Gwinnett Daily Post

Central Gwinnett Black Knights 2011 Football Preview

Mascot: Black Knights Coach: Todd Wofford (4-6 at Central, 4-6 overall) Region: 8-AAAAA Last playoff appearance: 2006

Offense

Head coach Todd Wofford's fast-paced offense put up some big numbers last season, but it's nowhere near where he wants it. After a year of teaching his players their roles, he feels much better than he did a year ago.

A major reason for optimism is the development of returning quarterback Eman Westmoreland. He threw for 2,737 yards and 28 touchdowns with 17 interceptions last season as a sophomore and also had a 62.2 percent completion rate.

"Having a quarterback in this system for two years, everybody can tell the difference," Wofford said. "The mistakes (Westmoreland) made last year were from being young. That's stuff he knows now. Plus he's gained 15 pounds up to 195, so he's a stronger runner.

"He knows the offense. He controls the offense. He knows what everybody is supposed to do."

Division I prospect George Morris (pictured) also is back, giving the Black Knights a good run-catch threat. He rushed for 706 yards last season and also had 56 catches for 658 yards.

Transfer Malachi Jones (45 catches for 638 yards and 11 TDs last year at Wesleyan), Adam Riley, Louis McGee and Daniel Louis will give Westmoreland speedy targets at the wide receiver spots.

Central will start five underclassmen on the line, but Wofford feels good about the group's progress since being thrown into tough Region 8-AAAAA play last season.

Defense

The Black Knights allowed 37.1 points per game last season, including a midseason stretch where they gave up 47, 62, 59 and 42 points in losses to Berkmar, South Gwinnett, Brookwood and Dacula.

"On defense there's nowhere to go but up, but it's night and day how much better they are right now," Wofford said. "We've grown up and just added a lot of size. A lot of young guys got bigger and you throw in Francis Kallon, the front seven got a lot bigger and they can run. ... We should be better against the run. If you can't stop the run in this region, you can't compete."

Kallon, a native of England, was the surprise of the offseason. Despite never playing a down of real football, the 6-foot-5, 255-pounder's summer earned him a big crop of scholarship offers before he committed to Georgia Tech. The defensive end also runs well enough that he may see action at linebacker.

Kallon isn't the only Central defender racking up the college offers. Junior linebacker Trey Johnson has offers from a ton of top colleges after making a county-best 152 tackles in the 2010 regular season. He played last season at 190 pounds, but is up to 215 now.

"(Johnson) sets the tone for us," Wofford said. "He's become a leader, not just on the defense, but of our team."

A bigger defensive line, with 305-pounder John Hawkins and Maurice Teele alongside Kallon, is an area of strength, as are Johnson and J.B. Ezzell at the interior linebacker spots.

Safety Aaron Taylor leads an athletic secondary.

Looking up

Wofford has high goals for his second season, which he hopes breaks a run of losing seasons by the Black Knights.

Central's last winning record was 8-3 in 2006, the last of Bradley Warren's five seasons as head coach. Warren's final three teams had winning records and earned state playoff berths.

But since Warren left, the program hasn't done better than 4-6, which was Wofford's record in 2010, his debut season at Central and first head coaching job.

A year of experience in Wofford's system should give the Black Knights a better shot at another winning season.

"We're looking to build on the knowledge of these young kids," Wofford said. "On both sides of the ball in fall camp, we look much better. I think that comes from being in the system for more than a year now. ... We played a lot of young kids last year and took some lumps with them, but those same kids for the most part will be back the next two years."

Etc.

Wofford went heavy on playing young players last season, starting eight freshmen and sophomores at times. ... Charlie Deloatche, who hit 4 of 6 field goals as a junior, is back. ... Central added two new assistants in the offseason, wide receivers coach Jeremy Clements and defensive backs coach Jason Thompson. Clements is a former star quarterback at West Georgia who coached professionally in Europe.

-Will Hammock

Central Gwinnett roster

1 Chris Shelling RB 9

2 Jonathan Chiza DB 11

3 Josh Marshall DB 12

4 Charles King DB 10

5 John Stafford QB 9

6 Sam Westmoreland WR 9

7 Adam Riley RB 10

8 Louis McGee WR 12

9 Malachi Jones WR 12

10 Eman Westmoreland QB 11

11 Zedekiah Brown WR 10

12 Aaron Taylor DB 12

14 Michael Witherspoon DB 9

15 Orlando Banks DB 11

16 Darious Latimore DB 10

17 Christopher Brock LB 10

18 Nathaniel Hartford QB 10

20 Chase Brown LB 11

21 Daniel Louis WR 12

22 Justin Huggins LB 12

23 Keith Molette RB 9

24 Johnathan Hawkins RB 9

25 Josh Malone RB 9

26 Emeka Ijeli LB 11

27 George Morris RB 12

28 Terrence Burruss DB 11

29 Charlie Deloatche K/P 12

30 Elton Cummings LB 10

31 Kendall Coleman DB 11

32 Trey Johnson LB 11

33 Greg McPherson LB 9

34 Justin Brownlee DB 11

35 Jaquavious Hunt LB 10

36 Anthony Ly LB 11

38 Sean Vo DB 11

40 Aaron Preston RB 10

41 Will McNeil DB 10

42 Rashad Zeno LB 9

43 Omar Lopez LB 9

44 J.B. Ezell LB 11

45 Mickey Carter LB 10

46 Rashid Diaz RB 11

50 Sanjin Medjedovic LB 11

52 Isreal Washington DL 11

53 Kevin Aigbe DL 10

60 Ken Barry OL 11

61 Darien Meheux OL 12

62 Christopher Kelly OL 11

63 Henry Alvarenga OL 10

65 Travis Bowman OL 11

66 Jay Calloway OL 11

71 Braden Glover OL 10

72 Aidan Warren OL 10

73 Dwayne White OL 10

75 Marcellus Cooper OL 9

76 Daylin Ferrell OL 11

77 Franklin Cruz OL 9

80 Mike Allen WR 10

85 Tyreeck Davilla WR 12

91 Maurice Teele DL 12

93 John David Worthy DL 10

95 Francis Kallon DL 12

98 John Hawkins DL 11

99 Eric Kromah DL 10