After 12 consecutive winning seasons, two of which Camden County went undefeated (2003 and 2008), Coach Jeff Herron made the executive decision to leave Camden County for a head coaching position at Prince Ave Christian in Athens, Georgia. Herron is gone, however his legacy will live on at Camden County High School. The new head coach, Welton Coffey, is a great fit for position that Herron left behind.
Trying to fill the shoes of Herron, while adjusting to becoming Camden County’s head coach, will hopefully be easy process for Coffey with the help of the returning players and coaches.
“We’re getting it done. There’s no question about that,” said Coffey. “The biggest thing here at Camden County High School is the size of the program, we’re just getting used to the numbers. We have about 180 kids between 9th grade and seniors. That’s probably the biggest adjustment but the kids have done an outstanding job as well as the coaching staff.”
The 2013 Corky Kell Classic on August 24th will have some of the best matchups in the state of Georgia. This will include Camden County vs. North Gwinnett. This 6A matchup will aid in Coffey’s evaluation of his team’s strengths and weaknesses against one of the best teams in Georgia.
For Coffey, a game is a game no matter what the stakes may be.
“It’s hard to explain how important it is, it’s a football game,” said Coffey. “We go out there to compete and to win. The most important thing is because it’s a non-region game; we want to see where we are like a scrimmage against great competition. North Gwinnett has done an outstanding job for the past couple of years under Coach Spire. This will be a quick measuring stick to show us where we are in order to be successful in the region.”
North Gwinnett was 11-2 last season and remains a huge football powerhouse in the state.
“You prepare the same way [for a non-region game]. It’s a competition; we get our team together to establish how we want to approach things,” said Coffey. “We look at film and everything else. We want a good showing in state, it’s on television, so want to make the community proud.”
Coffey has 5 starters returning on offense and 5 returning on the defense. Last season under Herron, the wing-t offense scored an average of 39 points and the defense allowed just 10 points per game. Coffey has no plans to change the offensive and defensive regimes from what Herron has done in the past.
“It’s [the style of Herron's schemes] been pretty good all these years there’s no question about that,” said Coffey. “It may be a little bit different but the crust, the core and the foundation of what we’re doing will remain a wing t offense and a 3-3 staked team or a 3-5 team, on defense, those things won’t change.”
In addition to the two defensive backs, Kalvaraz Bessent and Chris Williams, who have both already committed to play at Alabama next year, there are a few other college recruits for the Wildcats. OL Trayvon Williams has received between several offers but has yet to commit to a school, Anthony Johnson is an FIU commit, and lastly, Chris Bahr has still not made a decision as to where he will play football next year.
The Wildcats were no match for Gwinnett County’s Peachtree Ridge last year in the Metro PCS Corky Kell Classic, and rolled past the Lions 42-0.
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