Today’s interviewee is Colquitt County coach Sean Calhoun, whose team is 4-0 and ranked No. 3 in Class 7A entering an off week. Colquitt defeated Lee County 48-27 last week. Calhoun was the offensive coordinator for the Packers’ 2014 and 2015 state championship teams and returned to Moultrie this season.
1. What was the best thing that you did in the Lee County game? “The No. 1 thing was fight. Up to that point, we hadn’t faced much adversity outside of the weather. We hadn’t been down. We led in the first three games. We got down early to Lee County, and we knew it was a team that wasn’t going to quit. We needed a test. We were punching, and they were punching. And it was our first true road game. So it was a win, there was some adversity, and we won on the road. It checked a lot of boxes.”
2. Colquitt County has a pair of juniors committed to Georgia. What are the skill sets of wide receiver Ny Carr and tight end Landen Thomas? “Ny has elite speed and elite hands. He’s a good route runner. He possesses a giant wingspan, and for quarterbacks, that’s very friendly. You may not have to put the ball perfectly where he is. But Ny has that home run ability with his speed. We used the Catapult system [which monitors players’ in-game speed] against Lee County last week, and he got above 22 mph, so he’s elite. Landen, goodness, his skill set overall is good when you talk about an in-the-box player. Whether it’s pass blocking or run blocking, he’s really good at that. Then when we flex him out, he can be a matchup problem because he’s so big and strong. The other night he caught for 148 yards. There were a couple of plays where he got into the open field, and he’s so hard to tackle because he’s so much bigger than the defensive backs. He brings an element that I’ve never had as a tight end.”
3. You’re a former Colquitt County assistant, spending two years on the staff in 2014 and 2015. What did you learn from that stint and from head coach Rush Propst that helped you the most? “That was the No. 1 reason that I took the job, to learn, because we were at a place at Collins Hill where me and my wife were happy with a great house and neighborhood and awesome school, and we had done really good there. I started going on some head coaching interviews and came up short on a handful. Professionally, I thought I needed something on the resume, and I thought Coach Propst was one of the best at knowing how to run a program. I learned X’s and O’s too, but my main goal was to learn from him on everything from dealing with parents to weight training to his nutrition program. I’d go talk with him a lot and ask questions and see how he set up a yearly plan for the team, just the day in and day out of how to run a big-time Class 7A program. If I don’t come down here and learn that, there’s no way that we’re successful up there at Carrollton.” [Carrollton was Calhoun’s first head-coaching job. He led the Trojans to five straight quarterfinal appearances.]
4. What have you and your staff set out to do that’s tailored to what you felt was needed at Colquitt County based on your prior experience here? “To me, it wasn’t what I did after I got the staff. It was getting the correct staff, one that would fit this community and these kids because I’ve coached in Gwinnett County where I’m from, I’ve coached in Birmingham, I’ve coached in South Georgia. They’re all different. You’ve got to know where you are, and that was my No. 1 most important thing. I think I’ve got a great blend of young coaches and more experienced ones. We’ve got five guys that used to play here. I felt we needed great role models and male figures to be in the players’ lives. We’ve got some kids that don’t have that. And they need to be really good football coaches because we need to be competing for state and region titles. That’s the monster we’ve built here.” [The former Colquitt County players on staff are offensive line coach Bryce Giddens, inside linebackers coach Bull Barge, tight ends coach Kiel Pollard, receivers coach Quin Roberson and ninth-grade coach Ian Brinson. Offensive coordinator John Cooper and defensive coordinator Jeremy Rowell were on the staff with Calhoun in 2014 and 2015.]
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