2006 Football Preview: Rome Wolves

Rome (Ga) - Rome High School has become one of the most respected football programs in the peach state. In the past five years, the Wolves have compiled an overall record of 52-10. Second year head coach Sid Fritts is looking to continue Rome's winning tradition in 2006.

Last season, Coach Fritts led the Wolves to a Region 7-AAAA championship and a trip to the Class AAAA state quarterfinals. Prior to that, Coach Fritts spent seven seasons in Vidalia, including five as head coach. In the last four years of his tenure there, the Indians went 45-5-1 with just one regular-season loss. He took over a Rome program that went 42-8 in that same four-year span.

* Under coach David Humphreys

The Wolves will have to replace Rivals.com three-star linebacker

href="http://gavarsity.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=29648">Toryan Smith. Smith will play for coach Charlie Weis at Notre Dame this fall.

"He was our leader on defense," said coach Fritts. "Toryan was one of those guys that's got a tremendous I.Q. for the game. People kind of schemed around him to stay away from him. Notre Dame is getting a good one."

"We lose some really good players," he said. "We lost wide receiver

href="http://gavarsity.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=37893">Brian Watters who signed with Central Florida, and we had some other guys that signed with some Division IAA schools. However, I feel like our football team's got a chance to maintain the level that the folks around Rome have grown accustomed to. I really like the way our kids have worked during the off season. I like the chemistry that's starting to develop between the players. They're a year into the way I like to do things. You can tell this spring there was a carry-over from the fall."

Offensively, the Wolves will run the Wing T for the second straight year under coach Fritz.

"Last year, it was a little bit slow coming," said Fritts. "Actually, we weren't very good offensively early in the year. Our defense carried us until our offense caught up. By the end of the year, we were moving the football pretty good. We had a thousand yard passer and a thousand yard rusher. We started getting better and better, at least until will ran into Northside."

Rome will have plenty of returners on offense. Junior quarterback Cory Thacker should feel more at ease with the Wing T. The returning offensive line corps, led by Dante Wells and Torio Wells, should be outstanding.

"We started changing our quarterbacks midway through the year," said Fritts. "We would start our senior quarterback, and we would play him the first two or three series. Then we would move him to wide receiver and bring in our sophomore Cory Thacker. Cory did a great job coming in off the bench for us. He should be even better as a starter. We've got a senior running back that finished strong down the stretch, and we've got a sophomore running back that had about 750 yards. Both of those guys will be back. We'll have to replace our fullback. Our offensive line is back."

This year, the Wolves will have some holes to fill in a defense that was very tough for Coach Fritts in 2005.

"Defensively, we lose three guys out of the secondary," said Fritts. "Collyn Copeland who started in the secondary got hurt early last season, and he's back. We may end up moving him down in the box. He's bigger and he's kind of a John Lynch type of player. We've got three of the four defensive lineman back, and we've also got one of our linebackers Josh Hines back. He was our leading tackler last year."

Rome defensive lineman

href="http://gavarsity.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=40534">Tymon Hudson is one of the top defensive end prospects in the state.

"Tymon, for a defensive end, has got a great first step, and he's got long arms," said coach Fritts. "He was an All-State player as a sophomore. His stats were even better last season, but for whatever reason, he didn't make it as a junior. Tymon's father played in the NFL, and he's got a great up side. He's young, and he's still got a lot of growing left to do. He's just a tremendous football player."

Preseason Assessment:

"My expectations rarely change from year to year," said Fritts. "I always expect us to make a run at the whole thing and this year's no different. We've got a lot of guys back on offense. If we can avoid injuries, control the football early, and give our defensive guys a chance to grow together, I think we've got a good chance to be competitive. If we can make the improvement that we made from week 1 to week 13 last year, then I think we've got a chance to compete there at the end."

2006 Schedule:

Date: Opponent:

9-1 Decatur

9-9 McNair*

9-15 Cartersville

9-22 Lakeview-Ft Oglethorpe

9-29 @Gordon Central

10-13 Dalton

10-20 @Ringgold

10-27 @Southeast Whitfield

11-03 Ridgeland-Homecoming

11-10 Northwest Whitfield

* TBA - Negotiations are being made as to whether or not the game will be played in the Georgia Dome.