Bulloch Academy was the first team in Bulloch County to throw on pads this preseason as they gear up for another year of football at the GISA Class AAA level.
    It’s the Gators' third season under head coach Terrence Henessey, who’s making some drastic changes on the offensive side of the ball that has brought Bulloch success over the past five years. BA’s traditional wishbone attack will be converted into a pure shotgun offense, which Hennessey says will benefit the personnel he has returning from last season.
    “We’re changing offense because we don’t have enough kids to practice the wishbone and our personnel better fits a spread attack,” Hennessey said. “We have some very good receivers that we need to take advantage of as well. This is going to be the hardest on me. I’m a wishbone guy. I want to run it on first down, run it on second down and heck let’s run it again on third down. It’s going to be very hard for me to break that psyche as the offensive play caller.”
    Hennessey noted that it takes the right number of bodies to properly practice the wishbone, which BA currently lacks. Even though the Gators expect to dress around 30 players — close to the average for the school over the past few seasons — too many key pieces from the wishbone offense are gone.
    Hennessey insists this is a change for the best with the players he currently has.
    “We have a quarterback who I feel can really sling the football. He’s just inexperienced because he’s a sophomore. Our best two receivers are seniors and a lot of slot receivers to go behind them,” Hennessey said.  “It’d be stupid of me to try and stick to the wishbone without wishbone personnel. With what we have this new offense will be the best thing for us.”
    That quarterback is Don Aaron, who will start his first full season learning how to play a complicated offense. Aaron won’t be alone though, as he’ll be flanked by experienced receivers in Davis Childs and Nathan Rice along with an All-Region fullback in Tyce Lovett. With four returning offensive lineman as well, Aaron will have all the tools necessary for a young quarterback to succeed.
    “Don has the potential to be really good. He’s got the really good arm,” Childs said.
    Childs admitted after playing receiver in a wishbone offense, he’s excited at the prospect of seeing more passes thrown his way. And while BA fans can expect to see the ball in the air more often, Hennessey made it clear this will still be a run first team.
    “We’re still going to run more than we throw… it won’t be 25% throw like we have been the past years but the run will still be our foundation,” Hennessey said. “If we’re running well in a game we may not have to throw it a lot, but if we can’t run, I feel like we can throw.”
    Lovett, who lined up in the fullback position in the old wishbone offense, isn’t sure whether his carry load will increase or decrease in the new offense — but was excited at the prospect of a new role.
    “I guess I see it as a new opportunity. There will be new holes to run through and new blocks. I just love running the ball,” Lovett said. “I can line up next to the quarterback but we run a lot of pistol too. We run a lot of read-option, so I don’t know whether my carry load will be up or down.”   
    Defensively, only minor changes will be made. The Gators will move from a 50 front to a 40 front due to the lack of down lineman on the roster. Aside from that, the defensive philosophy hasn’t changed. BA will blitz a lot while mixing up man and zone coverages.
    “Defense is more important than offense. If they don’t score we don’t lose,” Hennessey said.
    Hennessey said the biggest criticism of himself from last season was how he managed resting players and fatigue. With only 30 bodies and a lot of players playing both sides of the ball, especially on the line, Hennessey and his staff will have to watch his players carefully as the season goes on.
    “The Sunday before our first game we’re going to look at our depth chart and decide, drive three of offense this kid is sitting out, or we’re going to say this kid is out for five or six plays no matter what,” Hennessey said. “We’re not going to let fatigue hurt us like it did last year.”
    The addition of a bye week will help the Gators this season as well. After not having one in two years, the entire team is thankful they’ll have a week to rest and regroup.
    “We’re really excited to get a bye week this year. We really need to heal up after all that hitting,” Childs said.
    Bulloch opens their season at Memorial Day School on August 12 at 8 p.m. Region play starts on Sept. 30, when the Gators will travel to Edmund Burke. The regular season comes to an early October 21 finish when the Gators host rival Pinewood.