What’s going on in Wayne County?

[Youngwareagle]

I’ve been to two Wayne County games this season for the first time in over five years and I’m astonished at how far the level of play has fallen.
 

I’ve heard really good things about Coach Hankins over the years. I know he’s a class act and likes to do things the right way, but shouldn’t this rebuild be further along in Year 3? From the little I’ve watched, it doesn’t seem like the talent is the issue.
 

What am I missing? The facilities are top notch, the coaching staff seems to be strong and they have some playmakers. Why is it not coming together against good competition? 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Youngwareagle

[s1nglewing]

9 minutes ago, Youngwareagle said:

I’ve been to two Wayne County games this season for the first time in over five years and I’m astonished at how far the level of play has fallen.
 

I’ve heard really good things about Coach Hankins over the years. I know he’s a class act and likes to do things the right way, but shouldn’t this rebuild be further along in Year 3? From the little I’ve watched, it doesn’t seem like the talent is the issue.
 

What am I missing? The facilities are top notch, the coaching staff seems to be strong and they have some playmakers. Why is it not coming together against good competition? 

Wayne hasn't beaten OG since 2002 or West Jones since 2018.Might be jumping the gun just a little. They have what appears to be a pretty soft schedule the rest of the way.

 

.

[Wareaglefan1us]

WC is a very young team there’s no sugarcoating that. They are looking for some guys to step up and be leaders. The offensive line is all Sophomores and Juniors not a lot of experience there we are starting a first year QB. You’re right talent is there just getting experience. They got beat by the #1 team in the state and the #2 team in 6A.

a little more experience on defense but they lost their big defensive lineman in the preseason jamboree for the season. So going through some growing pains and a fantastic young group coming up. 

[Youngwareagle]

30 minutes ago, Wareaglefan1us said:

WC is a very young team there’s no sugarcoating that. They are looking for some guys to step up and be leaders. The offensive line is all Sophomores and Juniors not a lot of experience there we are starting a first year QB. You’re right talent is there just getting experience. They got beat by the #1 team in the state and the #2 team in 6A.

a little more experience on defense but they lost their big defensive lineman in the preseason jamboree for the season. So going through some growing pains and a fantastic young group coming up. 

the receiver (12) is as good as I’ve seen in a while at Wayne County when it comes to route running and that QB can sling it. Hopefully that young core gels down the stretch. Laurel will be a good measuring stick of that. 

[Merlin]

Also keep this in mind.  Wayne county’s student population isn’t growing.  It’s shrinking.  That will pull some level of potential talent to pull from out of the school.  

[coastfootballfanman]

10 hours ago, Wareaglefan1us said:

WC is a very young team there’s no sugarcoating that. They are looking for some guys to step up and be leaders. The offensive line is all Sophomores and Juniors not a lot of experience there we are starting a first year QB. You’re right talent is there just getting experience. They got beat by the #1 team in the state and the #2 team in 6A.

a little more experience on defense but they lost their big defensive lineman in the preseason jamboree for the season. So going through some growing pains and a fantastic young group coming up. 

I feel like that has been the narrative since Hankins arrived though? It has been loaded with sophomore and juniors for the last 3 seasons and its been below standard results. By this point, I think it is becoming more about who is running the show than how "young" a team is. Young or not, Wayne County does not get beaten by anyone 41-7. To me it is not about them getting beat, it is how bad they are getting beat. 

[Merlin]

1 hour ago, coastfootballfanman said:

I feel like that has been the narrative since Hankins arrived though? It has been loaded with sophomore and juniors for the last 3 seasons and it’s been below standard results. By this point, I think it is becoming more about who is running the show than how "young" a team is. Young or not, Wayne County does not get beaten by anyone 41-7. To me it is not about them getting beat, it is how bad they are getting beat. 

They got beat worse than the 41-7 score indicated.  At half Wayne had less than 60 yards of offense and 2 first downs.  They don’t cross 80 yards till WJ put in backups on defense in mid 4th up 34-0 and Wayne drove to the Wj 12 and Wj put starting d back in and promptly created a turnover.  After that west put backups back in on defense and Wayne was able to score.  Wayne’s last 2 drives gave them more than 2/3 of their total yards for the game. 

[coastfootballfanman]

8 minutes ago, Merlin said:

They got beat worse than the 41-7 score indicated.  At half Wayne had less than 60 yards of offense and 2 first downs.  They don’t cross 80 yards till WJ put in backups on defense in mid 4th up 34-0 and Wayne drove to the Wj 12 and Wj put starting d back in and promptly created a turnover.  After that west put backups back in on defense and Wayne was able to score.  Wayne’s last 2 drives gave them more than 2/3 of their total yards for the game. 

