ADEL —
When Cook football coach Ken Cofer is putting together his starting lineup, he has a lot of players to choose from.
Cook began fall practice with 92 players. There are plenty of AAAAAA schools that don’t have 92 players, and that number is especially big for a AA school.
“We’ve got more kids than we’ve ever had,” Cofer said. “We started spring with 107 (players). We had some (leave the team). We ended up with about 93. Right now, we’ve probably got about 92.”
That depth is one of the reasons why Cook is optimistic heading into the season. The Hornets are hoping that 22 of those 92 players can step up and give the team strong units on offense and defense.
While many of their opponents will be using the same players on offense and defense, Cook will not have any two-way starters. Defensive end Matthew Foster may get a few snaps at tight end, particularly when the Hornets go to a two tight end set, but right now, he’s the only one that could be considered a two-way player. That depth could pay off in the fourth quarter of a tight game, once fatigue starts to set in.
Those 92 players have been working to get ready for the upcoming season. Last week, the Hornets held 6 a.m. practices at the school, and practiced for more than two hours.
“The kids are working hard,” Cofer said.
Cook will play Coffee in its preseason scrimmage on Friday. The Hornets will open the regular season against Worth County on Aug. 31 in Adel.
In 2011, Cook went 7-5 and finished fourth in Region 1-AA, behind perennial region powers Fitzgerald, Brooks County and Thomasville. Despite being the region’s fourth seed, the Hornets upset Region 2-AA champion Pierce County in the first round of the state playoffs — the fifth year in a row that the fourth seed from 1-AA had upset a region champion in the first round — before falling to a strong Elbert County squad in the second round.
The Hornets have seven starters back on offense and eight on defense. They lost some key players — including All-State quarterback Zach Folsom (the school’s career passing leader) and Georgia Tech-bound receiver Travin Henry — but have other players working to replace the departed seniors.
Folsom, who passed for around 2,700 yards last year, will be difficult to replace. But the coaches have been pleased so far with the development of senior quarterback Ross Pickle, who has backed up Folsom the past two years while starting at linebacker.
“I thought we were going to have to start from scratch, but Ross came out ready in the summer. ... I couldn’t be more happy with Ross’ production during practice. He works,” Cofer said.
Since he was hired as Cook’s head coach in 2010, Cofer has said his goals every year will be to win the region championship and the state championship. He knows those are ambitious goals, but he is trying to push his players to set their goals high.
“That’s our realistic goal every year,” he said. “Even last year, we had kids (hurting) because we didn’t win the region championship. We were an overtime loss to Thomasville and a Hail Mary by Brooks County away from being 8-2 (with) an inexperienced team. We think our chances have gone up big time now.”
At the same time, Cofer knows it won’t be easy. Brooks, Fitzgerald and Thomasville are perennially strong teams. Early County narrowly missed the playoffs last year, and has most of its starters back. Region newcomer Pelham improved tremendously last year under first-year coach Frankie Carroll, whose Madison County (Fla.) teams were perennial state title contenders. And longtime rival Berrien could be much improved under first year head coach Rob Armstrong, who coached Chipley (Fla.) to the state championship game a year ago.
“It’s so hard to compete in this region,” Cofer said. “It’s a dang war every week. There’s no off weeks. ... No doubt we’ve got the toughest AA region in the state.”
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Cook safety Chris Lissimore returns an interception during practice last week in Adel. Christian Malone | The Valdosta Daily Times
Discussion
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