Jordan Mullis, Appling County head coach
Today’s interviewee is Appling County coach Jordan Mullis, whose team defeated then-No. 3 Pierce County 17-14 last week on Alan Ramirez’s 39-yard field goal with four seconds left. Appling County is ranked No. 2. Mullis’ teams are 27-5 with two semifinal appearances in his three seasons as head coach. Mullis is a Bleckley County native who was Appling’s defensive coordinator for two seasons before being promoted in 2021.
1. How did Friday's game come down? What were the key moments? “It was a really strange game after halftime. That is a really tough place to play. I’m sure it was a great game to watch and worth everybody’s 10 dollars. It was 14-14 in the fourth quarter. We got the ball back after a fourth-down stop on our 15. They threw incomplete in our end zone. Our defense was dead. I felt like theirs was too. We knew we had to score, but we also couldn’t give those jokers the ball back. I don’t know how many plays it was, but we drove it down to their 20-yard line with eight seconds to go, called a timeout and kicked the field goal. The key was not just getting points but not giving them the ball back because neither one of us really stopped each other in the second half. We both only had two drives. We were both grinding each other out. We only punted once in the game. They only punted once. They were giving our defense everything we wanted, we had to sustain that drive with points and couldn’t give them the ball back.”
2. What single thing do you believe makes the most difference in winning and losing in high school football? “At the end of the day, it all matters. Kids have got to play as hard as humanly possible and take care of their bodies during the week. You’ve got to have a great plan. You’d better put in 14-20 hours on the weekend and know everything your opponent does. You have to show everything to your kids but don’t overwhelm them. Always have one of those barnyard plays in your pocket. We got one of those on third-and-12 on our last drive against Pierce. For us as a staff, it really comes down to how are you going to manage your time when you have the kids.”
3. The GHSA has approved a reclassification plan that would put the private schools in classes 3A-A in their division for the playoffs. As the coach of a Class 2A public school, what do you think about that? “To be honest, our schedule is tough enough without private schools already, so it doesn’t really affect us in football. In baseball, we were the No. 1 public school in the end. We made the final four with three private schools, so I definitely see why people are crying about it. We’ve got enough problems here in football to fix, so we haven’t worried about it. In 2A, our cast of characters now are mainly public schools. Maybe some others will show up, maybe Fellowship Christian, but right now it’s us, Pierce, Thomson, Northeast, Rockmart, Callaway, Fitzgerald, Toombs County. It’s mostly the public schools.”
4. What coach or mentor had the most impact on you, and what did you learn from him? “Since I’ve been a head coach, I would say Bubba Walker, who’s on my staff, and Ryan Herring at Pierce County. They are two of the best ones that I’ve seen do it. Bubba is my defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. He’s bringing experience from the D-I level and winning two state titles at Colquitt County. Having him in the building lets me bounce every idea I have off of him, such as what do you think we should do offensively, or do we get after it this week in practice or back off and let them get their legs back under them. With Coach Herring, it’s how he runs his program, how he’s upgraded the facilities, and the demand he gets out of his kids. It’s the hardest group of kids to play against because they get after you every snap over and over. He’ll have a 200-pound lineman block a 250-pound kid night all long and you think, ‘Is that kid ever going to get tired?’ We talk quite a bit. Now that we’ve played each other, I enjoy talking to him and hearing his point of view.”