Today’s interviewee is Valdosta coach Shelton Felton, whose team will play crosstown rival Lowndes tonight. Felton became interim coach in May after Valdosta fired coach Rush Propst. Felton coached at Tennessee, UTC and Akron before joining Valdosta’s staff in the spring. In 2016, he led alma mater Crisp County to a 13-1 finish and the Class 3A semifinals. Valdosta is ineligible for the playoffs this season for recruiting allegations during Propst’s one-season tenure.
Shelton Felton, Valdosta head coach
1. What has been the biggest challenge at Valdosta? “The biggest challenge is being in a situation where the kids are not able to have playoffs and then keeping them focused and working hard and interested in football. There’s no postseason, no reward at the end of the regular season, just 10 games. You know that, and you have to keep the kids working and chasing a goal to be the best they can be. We also lost some good players, some that transferred. Our motto has been to control the controllables. We can’t control the outside. We use the acronym DATE – discipline, attitude, toughness and effort. That’s what we teach every day. We’re going to play these 10 games and make each one a playoff game.”
2. What problems does Lowndes present? “The offense led by Jacurri Brown at quarterback is explosive. He can take it to the house running or passing on any play. They have good running backs and receivers. They have a good offensive line size-wise. They are a man-to-man defense. They blitz a lot. They’re in your face. The speed of their defense could present problems because they’re so physical and fast.”
3. What did college football teach you? “It taught me to be more time-oriented and more detailed. It’s not just calling the plays in college but being detailed in the play calls. I learned a lot from top to bottom about running an organization with the great guys that I was around, but at the end of the day, it’s still football. There’s not a lot of difference between a high school senior and a college student. They still have the same problems, and I leaned on my high experience to deal with that. Some high school students’ home lives are not too good, and they have personal problems or struggle in class and need help from a male figure in their lives on how to be responsible or save their money. Some have never been taught those things. We forget sometimes they’re still kids. They’re just bigger than most people. They have the same problems.”
4. What did you miss about high school football, and why are you at Valdosta? “I think everybody will tell you, even those in the pros, that Saturday and Sunday are great, but there’s something about Friday night football in small towns where football is king. Also in high school football, you can do more in changing a young man’s life and molding and pushing them through. You’re a mentor and sometimes a savior. You can have a bigger impact. As far as Valdosta, it’s no secret, I was coming to work for Rush. I’d worked for him at Colquitt County. And knowing the tradition of Valdosta, I liked that opportunity. Then I had the opportunity to be the interim head coach, and I couldn’t leave these kids. They work so hard, and they need somebody to protect and be with them. Adults made mistakes, not the kids, but the kids get the blame. I had other offers to be a head coach, but my wife and I believe that God brought us here for a reason. Somebody needs to be here to hold them together through this and to save this senior class, and I felt it was my place to be.”
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