Jeff Hunnicutt ....................... LB
Jim Henry ........................OC/QB
Gary Johnson .................. DC/LB
Breon Ford ......................RB/DB
Donnie Mendence ..........WR/DB
Ben Woodall................... WR/DL
Mark Jones ............................OL
Stephen Price ........................ TE
PIGSKIN 2021 29
ROME LAWNMOWER
PARTS AND
MOWER REPAIR
1100 Shorter Ave
Rome, Ga 30165
706-232-3368
FIVE 2020 LEADERS
YEAR
RUSHING
Joseph Wallace
RECORD
261 Carries, 1,360 Yds, 16 TD
22-32
PASSING
Sam Silver
759 Yds, 10 TD
2020
7-5
RECEIVING
Richmond Sims
14 Rec., 282 Yds, 4 TD
2019
TACKLES
Sam Silver
5-6
85 tackles
SACKS
Will Blalock 9 sacks
2018
2-8
INTERCEPTION
Anthone Williams 4 INT
2017
1-9
2016
7-4
VARSITY COACHING
STAFF
ALL TIME RECORD
74-106
Historical Info from
Georgia High School Football
Historians Assocation
REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS (3)
1979, 1954, 1953
STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS (3)
1979, 1954, 1953
COACH:
JEFF
HUNNICUTT
3 Years at School
Record: 12-11
Career: 12-11
STADIUM:
Woodard-Tuggle
Stadium
2 0 2 0 R E S U L T S
SONORAVILLE 14-20 L
LAFAYETTE 21-20 W
TRION 31-0 W
HARALSON COUNTY 7-49 L
COOSA 34-6 W
DADE COUNTY 27-0 W
FANNIN COUNTY 7-42 L
PEPPERELL 7-14 L
CHATTOOGA 49-7 W
GORDON CENTRAL 28-7 W
PLAYOFFS
WASHINGTON 28-14 W
RABUN COUNTY 0-35 L
Model building talent for future
with eyes on character
By Michael Baron
mbaron@npco.com
Model looks to develop and build
young talent in 2021
The Model Blue Devils have taken
numerous strides forward under
Jeff Hunnicutt’s leadership. Model
finished the 2020 season with its
first winning record in four years
and secured its first state playoff
victory in six years.
However, after graduating 18 seniors,
many of them two-way starters,
Hunnicutt and his staff are now
faced with the challenge of preparing
a younger, less experienced squad
for another hotly-contested season
in Region 7AA.
“We’re a young team right now,”
Hunnicutt said. “We’ll be ready,
but we’re gonna be green and how
we respond to the lumps along the
way is what I’m interested in seeing
where the character of this team is
revealed.”
Model was mainly a run team
last season, as senior back Joseph
Wallce carried the rock for 1,360
yards on 261 rush attempts.
Sam Silver started at quarterback
in 2020, and while he may
not have been slinging it up and
down the field, Hunnicutt lauded
Silver’s leadership abilities.
“Just from what I saw from leadership
qualities that Sam presented,
those roles will probably not
be filled by one individual person,”
Hunnicutt said. “It was stuff that
the common fan did not see. The
way that he held the entire team
accountable through any individual,
it was very unique.”
This year, Hunnicutt is looking
for his senior class to step up and
take on those leadership roles.
One of those seniors is offensive
and defensive lineman Bassel Khateeb.
Khateeb is likely to anchor the
line in fall 2021, but there are plenty
of big shoes to fill across the board,
including those of two-way lineman
Will Blalock, center Owen Henderson,
offensive guard Chris Ridling
and nose tackle Hayden Warner.
“We’re leaning on some of those
younger kids to fill some of those
voids and it’s gonna take some
growing pains,” Hunnicutt said.
“But in that same breath, they’ve
got to continue to grow. We want
to make sure that we’re starting
out on the right foot.”
Over the offseason, Hunnicutt
brought in Jim Henry, who was
most recently at Hillgrove High
School, to run the offense and coach
quarterbacks. Henry and Hunnicutt
both worked together at Pepperell.
“(We) hit it off right from the
start,” Hunnicutt said. “Now we’re
looking to expand a little bit and
go back to kind of what we were
trying to do in year one and a little
bit more spread variation.”
Henry has been working with
three quarterbacks this summer:
juniors Malachi Veillon and Dillon
Silver (Sam Silver’s brother)
and sophomore Keith Sprayberry.
“They got a lot of coaching in
June, so they’re really fighting for
that spot,” Hunnicutt said.
Hunnicutt said Model’s key for
success this year is winning the
battle on the offensive and defensive
front lines.
“We win or lose games within the
trenches,” Hunnicutt said. “We’re
going to win that battle at the line
of scrimmage and a lot of times …
you’re going to have a winner or
loser off of that.”
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