Josh Lovelady, Mill Creek head coach
Today’s interviewee is Mill Creek coach Josh Lovelady, whose team won Class 7A last season for the Hawks’ first state title since the Gwinnett County school opened in 2004. Lovelady was on the staff that started the Mill Creek program and became head coach in 2019. He grew up in the county, playing and coaching at South Gwinnett before joining Mill Creek’s staff.
1. Looking back on the 2022 season one more time, what was the legacy of that team? “It was just a special group. They trusted the process. What I mean by that is we were able to practice at a high level with some high-level players but also have fun. You can see that with the Kansas City Chiefs. We did a lot of things with our position groups, adding shifts and motions and defensive alignments as the season went on. It was fun having kids coming in on Mondays and expanding on it. That’s a neat thing for old ball coaches. On the field, we were balanced offensively and defensively, but the unsung hero was our special teams. In the championship game, we had 11 of 11 touchbacks. We ran a kickoff for a touchdown. We blocked a field goal and had a scoop-and-score. We blocked five field goals on the year. We had four field goals over 50 yards. And we had star power with college prospects on the team, but we had great high school football players that played bigger than themselves and led from the inside out. If you continually have to direct from the outside, you can hold on for only so long. That team had great leadership.”
2. What's the scouting report on this year's team? “We’ve got some people we’re going to miss. Hopefully if we do our job right we won’t be rebuilding but reloading. In the secondary, we have three out of four starters back [Trajen Greco, Jaiden Patterson, Justin Content]. All are committed to play college ball, so that should be a strength even though we’re missing the player of the year [Caleb Downs, now at Alabama]. At linebacker, we probably have the strongest group we’ve had in 20 years here. The two in the middle are returning starters [Cole Mullins, Josh Anglin]. We’ve got to figure out our defensive line. We have just one returning starter there. On offense, we return three of our offensive linemen. The bell cow is Aidan Banfield [committed to North Carolina]. Cam Robinson, a running back who gained 200 yards in the championship game [252 to be exact], is the strength of the backfield. We have a new quarterback, Shane Throgmartin [backup to Hayden Clark in 2022]. He would’ve started on a lot of teams last year. He’s got a big arm and a lot of talent. At all levels, whether it’s high school college or the pros, you’ll go where your quarterback goes. We graduated all three receivers. All those guys on defense [in the secondary] play wide receiver too. They’ll have to step up.”
3. You’ve got four top-100 Georgia seniors in the 247Sports Composite, all who play defense. Can you briefly comment on their talents - Greco, Mullins, Patterson and KingJoseph Edwards? “Greco [consensus No. 46 in Georgia, committed to Georgia Tech] is probably our most athletic kid. He played quarterback as a freshman, wide receiver as a sophomore and then switched to defensive back as a junior. He has tremendous ball skills, similar to Downs, and can play both sides of the ball. Patterson [No. 81, committed to North Carolina], he’s a big, tall, rangy safety, probably close to 6-2, who can run. He was fourth in the 400 at the state track meet as a sophomore. Mullins [No. 79 Georgia, committed to Notre Dame] is a very unique player, kind of like a Brian Urlacher. You don’t see many 6-4½, 245-pound middle linebackers in high school. He’s a tall kid for a linebacker, but we will put him down at end too. He’s one of those hit-you-in-the-mouth kind of kids. Edwards [No. 26, uncommitted], he’s come over from Buford and moved into our district. He’s doing a good job learning the new technology and working hard every day. We hope he can be an impact player for us on Friday as well.”
4. You’ve worked under several successful coaches, in particular Danny Cronic at East Coweta, T. McFerrin at South Gwinnett and Shannon Jarvis at Mill Creek. What did those coaches teach you? “Thanks for asking that. Great question because coaching is all about mentorship. I was four years under Coach Cronic at East Coweta. He was exceptionally talented at personnel and getting players in the right positions, regardless of size, to be successful and part of a group. I remember he moved a strong safety to nose guard. He was 185 pounds, but nobody could block him. Then I moved on to Coach McFerrin for four years. His organizational skills were elite. He has a wide coaching tree. He won [state] at Jefferson. He won it at Elbert County. His practice schedules and communication with staff were huge. He knew how to get his players fresh on Friday night by practicing smart and not just beating the heck out of each other. He practiced with the playoffs in mind. Then for the last 14-15 years, I was with Shannon Jarvis. His piece was culture. He built something from the bottom up. We were a new program, and he was going to make it a long-term commitment, not only with the staff, but the community and players. He built a strong foundation. And it was about doing things the right way. We weren’t going to come on and do something that could be controversial or sketchy. We were going to win ball games by doing it the right way. And he had a great ability to build relationships with players. When I was in high school, I just did what the coach told me. There were not a lot of questions. That wasn’t Shannon’s way. He was about having that depth of relationship where the players wanted to play just as hard for you and each other and the community.”