Hey, Coach Freeman, thanks so much for chatting with us.

You are heading into your 20th overall year as head coach of the Trojans.

What have you learned?

I have learned that kids are strange.

Some days they are on your side.

Some days they are.

They look at you like I don't even know you.

You know.

But it's exciting to coach them and excited to play.

So I've learned that you have to go day by day and, you know, just continue to work with them, continue to love on them.

And once you've been in it as long as I've been in it, then you start appreciate every doggone day.

Every every day is special, because once you kind of get a little older, you know, and your hairstyle has changed and colors, then you start to understand your time is limited.

Their time is limited.

My time is also limited.

So I'm going to enjoy every day the best I can.

So how have been the single days in the spring and summer as you're getting ready for the 23 season?

Have these days been enjoyable so far?

They have not been enjoyable, but they have been real.

Man.

We are young.

We are young.

We're young in some bad spots.

And we went down to coffee in the spring and they beat us up pretty good.

And we've been working this summer and we've been working hard and we've been working hard.

But you know, we're just young right now and we got one crazy, crazy, crazy behind schedule, so we just got to hang in there.

Well, you say you're young, so who are some of the guys?

If any guys are getting big looks and and scholarship offers?

And then who's someone on your team that really is working hard that deserves an offer?

Kids that are working, working hard.

I don't have a lot of seniors this year.

I think I've got about 12 or 13 of them.

So there's not very many of.

But I think my quarterback is the guy that needs an offer, but he's not he's not going to be a college quarterback.

He's going to be a college outside linebacker role or stand up defensive end.

So but he's not going to get a lot of snaps at that position because he is I will quarterback and the next quarterback is a ninth grader and so that makes it tough.

That makes it tough on him.

And and so we're kind of worried about that.

But he really deserves a serious look along with Jayden Williams, one of our offensive tackles six three quite a bit of £300 has been going through camp and he's been working for us.

So we expect some big things out of him as far as the college is concerned.

And then we've got our our big safety, Amara Thomas, he's got he's getting quite a few looks amongst Thomas and well, he's getting quite a few looks.

So we think he's going to be special this year.

And then we have one of the key, one of my one of my dude all guys, his name is Jordan McCain, and he's a hard working play.

A little bit of everything filler for the Trojans.

So we expect we expect some some folks to give him some offers.

But, you know, he's going to be a late pick, I think.

But, you know, people keep saying it of I think he deserves to play on the next level.

Looking at your schedule, you're in region one single-A and D1, but because of that, it's three region games.

Irwin Bacon, Pelham And then you got to find seven opponents and that turned into a problem last year.

How difficult is it to fill out a schedule these days with only three region games?

And what is your schedule looking like this year?

Well, my schedule is atrocious, man.

Skills is like this.

People file government until we're off, man.

I know I'm in a jamboree.

I play Hardaway.

My first game is against three eight Thomasville.

My next game is against four a Wayne gun.

My next game is against three a cookout.

Then I have mental can me and my next game is Bobby Thomasville syndrome.

Then I going to open late then I have Bainbridge another five days to then I have early which has no business being a small single-A, but they are.

And then I got my regional schedule and I start that with Irwin County.

There is no school.

They may rebuild a school remodel too, but there's no new schools.

So who am I going to play?

And that's always the that's always the issue with you in especially when you got a region.

They put you in a region with only three other games and it ends up being that that issue that you have to consistently tackle.

I mean, we talked about it in the past where you're trying to schedule teams in Alabama and then it's just like they bail on you and then you're trying to find an opponent.

Please, Georgia High School, please do not put Bruce County in a four team region.

Again, I know we get we're doing reclassification and it'll be down to six classifications.

But please, please, please, please, please do not put Brooks County in a four team region.

Consider your message sent.

Well, with all of that being said, you do have small town charm down there in South Georgia.

What does football mean to Quitman?

And I know there's not a lot of new schools, so the tradition is heavy.

And tell me about that.

Well, we have a great tradition.

We have a lot of fans that get to the game early.

We got those ball peanuts that everybody loves.

We've got fan.

We've got a great support system.

We got Hardee's on the corner waiting.

We got other cooking everywhere.

So we got all that ready.

And then the fans, they are tremendous, They are outstanding.

They are ready to get that thing going.

They always ask during the week, Hey, coach, give us the roster.

Well, the team, they do their research.

They spend a little time trying to see who the best players are.

How old is coach, how long has been coaching, how successfully is it?

So when you get to that stadium, they know exactly who you are and I really appreciate that.

Well, I'm looking forward to your answer on this.

I've been waiting to hear it all day.

So here's our bonus question.

Do you have a funny coaching moment, a funny coaching memory, game day tradition or gameday superstition that you'd like to share with us?

I have all kind of wonderful things to share, so I'll share my game days deal on Thursday when we finished our policy aside, I do not talk any more until it's time for the game.

I don't speak to my principal.

I don't speak to system principals and teachers.

I don't I don't answer the phone.

I don't talk to my players.

They know all my sign language anyway and all my little funny looks and all that stuff.

I don't talk.

I'm grouchy.

I mean, I'm just worried about the game and I don't want to talk to anybody.

I did not know that.

Did you know that about him, John?

Because I.

But I know do not call him on Thursdays because it's too close to a game day anyway.

Yeah, it's like that's why it's like I want to talk to him early in the week to make sure that I know what's going on.

Let.

Let the man cook.

Let the man coach.

Don't worry about it.

I mean, cook, figuratively and literally.

Now it's just know who's your get back coach now, by the way.

My get back coach is used to be my daughter, but she is in pharmacy school, so she will be in Savannah finishing her last two years of pharmacy school.

So now I have to have another get back Coach.

I had a police officer, Willie Charles.

He was my get back coach, but he took another job, so he's gone too.

So I have to audition to get a new get back coach.

So.

All right, so auditions are open.

Yes, auditions are open.

So what are you looking for in a get back coach, when you have auditions, what are you looking for in a get back coach?

Somebody that won't bother me.

It's just.

Okay, so the only criteria is someone that's not going to bother you.

Yeah, And they can tell you.

But when the principal say, Hey, you don't remember, I hope I don't, but they don't do it.

Okay, Good luck.

Okay.

Well, my daughter my daughter was the only one that I would not jerk away from.

Okay.

So she was the greatest gift back coach of all.

Because if she was back and she grabbed me, then I would move officially putting out the job application.

Yes, on the Internet.

This out on LinkedIn, by the way.

All right, one more thing.

We got this.

Oh, you see that face of Mitchell back there?

Yeah.

You know, I know what I lost.

I lost a coach that someone one of my coaches, that cancer coach Mitchell.

He's coach he and Bruce his entire life, 36 years.

And so we lost him and we lost him in June, you know, And so we made our hats, bucket hats this year, the buckets.

He has A, B, C, which we always have on the back.

We have pulled back some that's also have a wristband on fire.

Always got my bring the hem of his man but there's an extra reduced man up There's a man of our coach Mitchell's name on it.

So so I want to get my man that's in heaven right now.

I want to give him a shout out because this would be the first time in my 20 years of coaching that Bruce that he has not been on the sideline with me.