Corky Kell leadership met with the head coaches and administrators of this year’s participating schools on Wednesday to go over the agenda of the 28th annual event. The matters discussed ranged from the scheduled arrival times on game day, to the team by team locker room assignments, as well as the new television partnership with CBS46 and the deal that was made with Coolray Field to bring Day 2 of the action to Gwinnett County for the first time.
In attendance was new McEachern head coach Franklin Stephens—who in just four months (Aug. 24) will be making his debut with the Indians at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the prime time slot (5:45 p.m.) against Brookwood. Stephens was an assistant under Jeff Herron at Camden County the last time he got to be a part of the Corky Kell Classic and will be returning with 13 years of head coaching experience of under his belt.
Franklin’s career accomplishments as a head coach include the two state championships he won at Tucker—he is also the fastest head coach in Georgia history to ever reach 100 wins—needing just 109 games to do so. Stephens’ proven success has added to the excitement surrounding McEachern’s upcoming season, but there is still a lot of work to be done as he and his staff get ready to start a new era at the school. Stephens will be joined at McEachern by his long-time defensive coordinator Jamie Adams. Additionally, former Kell head coach Derek Cook has joined the staff to be offensive coordinator. As a result, McEachern will be installing brand new schemes on both sides of the football in the months ahead.
“It’s more like a whirlwind, just because there are a lot of things that have to be taken care of when you take over a program,” said Stephens. “It’s (the season) is going to be here before you know it.”
As for what this first game will mean, “When you come in as a new coach, you are in the honeymoon period,” explained Stephens. “And that honeymoon continues that first game and all of a sudden it comes to an end. So that first game is important for the confidence of the program, the players, the coaches and the fans. … It’s going to be great to play in the Corky Kell Classic, but we want to be playing at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the end of our season too, so all our focus is going to be about getting back there this season.”
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