Mike Brown, Sports Correspondent
Coach Jason Napier returns to his old stomping grounds on Saturday night when Bryan County opens its season at South Effingham.
The Mustangs (1-2) opened the season riding a 37-game losing streak and dropped their opener before beating Woodville Tomkins 77-73. They lost at Camden County, 76-60, Tuesday night.
Napier, the first-year coach of the Redskins, was head coach at South Effingham in the 2021 season before COVID and a family health issue forced him to resign. He spent the next two years coaching Effingham County’s junior varsity team for Jake Darling which required less time and had better hours.
Napier, who coached 25 years total including 13 as head football and basketball coach at Effingham County Middle School, replaces Brent Anderson who took an administrative position in Bulloch County after coaching Bryan County for seven seasons.
The Redskins have made the state playoffs the last three years and are coming off a 17-11 season. No Bryan County boys’ basketball team has made the playoffs four years in a row.
Not only is Napier new to the Redskins but he will be taking a firstyear player with him to Guyton in senior Allen Williams —actually three as freshmen Breaden Sharpe and Gerome Lee dot the roster—and he is the most intriguing of the three.
Williams, a four-year starter in football on the offensive and defensive lines, is playing organized basketball for the first time since seventh grade. Like Napier, who was an assistant on Coach Cherard Freeman’s staff, Williams is looking forward to getting the season started.
Williams had no thought about playing basketball until late in the football season when Napier, seeing a 6-foot-4, 290-pound guy with good movement and decent quickness, approached him about playing basketball.
“I had heard he was a pretty good player,” Napier said. “He’s very athletic and very skilled with the basketball. I was pleasantly surprised with his skill set. He’s going to give us some good minutes in games.
“Allen is very smart, hard working and provides competition in practice. He’s accepting of his role and in my limited time with him is a player who can provide us with some quality minutes.”
Williams said he had no interest in playing basketball until Napier approached him about it.
“I hadn’t been on a team since seventh grade,” Williams said. “But the more I thought about playing on an organized team the more appealing it became.”
Williams also got plenty of encouragement from his football teammates, seven of whom are also on the basketball team.
“I know and understand my role,” Williams said. “I’m going to give Coach some quality minutes, rebound and I’ll be trying to space the floor the most I can to give my guys a look at the basket.
“Practice has been going well. I’m just trying to get used to playing basketball, and I’m having fun,” Williams said. “Practice has been really competitive. It’s been the best of the best. We’ve got some talent.
“I wasn’t here last year, of course, but the guys that were say it’s more competitive. Iron sharpens iron.”
The other football players on the roster include Mike Smith, Elijah Mincey, Chris Winfree, Gerbravion Collins, Jadon Odum, Estavian Rivera and Sharpe. Rivera is another wide body as the former lineman checks in at 6-0, 260 pounds.
“We’ll be able to hold our own,” Williams said. “I don’t think anyone will be pushing us around.”