By Rubin E. Grant
Don’t get Matthew Forrester wrong.
He’s not too pressured taking over as Briarwood Christian’s head football coach following the retirement of legendary coach Fred Yancey after 29 years at the helm.
“That’s a little thing for me,” Forrester said. “I’m grateful for all coach Yancey did for Briarwood. I played for him (in the late 1990s) and he mentored me as a coach. He’s been a huge influence in my life.”
But, Forrester said, “Taking over as defensive coordinator for my dad (Mike Forrester) in 2011 after he had been here for 17 or 18 years and was loved and cared for by his players was pressure internally for me. It was that Thanksgiving table kind of pressure.”
Matthew Forester spent 13 seasons as an assistant on Yancey’s staff, including the past eight as defensive coordinator. He also was an All-State linebacker on Briarwood’s first state championship team, in 1998.
Now that he’s at the helm of the program, he will try to keep up the Lions’ streak of 26 consecutive seasons in the state playoffs.
“It’s been an offseason of change,” Forrester said. “For 29 years we have done everything coach Yancey’s way, but now we are testing the waters.
“I’m trying to make it my program, but at the same time everything we do has him written all over it.”
The Lions will have five starters returning on both offense and defense, so they will have plenty of new guys who need to grow up quickly.
Backfield
One of the returning starters on offense is junior quarterback Jonah Carroll.
“He played a lot as a sophomore and got some experience,” Forrester said.
Carroll does have some competition for the position, coming from freshman Chris Vizzina. “He’s good too,” Forrester said. “We’re excited about all our quarterbacks. We’ve got several young ones who we can compete with the next few years.”
Although versatile running back J.R. Tran-Reno graduated, the Lions do have senior Luke Prewett returning. “He runs hard and he’s got excellent vision,” Forrester said.
Senior Christian Ferguson returns as the blocking back.
“We’ve got some others who will play,” Forrester said. “We’ll move them around like we did J.R. Tran-Reno.”
Receivers
Briarwood will have an experienced receiving corps with returning starters Blake McKenna, Brooks Donnelly and James Hancock. McKenna and Hancock are seniors and Donnelly is a junior.
“Blake is a tough kid who runs great routes and has good hands,” Forrester said. “Brooks is a solid receiver whose brother (Carson) plays at Clemson. James will be at outside receiver.”
Sophomore Luke Reebals and juniors John Elliot and Bailey Salmon will see plenty of playing time.
“We’re very fortunate that we’re two-deep at each of our receiver positions,” Forrester said. “They can all catch and run.”
Offensive Line
The Lions have three returning starters on the offensive line, led by 6-foot-4, 285-pound senior left tackle Trent Howard. He has committed to Georgia Tech.
“He’s versatile,” Forrester said. “He can play all five positions on the offensive line.”
The other two returning starters are senior left guard Christian Pearson and junior Carson McKeen, who will move around from tackle to center to guard.
Senior Alex Miller will start at right tackle and senior Clayton Rasmussen will play center and guard.
Sophomore Alex Moorer also will rotate in at right guard.
“He’s a big ol’ boy, about 6-0, 270 pounds,” Forrester said, “but he runs like an athlete. When he gets going, he can go.”
Forrester likes having the versatility of his linemen.
“We’ve got seven or eight guys who we can rotate in and out,” he said. “It’s going to be interesting how we line them up.”
Defensive Line
With three returning starters, Forrester said the defensive line could be the strength of the team.
“Having three returning starters normally doesn’t happen here,” Forrester said. “We usually have a couple of seniors, but last year Turner Murphy, Parker Will and Cole Garner all started as juniors.”
Murphy will play strong-side defensive end, Will will play defensive tackle and Garner will line up at both positions. Sophomore Miller Stubblefield figures to be the weak-side defensive end.
Ferguson also will see time on the defensive line.
“We’ve got some young guys, too, who we hope come on,” Forrester said.
Linebackers
Senior Cal Reebals heads an experienced group of linebackers. “We moved him to outside linebacker from offensive line and he’s been a stud for us,” Forrester said.
Junior Tyler Waugh will play middle linebacker and junior Parker Hutson will be the other outside linebacker.
Senior Crawford Kent and junior Luke Hand also will be part of the rotation.
Secondary
The Lions will have two experienced cornerbacks in senior Chase Travis and junior Alastair Harris.
“They both had great seasons last year,” Forrester said.
Sophomore Andrew Jones and juniors Cal Higdon and Eli Steadman will man the safety positions, giving the Lions a solid secondary.
Kicker
Senior Noah Nall will handle all the kicking chores. He made 5 of 7 field goals in 2018 and averaged 35.5 yards per punt.
“He’s been starting since he was a freshman and now he’s finally a senior,” Forrester said. “He’s consistent. He was All-State last year. We’re glad to have him.”
Briarwood will play its first regular season game Aug. 30 at home against Chelsea before stepping into Class 5A, Region 4 play the following week at home against Pleasant Grove.
