Morgan County football heads into year three under Clint Jenkins with some unfinished business in mind.
The Bulldogs made positive strides in 2022 as they vastly improved, especially after winning seven games compared to four in 2021 during Jenkins’ first year. They also made the state playoffs for the second consecutive season under Jenkins as the No. 2 seed out of Region 4-AAA.
However, Morgan County failed to advance as its 2022 season ended with a loss to No. 3 seed Liberty County. The Bulldogs of Hinesville upset the Bulldogs of Madison, 19-14, in the first round.
Jenkins’ squad has moved on from that loss last November and has set its eyes toward the 2023 season. He acknowledged that the Bulldogs have worked hard all summer to prepare for the season.
“I think our kids understand what we are trying to do conceptually. [Do it] better than we ever have, which this is the third season. That’s an expectation now,” he said. “So, our energy is good and our kids like each other. That’s important. The best teams I’ve ever had were close in the locker room.”
Morgan County has high expectations for this season, with important goals such as winning the region and making a playoff run.
The Bulldogs haven’t won a region title since 2017 when Bill Malone was head coach. They also haven’t been to the second round of the state playoffs since 2012.
While those goals are on Jenkins’ and his players’ minds, they’re not at the forefront.
First, his team wants to get to that point, and it all starts with the season opener at home against Social Circle. Jenkins wants his players to initially focus on the smaller picture before focusing on the future.
“I think we’re getting there,” he added. “This past spring and [summer] were the best we’ve ever had. Everything is trending the way we want it to go. [However], the bottom line is that when the lights come on, we’ve got to go out there and execute, and that’s what we don’t know [about] yet.”
Despite being a young team, Morgan County has the skills to accomplish all of its goals. The Bulldogs lost some production from a season ago, but also return a lot on both sides of the ball in 2023.
Offensively, Morgan County brings back senior quarterback Talan Fuller, who’s already been in the system for a few years. He passed for 1,291 yards with 15 touchdowns and only five this past season.
The Bulldogs might have lost a 1,000-yard rusher in Jacere Cooper, but return a stable of running backs led by senior Jay Dorsey.
The senior totaled 707 rushing yards and 10 scores as a junior in 2022.
Dorsey’s backups, sophomores Christian Monfort and Jordan Gordon, are going to get their fair share of the carries as well. Both had a lot of success during spring practice and throughout the summer.
The biggest question mark for Morgan County on the offensive side of the ball is at wide receiver after losing TJ Thompson, who hauled in 36 receptions for 824 yards and 15 scores last year.
Jenkins highlighted that he has a few players in mind who he thinks will step up to replace Thompson.
“I will say that Dallas Dickerson has had a good summer. He’s young. He’s only a sophomore,” Jenkins said. “Jay Elder is going to do what he’s going to do as well. He is steady and consistent. Ty Tillery is [also] another young guy that’s going to help us on the perimeter at receiver.”
Morgan County set multiple offensive program records in 2022 under coordinator Loren Purvis, who is now the head coach at South Effingham. Following his departure, Jenkins promoted Brett Bell to be the new offensive coordinator after being the defensive coordinator for the past few years.
Bell, who already knows Purvis’s system and terminology, thinks it will be an easy transition. He also believes that Morgan County’s offense can thrive because it returns so many pieces from 2022.
“After losing Jacere and TJ, my expectations are still high,” Bell said in June. “They are to be efficient at what we do, especially at running the football, and to grow a little bit in the passing game.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Morgan County also returns a lot of key players from last season.
Seniors such as defensive lineman Antavious Elder and inside linebacker Landen Vickers will anchor the Bulldogs’ defense. Dorsey and Jay Elder will also play a key role in the secondary this year.
Morgan County allowed an average of nearly 20 points per game in 2022 but hopes to cut that number down this year under new defensive coordinator David Bethea, who was previously the defensive backs coach. He was promoted by Jenkins last month after Bell took over on offense in June.
“I am excited about it. We are rebuilding at linebacker, though,” he said. “We’re replacing three of four there, so that might be difficult. But in the front, we have Antavious [Elder] coming back. Three other kids are returning that also played up front [on the defensive] line from last year.”
Other players such as Monfort, Gordon, Tillery, Draco Frazzitta, Drew Ainslie, Dayne Dickerson, Zach Moore, and Jamel Cox, among others, will be huge contributors at their respective for the Bulldogs.
Morgan County plays a similar schedule to last season, with its five non-region opponents being the same. The Bulldogs will face Greene County, Jasper County Hebron Christian, Social Circle, and Monroe Area. Their region schedule of mostly Augusta-based schools begins on Sept. 29 with ARC.
According to the Georgia High School Football Daily’s Maxwell Ratings, the Bulldogs are favored to win Region 4-AAA. However, Jenkins doesn’t want his players to buy into the preseason hype.
Overall, Jenkins, his coaching staff, and players are hoping to attend to their unfinished business in 2023.
“We want to be a better football team in October and November than we were in September,” Jenkins said. “I might argue that we were a better team in August and September than we were late in the year [last season], so our next step is to flip that. We want to be a better team later on in the season. That’s a huge goal for us. How you do that is by working hard. You go out [and] get better at every practice. Every rep matters, even in the weight room. You do that a little bit at a time.”