Today’s interviewee is Thomson coach Michael Youngblood, whose team won Class 2A last season. Youngblood’s teams are 45-18 in his five seasons. Before coming to Thomson, Youngblood was on state-winning staffs at alma mater Burke County (2011) and Tucker (2008).
1. Looking back on the 2022 season one more time, what was the legacy of that team and season? “Twenty long years to get a program back to the glory days. With being at the helm of one of the most prestigious programs in the state of Georgia, it has taken us five years of implementing what we think is a championship program. It was not easy, but the dedication from our kids, coaches, families of the coaches, administration and community played a vital role in us coming together to be ‘One Thomson.’ When the dust settled, we played the No. 1-, 2- and 3-ranked teams in the state of Georgia in 2A all on the road during the playoffs. Some would question our [regular-season] schedule, but at the end of the day, we were able to bring home championship No. 6 to Thomson High School in football. Our big-play ability carried us all season long. You could literally have us bottled up, and we would find a way to take off and win the game. Sometimes those big plays happen on offense with our skill kids, defensively with our speed or in the special teams game running a kick back for a touchdown. Our kids wanted to be the group that put Thomson football back on the map in the state of Georgia.” [One Thomson was a rallying cry for the team and community during the 2022 season.]
2. What’s the scouting report on this year’s team? What are the strengths and concerns? “This year’s team will have some of the same capabilities of making big plays. We have some skillful kids that can still go the distance. I feel like the quicker we settle in and get better at the small things, then we can identify our identity to make sure we are helping our kids be successful on Friday night. There is no evaluation that is better than game time, and we are going to be young in a couple of spots. It will be interesting to see who will rise to the occasion to do things that we like to do or shall I say want to do. We are a little thin with the big guys, and that always worries me. We have to be able to win the trenches because we feel like our skill kids only need a small opening.”
3. Jontavis Curry has graduated [Curry rushed for 243 yards and scored four touchdowns in the state finals victory over Fitzgerald, three on runs of more than 50 yards], but you’re returning some key guys in the backfield. What’s the skill set of Anthony Jeffery, and how will you use your quarterbacks, Noah Story and Jahkiaus Jones? “We have a two-QB system that works for us, and we are able to utilize both QBs. Jones is a dual-threat, and we are going to find different ways to get him the ball in space to let him run a little. Story is more of a general that distributes the ball to our skill kids and makes the people around him better with his leadership. Anthony Jeffery, who we call Tre-Tre, is a diamond in the rough. With Curry having the spotlight, he still rushed for over 1,000 yards as a sophomore, and we are looking for him to carry the load in his junior year. Tre-Tre is a downhill runner that gets better as the game goes along and has been doing a better job over the summer in the passing game. Jordan Lane will rotate in the backfield along with Jamere Roberts, and we feel like any of those kids can step up and be what we need them to be in the passing or run game. We definitely have a few options on the offensive side of the ball in the backfield.”
4. What do you feel are the most important things that you and your staff have done in your five years that helped put Thomson back in position to win state titles? “We honestly feel like most of the kids when we got here were broken. They did not have any confidence in themselves to make plays on Friday night. So we started a foundation of toughness, mentally and physically, to be able to play this game we call football. It took some time to install the toughness that we like to play with, and it was teaching them the game of football along with some life lessons. The tide turned when the kids realized that we were not going to let up and that we cared about them on and off the field. We have so many things that are going on in our program that it is truly hard to implement everything in the first year. We had to take it brick by brick and build it the way we wanted it to look. Everyone sees the product of Friday night, but no one sees the work from Saturday until Friday at 7:30 game time. It is getting everyone on board to be One Thomson, a brotherhood or a family that sticks together no matter the situation. To us, that is what helped us get back to the position to win state titles.”
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