The Skinny
The North Paulding Wolfpack enter season 2 under the leadership of Head Coach Jim Bob Bryant. Last season Coach Bryant continued a streak of 7 consecutive playoff appearances for the Wolfpack. Coach Bryant is no stranger to success as he won 3 North Carolina State Titles in 2011, 2012 and 2013. We asked coach Bryant about the strength of his team coming into this season.
“The Pack is bringing back 17 starters and 32 lettermen from a 7-4 2018 team. Last year was the first year (for me) at North Paulding after coaching for 21 years in North Carolina. Our Defensive Coordinator, Dana Arthur is also back for his second season at North. The players will not have to learn a new offense and defense as they did last year,” he replied.
Perhaps the biggest name of them all is All-American punter and kicker Brock Travelstead. Travelstead , a Louisville commit, connected on all 39 of his PAT attempts in 2018 and was 18 for 19 in field goal attempts. He led the team in scoring in 2018. He also averaged 42.4 yards per punt last season.
While most of the skill players return for the Pack, they will need to find a replacement at quarterback for the pass-happy offense. 2018 leading running back Preston Rogers returns for his junior season. Last year Rogers averaged 4.4 yards per carry with 4-TDs. Junior Kyle Bird will step in at quarterback for North Paulding. Bird only attempted 5 passes in limited action last season., but he will have several weapons returning at wide receiver, including, the teams 3 top receivers from last year in Kellan Autenrieth (47 catches, 768 yards, 11-TDs), Jarrod Ray (46 catches, 535 yards, 3-TDs) and Ryker Brown (34 catches, 377 yards, 4-TDs).
The learning curve might be steep for Bird, but he will have the benefit of an experienced offensive line in front have him. The Pack returns 4 starters from last season. Headlining the linemen group is all-region performer Andrew Smith.
On defense, the North Paulding returns 3 of their top 5 tacklers from a season ago, linebacker Matt Hoffman (77-total tackles), linebacker Jacob Amos (76-total tackles) and DB Tyler Davis (89-total tackles).
We asked coach about any games or rivals that his team was looking forward to playing.
“Our biggest rivalry game is East Paulding,” he said, “(our) biggest region game…all of them.”
So what’s the outlook on the season for Coach Bryant?
“North Paulding is the second smallest 7A school in Georgia and plays in a brutal Region,” he said. “Last year Region 3 had three teams ranked in the top 100 in the country pre-season. If North can upset one or all 3 of these teams, we will have a chance to compete for the Region Championship.”
The certainly have the experience coming back to be in the mix come early November.
