2024 High School Football Preview: Retooled North Murray offense looks to keep playoff streak rolling

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 14, 2024

CHATSWORTH — North Murray heads into the 2024 season without last year’s Dalton Daily Citizen All-Area Player of the Year in Judson Petty, who graduated and is off to play at Georgia Tech.

But junior Hudson Hulett said that he’s excited for the talent the Mountaineers have returning.

“I’m excited about all the people that we have coming back,” Hulett said at a media day event held ahead of the season at North Murray High. “We have so much talent coming back, and I’m excited to see what we can do.”

Another departure — all-region quarterback Skyler Williams transferred to Warner Robins for his senior season — left an experienced Mountaineer group that is confident for the upcoming season, even with a shuffling of positions.

“We’ve got a lot of veteran guys back, and we’ve got a lot of guys that we’ve had to figure out if they can play certain positions,” head coach Preston Poag said.

Hulett will step into the quarterback position after a standout year at receiver last season.

“I’m most excited about getting back there, getting comfortable, and making plays so we can win this season,” Hulett said.

The offensive production of Petty, who piled up 1,407 receiving yards and 518 rushing yards, will be missed, and Hulett is removed from the receiving corps after catching for 823 yards and six scores a year ago, but Hulett the QB will have plenty of weapons to throw to, like senior running back and wide receiver Tyler Henry.

Layten Myers will join Henry as an option in the run game.

Standout offensive lineman Austin Newton is among a group of departures from last season, but all-region linemen Nate Rivera and Caden Painter return to block on the o-line and make tackles on the d-line.

Also back is all-region defensive end Aiden Ellis, who had four sacks a year ago.

“I think we’ve put a big emphasis on building strength and size,” Ellis said of North Murray’s offseason. “I think that’s been one of our weaknesses is not having the strength to go against the bigger teams in the playoffs.”

Poag said his team put in lots of offseason work in several areas.

“This is probably one of my hardest-working teams. That’s a big deal. When you’re talking about football, guys that play hard and work hard every day are hard to beat,” he said. “This team is going to be a hard-nosed type of team that’s going to get after you.”

North Murray is seeking a ninth consecutive playoff appearance — they’ve made the postseason in every season under Poag — and they’ll have to navigate a new-look Region 7-2A to make a postseason return.

North Murray stayed put in Region 7-2A in this year’s GHSA reclassification cycle, but only two other holdovers — Murray County and defending region champ Rockmart — join them in the nine-team region this year.

Joining are Coahulla Creek, Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, Ringgold and Sonoraville, who have all been region-mates with North Murray in the past when the Mountaineers were in Class 3A. Also in are Union County and North Cobb Christian. The latter is a private school, and, under a new GHSA playoff system this year, will compete alongside the other region schools for the region championship but will separate to play in a Class A-3A Private School state championship for the playoffs.

The new system makes it possible for schools that finish outside the top four in the region to qualify for the state playoffs as an at-large team.

The region is packed with playoff teams from last year in a few different regions.

“We’re going to have to fight to be in the playoffs, and that’s what we want,” Poag said. “Nothing is given. You don’t roll your helmet out there and make the playoffs for a ninth year in a row, it just doesn’t work like that.”

Region 7-2A

Coahulla Creek

Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe

Murray County

North Cobb Christian

North Murray

Ringgold

Rockmart

Sonoraville

Union County

Key losses

WR/DB Judson Petty

QB Skyler Williams

OL/DL Austin Newton

DB Ju’Alan George

Key players

QB/DB Hudson Hulett, junior

LB/DL/TE Aiden Ellis, senior

RB/WR/DB Tyler Henry, senior

OL/DL Nate Rivera, senior

OL/DL Caden Painter, senior

Circled on the schedule

Northwest Whitfield, Aug. 23

• North Murray played Northwest Whitfield for the first time in 2020, and the two schools have kept each other on their non-region schedules ever since. North Murray trails the series 3-1 after a 38-35 Northwest comeback win last year — a buzzer-beating field goal completed the comeback — but North Murray gets Northwest at home this year as it attempts to gain ground in the series.

@ Union County, Sept. 20

• A new region-mate for North Murray, Union County plays North Murray for the first time on Sept. 20. These two schools — along with perennial power Rockmart and private school North Cobb Christian — are likely to be battling at the top of the region.

Rockmart, Nov. 1

• Rockmart, winners of seven consecutive region championships, is the final regular season game for North Murray. The Mountaineers have gone into the Rockmart game with region title hopes alive in the last few years, but haven’t overcome the Yellow Jackets yet. North Murray gets Rockmart at home this season.