New head coach Jeff Hammond, Worth County football making progress

LEESBURG — The Worth County Rams football team worked out against Taylor County Thursday morning in a padded camp at Lee County High School under the supervision of new head coach Jeff Hammond.

Afterward, Hammond said he was pleased with the work and the progress his team is making.

“It was a good day,” Hammond said. “We’ve still got a long way to go, but we are getting better. The skill players played really well today and the defensive guys were up on the ball where they needed to be. I’m really liking the way the defense is coming right now, particularly our linebackers and defensive backs. They didn’t let anything get behind them today.”

Hammond was named head coach in March after Phillip Ironside resigned. Hammond came to Sylvester from Coffee County, where he served as offensive coordinator. He is familiar with South Georgia football, having coached at Colquitt County from 2008-2012 and again from 2016-2018. He and his staff have been working in Worth County since May and are seeing improvement.

“We’ve got a long way to go, but we are better than we were in May,” Hammond said. “The physicality up front has got to improve. But some of that can be attributed to not being able to put pads on all summer. We’ve also got to get stronger running out of the box. Today we looked better and we know we have a dual-threat quarterback in Chip (Cooper) but we don’t feel the need to use him to run in the summer. He will open up us some other opportunities later on.”

The coach mentioned several players that stood out to him and the staff in Thursday’s camp, including Cooper, linebacker Jaylen Fluellen, tight end Grany Juster, defensive end Drew Dickson and defensive back Quan Frier.

“We get to put pads on August 1st and that’s when it really starts,” the coach said. “We’ve got to keep working and getting better every time to get ready for region play. We play in Region 1 which will be tough, but I think if we keep working and improving we could get into the playoffs. I see the makings of a good team here. We’ve just got to put it together.”

The Rams will open the 2022 football regular season on August 19 in Ashburn against Turner County. They will play region games in Region 1-AA which includes Cook, Sumter County, Berrien, Jeff Davis, Fitzgerald and Dodge County. Fitzgerald is the defending Class AA state champion.

Joe Whitfield