Chattahoochee County begins first year under Drew Fowler

Quick facts

Coach: Drew Fowler, first year; 0-0 at school, 0-0 overall

Assistant coaches: Jody Allen, offensive coordinator, Dan Ligon, defensive coordinator, Mike Nixon, Stacy Masten, Chris Cowart, Chris Wright, Eddie Fugate

2015 record: 3-7, did not make playoffs

Region: GHSA 1-A

Breaking down the team

The Good: Anytime you have your quarterback returning, you’ve got to feel like your offense is in a better place than it was. The Panthers get Trey Mafnas back this year with nearly a season of work under his belt, and that should help the offense to be a little further along than it was in 2015. New coach Drew Fowler has been a part of winning programs, from Peach County to Carrollton, and the value in that can’t be underestimated either.

The Bad: It’s just tough to maintain consistency at a school like Chattahoochee County. So many players come and go due to its proximity to Fort Benning, and that means constantly bringing new faces up to speed in the middle of the season. The Panthers showed two years ago how strong they could be, and then showed last year how quickly that can go away.

Our take: We won’t really know what this team has until a week or two into the season. The thought here, though, is that the new coaching staff is a great fit and that the team will likely benefit from its new classification in single-A football. Yes, there are plenty of tough teams on its schedule and there will likely be some growing pains, but Chattahoochee County should be a team that improves consistently throughout the season.

This story was originally published August 21, 2016 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Chattahoochee County begins first year under Drew Fowler."