There is not much in common between Lassiter High School and Colquitt County High School. Lassiter is in the heart of Marietta, where there is plenty to do considering its close proximity to downtown Atlanta. Colquitt is 200 miles south of Atlanta and is located in a decidedly rural area. Lassiter has not yet won a state title, while the Packers won their first and only title in 1994.
But this year is different. This year, they share something in common, a trait that fans of high-school football will be following for years to come. What is that trait, you ask? Chip Lindsey and Rush Propst were both coaches at famed Hoover High School in Alabama last year and have brought their coaching expertise to Georgia this year, with Lindsey coaching the Trojans and Propst leading the Packers. And if you don’t know their names now, you will soon enough.
LINDSEY TAKES REINS
The Lassiter Trojans were looking for a fresh start, as they recently renovated their stadium and scoreboard to keep up with the times. They found another way to get that fresh start at the beginning of 2008, when the school hired Lindsey to lead the Trojans into a new era. Under Propst, Lindsey was the offensive coordinator for the Buccaneers. Surprisingly, as head coach of the Trojans, Lindsey says not much is different, other than a small discrepancy in talent.
“There are differences in kids anywhere you go,” Lindsey said. “But Hoover is a similar community to Lassiter.”
Lindsey is known to have a prolific offense, which involves a lot of passing and no huddling and is lucky to have two of the top players in Georgia: tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen and offensive lineman Camden Wentz.
“Philip is our best skill athlete and Camden is our best offensive lineman,” Lindsey says. “The key to our success is other people have to step up.”
So far at least, it looks as if the Trojans are buying into what Lindsey is selling, as the team is currently 2-0 and averaging over 35 points per game.
“I feel like we are headed in the right direction,” he said. “We have a good plan in place and we continue to work and keep getting better.”
PROPST STARTS FRESH
Football critics know him as one of the best high-school coaches in the country, while the MTV generation knows him as the stern head man of Hoover from the reality show “Two-a-Days.” Reputation aside, after making a drastic move from Central Alabama to South Georgia, Propst looks to rebuild a struggling Colquitt County program. It didn’t take long for the new Packer coach to learn that, in order for his team to get back to the top, it starts and ends with John Michael Harrison.
“He’s done pretty good. He threw six touchdown passes in the first game, five in the first half,” Propst said after their second win against Thomasville. “Tonight he struggled, but if you play in this offense long enough, you’re going to have those nights.”
Propst won four state titles while at Hoover and just missed on a fifth in 2006. Colquitt County is in Region 1-AAAAA, which includes two reigning state champions (Northside-Warner Robins and Lowndes). Propst knows that he has some work to do in order to get to that level again.
“We have a long way to go. Everything we do is different compared to what they did in the past and it’s just a transition.”
IN IT TOGETHER
Over the last few years there has been a lot of controversy surrounding Propst and how he handled his players on the field as well as his own dealings with personal issues. So, after the 2007 season, Propst decided to leave Hoover, which resulted in the school releasing Lindsey after the 2007 season. Once the dust finally settled, both coaches made moves to Georgia and they still talk three to four times a week.
“Rush did a great job,” Lindsey said about Propst’s time at Hoover. “He changed the way football was played at Hoover.”
Propst also had nothing but great things to say when asked about Lindsey.
“Chip is a wonderful football coach,” he said. “He did a great job under very, very difficult circumstances last year. We had to crawl under a foxhole together and I wouldn’t have done it with anybody else.”
Now, Lindsey and Propst are leading two different teams in the right direction, two teams that will hope to be on top for a long time to come.
Jones can be reached at bjones@scoreatl.com.
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