Stephens County had a stellar season with a region title, #3 ranking, and narrowly advancing to the Quarterfinals. The star offensive quartet of Ben Stowe, Cam Lacy, Corey Richie, and TJ Everett are all gone, as are a great deal of the defensive standouts. But with Javin Gordon, Jasec Smith, and Aidan Butts all back, don’t expect some big dropoff for this program.

Head Coach: Wesley Tankersley, 6th season
2022 Record: 9-3; Region Champions; 2nd Round; #3 State Ranking

“We expect to continue to improve as a program and give ourselves a chance to win every game we play,” states coach Wesley Tankersley, entering his 6th season in Toccoa. He is now 5 wins shy of 100 for his career.

2023 SCHEDULE – STEPHENS COUNTY

AUG 18 @ HABERSHAM CENTRAL

AUG 25 vs RABUN COUNTY

SEP 1 @ FLOWERY BRANCH

SEP 8 vs DAWSON COUNTY

SEP 15 @ WHITE COUNTY

SEP 22 BYE

SEP 29 vs MONROE AREA^

OCT 6 vs FRANKLIN COUNTY^

OCT 13 BYE

OCT 20 @ HART COUNTY^

OCT 27 vs OCONEE COUNTY^

NOV 3 @ HEBRON CHRISTIAN^

^REGION 8-AAA GAME

Personnel & Schemes

Key Departures: Cam Lacy, Ben Stowe, Corey Richie, Aaron Maxwell, Ritt Tankersley, TJ Everett, Nathan Walker, Raven Wilson

These guys represent so much of the success of last year’s team and the years prior. There’s no denying some major voids exist with these guys graduating.

Returning Starters: 5 on offense; 4 on defense

Key Returning Players: Javin Gordon, Aidan Butts, Jasec Smith, Dawson Childs

Javin Gordon had a 1,000-yard season as a sophomore, and looks to be even better as a junior. Jasec Smith is also a junior, and had 83 tackles and 3 picks, while also being an under-the-radar option at WR. He’ll be likely the go-to option this year, and can easily be just as good or better defensively than he was a year ago.

Up & Coming Players: Jakob Lunsford, Tripp Underwood

“We will have a bunch of guys that you haven’t heard of that will make a big impact this year,” says Tankersley. “Too many to put down, but one that really came along at the end of last year and started one of our playoffs games and got defensive player of the week is Jakob Lunsford. He is gonna have a big year on the DL.”

Offense: Pro-Style

The offense remains the same as the past 3 seasons, so expect that same explosiveness. Gordon will be the go-to bell cow running back, and Smith the top option at receiver. New QB Tripp Underwood is going to fit in quite nicely.

Defense: 4-man front

The defense also remains the same, with DL Aidan Butts (Middle Tennessee State University commit), Dawson Childs (LB), Brock Tankersley (moving to FS to lead secondary), and Smith (CB) being the leaders.

Trenches: “OL depth is good, DL anchored by Butts and Lunsford, looking for two others to step up in the other starting roles, but feel good about progression of a few guys in spring practice,” adds Tankersley. 

Strengths & Areas of Focus

Strengths: “I think our offensive line has the ability to be a very big strength,” adds Tankersley. “We may have as many as 5 seniors on the offensive line. 4 of which have started games in their career.”  

Focusing On: “Don’t think we have really focused on one area more than any other,” states Tankersley. “We have focused on our guys having the attitude of being UNCOMMON. Doing UNCOMMON things. They are Stephens County Indians football players and they have to be UNCOMMON people.”

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