2023 Football Season Preview: Central Chargers
Jarrett Laws brings over 15 years of head coaching experience to the Central Chargers.
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — After accumulating just four wins over the last two seasons, the Central High School football team looks to make significant strides this year as new head coach Jarrett Laws leads them.
“Football’s real here. You know what I mean. Listen, you better have it together, and I’m just really excited to be a part of this Middle Georgia family where every Friday night, it’s going to matter,” said Laws.
Laws brings with him over 15 years of head coaching experience.
“When there’s a transition, there’s a chance it may be rough. There’s a chance it may be smooth,” said Laws. “But you have to assume that if you hit the rough times, in a rough moment, if you have culture, those kids can weather that storm and continue to build and grow the program that you’re looking for. If you don’t create that culture, it’s impossible to get.”
The culture is taking shape gradually. In terms of lineups, Coach Laws is still working to determine the rightful contenders.
“From a scheme standpoint, we’re going to be beyond vanilla. I mean, it’s going to be baby food. We really just want to see what they can do, and because we’re going to be so much of a vanilla group, there’s going to be some times where kids got a big problem in front of them,” said Laws. “So I want to see who’s tough enough to fight through it. You need to find out early that when you hit that hump, who’s the guy that’s going to lean and press against the wall and knock it down.”
The Chargers aim to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2020, while Coach Laws envisions the football program’s impact extending beyond the wins and losses.
“Anytime there’s pressure, it’s a privilege. Pressure is a privilege. There are a lot of programs in the state where no matter what, it doesn’t matter, and that’s unfortunate,” said Laws. “At Central, we’re trying to build a football team that’s going to be tough. But, we want to make sure our work that we’re doing here resonates 10 years from now, 20 years from now when you see these guys, and they’re great husbands, great fathers, great soldiers and business owners and whatever else they’re going to do to improve the world around them, to improve this city of Macon, and to come back and contribute to it. Know that those seeds were planted at Central High School.”
The Chargers will get their first look at live-action against Lamar County in their scrimmage on August 10th. As for their season opener, that’ll be against Westside on August 18th at 7:30 p.m. at Ed Defore Sports Complex.