It just signals more to it than youth in my opinion. Wayne County has been young in the past and has not been beaten like they have against West Jones and Oak Grove. I would wager they have not been beaten down like that more than once in the last 25 years. It just is alarming as someone who has respected the program Wayne County has been over the last 2 decades at least. 

[Wcchaingang]

The O-line is not very good. Whether it’s inexperience of talent or coaching im not sure. That’s root of the problem. We have some decent backs and as a group they are good. Just not one you can lean on. Jones is the most explosive player we have. The front 7 on defense is pretty good. Not a lot of experience on the back end. WJ didn’t move the ball at all till they started throwing it and exposed that. If we can get the offense figured out there is potential there.

[Merlin]

47 minutes ago, Wcchaingang said:

WJ didn’t move the ball at all till they started throwing it and exposed that. If we can get the offense figured out there is potential there.

Wouldbit make you feel better to know WJ didn’t move the ball at all against laurel, northeast jones, or south jones in the first quarter of any of those games as well?  Cause it doesn’t make me feel good.  But every game has been like that.  I don’t know if it’s part of the game plan to be completely predictable and see if they can make things happen while doing so or what.  I do t know if they came out throwing more if they score more early or what.  Also I hate running from the spread with 1 back in backfield.  But this very thing with the slow starting offense is my biggest complaint so far. 

[Wareaglefan1us]

7 minutes ago, Merlin said:

Wouldbit make you feel better to know WJ didn’t move the ball at all against laurel, northeast jones, or south jones in the first quarter of any of those games as well?  Cause it doesn’t make me feel good.  But every game has been like that.  I don’t know if it’s part of the game plan to be completely predictable and see if they can make things happen while doing so or what.  I do t know if they came out throwing more if they score more early or what.  Also I hate running from the spread with 1 back in backfield.  But this very thing with the slow starting offense is my biggest complaint so far. 

I’ve watched the film on both those games and the slow starts were there as well. Like you I’m not sure if it’s part of the game plan or they wanted to see if the running game could get going early. When Coach Boyles was at WC we run the same offense as you guys are running spread with the one back with great success. So I absolutely believe you guys will get it right. 

[Wcchaingang]

1 hour ago, Merlin said:

Wouldbit make you feel better to know WJ didn’t move the ball at all against laurel, northeast jones, or south jones in the first quarter of any of those games as well?  Cause it doesn’t make me feel good.  But every game has been like that.  I don’t know if it’s part of the game plan to be completely predictable and see if they can make things happen while doing so or what.  I do t know if they came out throwing more if they score more early or what.  Also I hate running from the spread with 1 back in backfield.  But this very thing with the slow starting offense is my biggest complaint so far. 

What grade is the QB in? It could be that he comes out doing things the QB is comfortable to get him into the game and get a feel for it. 

[Vice004]

I’ve been nothing but supportive of Coach Hankins since he arrived. I’ve seen progress being made but at the same time the offense has been the Achilles heel for him since he took over. Good defenses consistently shut down that offense bc there is no threat of a passing game. Most teams double Jones and dare WC to run the ball. There are problems with the oline to a certain extent but the bigger problem here is the offensive scheme. I’ll give you some numbers. In 2021 against West Jones, Laurel and Hattiesburg(the 3 best teams on the schedule) the offense averaged 16.6 ppg… the defense gave up an average of 19.6… all 3 games were close losses. In 2022 against OG, Laurel, Hattiesburg and WJ. The offense averaged 18.7 ppg(and that’s with the 39 points scored on laurel, if you take away that game the offense averaged 12 ppg). The defense gave up an average of 27.7. 3 of the 4 games were losses. And so far in 2023 the offense has averaged a whopping 3.5 ppg against WJ and OG. Both games were blowout losses. Until the offense is changed the results will stay the same. The schedule for the rest of the year is relatively soft compared to 2 of the first 3 games but there is no sugarcoating it. 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Vice004

[Vott]

17 hours ago, Wareaglefan1us said:

WC is a very young team there’s no sugarcoating that. They are looking for some guys to step up and be leaders. The offensive line is all Sophomores and Juniors not a lot of experience there we are starting a first year QB. You’re right talent is there just getting experience. They got beat by the #1 team in the state and the #2 team in 6A.

a little more experience on defense but they lost their big defensive lineman in the preseason jamboree for the season. So going through some growing pains and a fantastic young group coming up. 

Where is slick at? Normally win or lose, good game or bad game, he has something to say. Just isnt the same without him chiming in this past week

[maroontide06]

8 minutes ago, Vott said:

Where is slick at? Normally win or lose, good game or bad game, he has something to say. Just isnt the same without him chiming in this past week

I know.  I want to see the Slick's Sad Seven.

