Coming off their highest win total since 2008, the Social Circle Redskins and second year coach Rob Patton are expecting more for 2021.
“Raise the standard” has been the calling card for the staff this offseason. That “standard” represents many things for Patton.
“The standard of attendance, effort and execution are the things under a player and coaches control on a daily basis,” Patton said.
The Redskins went 4-5 in the regular season, 5-5 after picking up a win via forfeit, and were eliminated in the first round of the class A-Public playoffs by Macon County. They went 2-3 in region with wins over Towns County and Greene County to finish the year. Social Circle was very young in 2020 and only lost one key player to graduation in Eric Taylor.
This season, third year starting quarterback Logan Cross will lead the offense behind a young offensive line. Patton is glad to have someone with time under his belt at the helm of his offense.
“The more reps you get back there, the more composure you will have,” Patton said of Cross. “It will not be his first or second time through the fire so that will provide a calming effect on the offense.”
Cross completed 195-349 passes last season for 2,081 yards. He threw 19 touchdowns between six receivers, 13 of which were to returning players. Cross was a first-team all-region selection in 2020.
Social Circle will get a key piece to their team back this year after Amarion Russell missed much of last year with an injury. Russell, a senior, led the team in rushing with 320 yards in only five games. The next leading rusher for the Redskins only had 158 yards on the year. Russell being back will take some pressure off the rest of the offense because he can run and catch the ball out of the backfield. He had eight total touchdowns last season, five rushing and three receiving.
Russell missed some practice time this spring due to the state track competition but had a “big night” at the spring game both catch and running the ball.
“We are expecting big things from him this year,” Patton said.
Cross will have a pair of good wideouts to throw to in junior Mason Moore and senior KJ Reid. Reid led the team with 561 yards receiving and added five touchdowns. Moore accounted for 273 yards and three touchdowns in his sophomore season.
A wildcard for Patton is the burning speed of Philip Baynes Jr. A two-way player, like many for Social Circle, Baynes Jr. will be used to stretch the field on the offensive and cover the field as a defensive back.
The return of spring practice has given Patton time to focus on the fundamentals and made his team hungry get out on the field again. Patton was not able to go through a normal spring practice last year due to COVID-19 restrictions last season but has seen the importance of it this year.
“It created more buy in amongst our guys,” Patton said. “They are going through spring and summer workouts as a unit so I think it will bring our team together.”
While buying in is important to any program, the fundamentals can be exposed on the field if they are not sound. This spring for the Redskins was just that, the fundamentals.
“Just execution,” Patton said of the focus this spring. “We are not doing any drastic scheme overhauls so being able to rep the fundamentals were big for us this spring.”
On defense, Patton will look to senior linebacker Tucker Cleary to lead the defense after a big year in 2020. Cleary collected 127 tackles, which led the team by 51. The next closest was Moore with 76, both Cleary and Moore were first-team all-defense selections in 2020.
“The biggest difference has been our speed to the ball,” Patton said. “We showed improvement in our tackling this spring, especially in open space which is something we struggled with last season.”
Social Circle opens the year with two home games before traveling to Walnut Grove. The Redskins will begin region play against Washington-Wilkes, Lincoln County and Commerce, the teams that finished ahead of Social Circle in the region last season. They will finish the season by hosting Towns County and traveling to Greene County.
“We are not too focused on the wins and losses,” Patton said. “As long as every single person in our program does their best to get better every day, the results will take care of themselves.
