one of, if not the, toughest non-region schedule we’ve ever had. There wasn’t necessarily an intention to make it the most difficult, but some games began to fall into place that just opened opportunities for us to compete against some great programs. First, we have a chance to compete against North Cobb again in the Corky Kell. Coach [Shane] Queen has a tremendous team coming back himself, and we played in a great environment up there last year as they have tremendous fan support and the Wolves always travel well. Myers Park actually reached out to me early this year looking for an opportunity to play an out-of-state team. They sought us out as someone with a game open, and we were excited to bring in a really talented program from North Carolina to Tom Riden Stadium. In regards to Chaminade, we were still one game short of a full schedule pretty late in the game and had some assistance from a company, Prep Gridiron Logistics, that helped put the game together. Again it was a situation where Chaminade was willing to travel up from Florida to play, so we jumped at the chance to compete against another really strong football program.
“There are always difficulties when trying to make a final schedule. There’s so many factors that play into it, beginning with your own region and how many automatic games you have right off the bat. Then I think as head coaches we all selfishly want to try to get as many home games as possible. So, that can always create some issues too when trying to make this scheduling puzzle fit. So, it’s not really that it’s always hard to find local/Georgia teams to play us. Sometimes it just comes down to timing and availability, and some of these out-of-state teams have had much more flexibility in the beginning of our seasons to travel and play.”
4. What does Buford bring back this season, and how might this team be different than in 2020? “Obviously, on offense we are going to rely on our experience at quarterback, running back and receiver to begin the year as we look for some younger linemen to gain game experience. Ashton Daniels and Dylan Wittke are both proven winners, and we have trust in both of those young men helping to lead our offense. Victor Venn and C.J. Clinkscales will be joined by a couple others continuing our tradition of featuring multiple backs throughout games. Isaiah Bond and Jake Pope are electric on the outside and kids that have made big play after big play for the Wolves. We have some experience coming back on the offensive line, led by Jackson Favors, but will definitely be asking a lot of some younger players to grow up quickly. As far as throwing the ball more, I go back to Coach Wood introducing me to the book, ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins and the Hedgehog Concept of focusing on where your strengths lie and being the best at them. We have always prided ourselves on being a multi-dimensional offense that utilizes the run game to enhance the passing game. I think when people in the state of Georgia think about Buford football, the ability to run the football goes hand in hand. I do think that Coach Condon [offensive coordinator Gus Condon] does a great job of utilizing the talent we have around our quarterbacks. We have been tremendously successful over the years with some quarterbacks that were great athletes and some that were just trustworthy game managers, so to have two dynamic young men that can do so many things from the quarterback position is definitely a luxury. That’s where I think this team can be different than in 2020. Our playmakers are one year older, stronger, faster and confident in what they bring to our program.”
Produced by Georgia High School Football Daily, a free e-mail newsletter. To join the mailing list, click here.
About the Author
