Last year's 4-6 record didn't sit well with Evans football coach Marty Jackson. The lack of leadership on the team didn't help, either.
Hoping to avoid the same thing in 2007, Jackson came up with a mascot-appropriate solution this year that hearkens back to medieval times: the Knights of the Roundtable.
"After last season I felt like we needed to come up with a way to develop and give our players ownership of this team. So we developed a leadership council," Jackson said.
The council of about a dozen Evans football players met on a regular basis during the offseason. They don't use the lances and armor of the original medieval knights, but the philosophy is similar.
"It's really all about leadership. It was a concept that is evolving as we go," Jackson said. "It gives me a way to communicate with the guys and teach them to take pride and be a group of leaders."
That includes duties such as calling teammates during the second week of preseason to make sure no one missed the 5 a.m. practices scheduled to avoid triple-digit temperatures in the afternoon. The council is also in charge of voting on team rules, schedules and any necessary disciplinary action.
"It's not an elite thing. It's more like a service organization," Jackson said. "They're serving their team. There's no special privileges, just added responsibility.
Those are the adjustments made at a program looking to pick up the pace on a four-year stretch that has seen only 14 wins. The talent on the field looks more like the 2004 team that went to the state playoffs instead of the 2005 and 2006 squads with a combined 5-15 record.
"We feel like, as far as the skill positions go, we have quality players to work with," Jackson said. "We started in January trying to get these guys in position."
Senior Kevin Millward is back in his spot at starting quarterback and punter. His targets also returned. Wide receivers David Smith (6-3, 215) and Jonathan Nicely (6-5, 190) are back, along with the speed and hands of wideout Trey Henderson.
Josh Butler, who ran a 4.4 in the 40-yard dash, will also join the Knights' parade of receivers.
Evans Knights
Aug. 31 at Harlem
Sept. 7 bye week
Sept. 14 vs. Lakeside
Sept. 21 vs. Greenbrier
Sept. 28 at Effingham Co
Oct. 5 at ARC
Oct. 12 vs. Statesboro
Oct. 18 at Brunswick
Oct. 26 vs. Ware County
Nov. 3 at Glynn Acad.
Nov. 9 vs. Wayne County
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