Today’s interviewee is South Gwinnett coach Bryan Lamar, whose team plays at home Friday night against Valdosta. South Gwinnett is 3-0. This is Lamar’s fourth season at South Gwinnett. He led alma mater Tucker to four region titles as the Tigers’ coach from 2012 to 2020.
1. How did the Valdosta game come about? “It was just one of those things where we were both looking for games. I’m not sure whether it was them responding to me or me to them, but it wasn’t anything we were thinking about in advance. I’ve known Coach [Shelton] Felton for a long time. He went to coach at Chattanooga, which is my alma mater, but it was just one of those deals where we were both looking. I did want a travel game [for next year]. We play Grovetown in our region [a 120-mile trip], and I wanted another trip outside of that. So we play Valdosta here this year but go down there next year. That will get us used to traveling for the playoffs. For us, it’s always good to play teams from different parts of the state to get a different flavor. All players and fan bases are a little different. We’re not as familiar with their players, and they’re not as familiar with ours. Up here, we know players because of youth ball and seven-on-seven. When we play Valdosta, it will be very different for everybody.”
2. What do you see when you watch Valdosta on film? “The quarterback [Todd Robinson, committed to Georgia as a running back] is really good, obviously. He’s strong and fast and breaks tackles. He can run it and pass it. He’s improved as a thrower over last year. They’ve got explosive players. I don’t know all their names. I go by numbers. No. 1, No. 4, No. 8 and No. 9, all those guys are good. The backs are good. No. 5. And obviously the quarterback. Their skill guys are all extremely explosive, lighting fast, and play with great tempo and pacing. The key with them is getting lined up. They’re going to play fast. If you’re not where you’re supposed to be, things can get out of hand. It’s not that what they’re doing is super complex. It’s the speed in which they do things and the talent they’re doing it with. On defense, it’s the same thing. Very athletic up front. The linebackers aren’t big, but they’ll strike out. They have D-I guys at corner and safety. They have no bad players. There are some teams where the D-I players are good, but the others aren’t so good. Valdosta has a lot of good high school players mixed in with their prospects.”
3. Your best-known players are probably LB Jaiden Braker (committed to LSU), DE Jalen Shivers (SMU) and WR Jackson Cook (Kansas). For those who aren’t familiar with those three, what’s their sill set? “Braker is an outside linebacker. He’s 6-4, probably 215, 220. He’s really fast and athletic. He’s an 11-second 100-meter guy with that size. Shivers is 6-4, 6-5, 260, committed to SMU. He’s been playing really well. He was our player of the week our last game against Brookwood. Jackson is 6-1, 190 and sub-11 in 100 meters, so he’s really fast. Then we’ve got a ton of other guys in the senior class who will sign. Last year we signed 16, and we’ll do something like that again. We’ve got some juniors with early offers.”
4. How would you assess your team so far? “This is the best team I’ve had since I’ve been here, more so because of the numbers. This senior class were freshman my first year. We’ve had them four years, and we’ve been able to consistently build them with the weight room to make sure we are developing our players. But we’ve also got a good junior class. As freshmen they lost the last game of the season by one point. They were undefeated on JV. About six or seven started last year as sophomores. We don’t start any sophomores for the first time since I’ve been here. We’ve got some in the rotation, but none that have to play a ton of minutes.”
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