Today’s interviewee is Lowndes coach Jamey DuBose, whose team defeated Milton 28-17 last week to reach the Class 7A semifinals in his first season as head coach. DuBose came from his home state, Alabama, where he led three teams to state titles, most recently in 2018 with Central of Phenix City. Lowndes will play at Collins Hill on Friday.
Jamey DuBose, Lowndes head coach
1. How is your team playing heading into the semifinals? “I think we’re getting back to where we were the first half of the season. For those who don’t know, we were 5-0, and I thought after the Valdosta game that we were playing extremely well and getting into a comfort zone between the players and coaches with me and the staff being new and not having a spring training [because of the pandemic]. Then all of a sudden we had to shut down. We had several COVID cases in the program, and with region play approaching, we thought it was the best thing to shut down for the time being and not risk any further problems. It’s worked really well. The only thing was that after 15 days away with no meetings, conditioning, no weight training, it was tough to get back. It was almost like the program had been off for several months. But I think we’ve started hitting our stride again and hopefully reaching a peak at a very important time.”
2. What concerns you about Collins Hill? “They’re an exceptional football team. They’re well-coached. You can tell they’ve got a lot of momentum and playing with a lot of confidence. They’ve got an extremely explosive offense. The quarterback [Sam Horn] has thrown for over 3,000 yards. They’ve got three wide receivers that are very elusive in their routes. I think 12 [five-star recruit Travis Hunter] is a great player, but people forget about 5 [Sean Norris] and 6 [Clint Gilbert]. When you isolate on 12, 5 and 6 are making plays. They’re an explosive group. For us to have success, No. 1, we can’t have turnovers. Last week, a pick-six return for a touchdown helped them win. And No. 2, we have to create some turnovers to get them off track.”
3. You were a head coach for 14 years in Alabama before coming to Georgia. How would you compare the football in the two states? “There are lots of similarities. The one thing that I notice more than anything is that in Alabama, the schools aren’t quite as big as Georgia, so you’ve got a larger amount of talent to choose from here. Teams in Georgia have more talented players in general. In Georgia, you might have 12-14 on a team, where in Alabama you might have five that caliber. The numbers you get to choose from and the talent pool are a little larger. At Phenix City, our enrollment 9 to 12 was about 1,400. Now at Lowndes, it’s closer to 3,000. Another big thing in Georgia is there’s lots of travel. I almost have to take flights to games going to Atlanta every week. In Alabama, I guess I was fortunate. Over the last six years there, I traveled one time in the playoffs. I’m getting paid back now. It makes that region schedule and being champion more important.” [Lowndes, the No. 2 seed in Region 1, has won at eighth-ranked North Cobb and seventh-ranked Milton the past two rounds, both 250-mile trips one way.]
4. You were among a handful of head coaches in South Georgia who contracted COVID-19 and recovered after a hospital stay. How did that experience affect how you view football in the pandemic? “I’ll tell you this, it did affect me greatly over the 14-15 days. It hit me hard. I had to go to the hospital because my breathing went down. They got me back out in four days. I was lucky to recover for what that was. I do see things differently. The program changed after that, how we went about our meetings and groups in general and how we were sterilizing. We took different precautions around the locker rooms. We’re traveling with masks. It’s mandatory masks now in the building, no excuses. We’ve just added more and more to get this to the finish line. If it ever hits you and hits you hard, you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s a virus that’s scary, but we got through it, and I wouldn’t change anything. You’ve got to live with it and be cautious. I feel the GHSA has done an outstanding job this year as far as the two-week delayed start, waiting a little, trying to do the best they could. Coaches and players have been vigilant and cautious. In 27 years of coaching, and I was under some great coaches, but nobody told me how to handle this year. This was truly day-by-day, week-by-week. It’s been difficult. But it means a little more now to have gotten to this point in the season.”
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