[Merlin]

2 hours ago, Wcchaingang said:

What grade is the QB in? It could be that he comes out doing things the QB is comfortable to get him into the game and get a feel for it. 

WJ qb is a 9th grader. 

[maroontide06]

Slick will be back soon, but it may be a minute.  So stay tuned.

[Wareaglefan1us]

10 minutes ago, Merlin said:

WJ qb is a 9th grader. 

That’s probably your answer right there. Corey is probably trying to take some pressure off of your young QB. WJ has a good complement of Running Backs too 10 is a big powerful young man I believe the other back was #6 I could be wrong but he was more shifty. Your receivers were all pretty good I can’t remember them getting deep but they caught a lot of underneath patterns and turned them into big gains. Merlin I believe you guys will be pleased with Cory and I’m pretty sure y’all have the same defensive staff 

[Wcchaingang]

27 minutes ago, Merlin said:

WJ qb is a 9th grader. 

I thought I read that but I wasn’t sure. The kid has a burst like I haven’t seen in a while.

[Dubaction]

WC doesn’t put the ball in #12’s hands enough. At least against OG they didn’t 

[slicklizard]

Younwareagle, where in the hell have you been all this time ?  I’m glad ûyou went to the game and saw. Don’t stray to far again. We are probably going to need to band together sometime in the near future.

 

As far as this subject there’s some thoughts in this thread that absolutely hit the nail on the head. Frankly I’m concerned. Our kids play with no fire or edge. We were never in the game against Oak Grove or WJ. I’ve agreed to put away the flamethrower for now and will keep my word. If it gets to the point of not mattering sometime this season I’ve got a lot to say.

 

I’ve been bouncing around content for the sad seven for the last couple of weeks but something else arose that needs all my focus and attention right now.
I am aiming to have something out next week if I can get time to put thought into it.

 

I appreciate everyone speaking their mind in this thread. There is some real good points here that needed to be brought to light

Edited September 21, 2023 by slicklizard

[Merlin]

6 hours ago, Wareaglefan1us said:

That’s probably your answer right there. Corey is probably trying to take some pressure off of your young QB. WJ has a good complement of Running Backs too 10 is a big powerful young man I believe the other back was #6 I could be wrong but he was more shifty. Your receivers were all pretty good I can’t remember them getting deep but they caught a lot of underneath patterns and turned them into big gains. Merlin I believe you guys will be pleased with Cory and I’m pretty sure y’all have the same defensive staff 

Every single skill position player on wests offense will be back next year.  Actually so will the biggest o lineman (6’6 320 lb 10th grader) and one other starting o lineman. 
 

Rb #10 at 6’3 235 lbs. is a junior.  Laurel kept hitting him low last year and injured him enough to end his season. I feel if he played again picayune in the playoffs west wins that game as they would not have went so one dimensional in the 2nd half and could have ate up clock. 
 

RB #6 is a 10th grader.  He was having decent game vs picayune last year till a couple fumbles before halftime caused west coaches to totally abandon the run. 

I sent a picture of wests mammoth 8th grade o line to slick 2 seasons ago. I told him all were 6 foot one was 6’3 all over 230 at the time.  Well now they are 10th graders. 1 starts. The rest are 2nd string but 2 of them get a lot of playing time as is.  West should be set on offense for the next 3-4 years. 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Merlin

[Youngwareagle]

20 hours ago, slicklizard said:

Younwareagle, where in the hell have you been all this time ?  I’m glad ûyou went to the game and saw. Don’t stray to far again. We are probably going to need to band together sometime in the near future.

 

As far as this subject there’s some thoughts in this thread that absolutely hit the nail on the head. Frankly I’m concerned. Our kids play with no fire or edge. We were never in the game against Oak Grove or WJ. I’ve agreed to put away the flamethrower for now and will keep my word. If it gets to the point of not mattering sometime this season I’ve got a lot to say.

 

I’ve been bouncing around content for the sad seven for the last couple of weeks but something else arose that needs all my focus and attention right now.
I am aiming to have something out next week if I can get time to put thought into it.

 

I appreciate everyone speaking their mind in this thread. There is some real good points here that needed to be brought to light

Life just carried me away for a while. Moved out of state, got married and had kids. Just moved back to the state this year. 
 

Hankins was always a terrific coach at Thomasville and you have to hope he’ll have the same effect at WC. There is no excuse in 5A anymore. The next two seasons are do or die. 

[slicklizard]

[Wcchaingang]

Don’t win many when you turn it over 3 times in red zone.