Lifting their spirits

Jake White knows what success on the football field at Murray County feels like. In his senior year, he has just one goal — bring it back.

White grew up with a Murray County tradition, watching older brother Shawn play on the offensive line as the Indians made the playoffs in 2005, losing in the first round. Since that time, Murray County has struggled on the gridiron, first placed as an afterthought in a metro-Atlanta region in Class 5A and then competing as a Class 4A school as more and more students were siphoned away to constitute North Murray.

This year, the Indians drop down to Class 3A, and White feels a revitalization around the corner. Last season started off well with a 10-0 win over East Hall and ended on a high note with a 35-14 victory over Allatoona. In between, there wasn’t much to talk about as Murray finished the year with a 2-8 record. But it is the ending that White believes his team can build on.

“We had some games that I felt like we should have won early in the season that would have determined our success later in the year,” said the senior, who played linebacker in 2009. “It was kind of heartbreaking to see those games go down the drain like that. But it was great coming out of the season with a win, and it puts more confidence in everybody. Just talking to some of the players after that last game, it was a different team.”

Moving down in classification also helps. Routinely, the Indians faced teams that dressed out 10, 20 and even 30 more players. Add to that the added distance of trips down to Cherokee and Cobb counties, and the obstacles got bigger and bigger.

“We called it bus legs,” White said with a chuckle. “Who wants to ride on a bus for two or three hours and then get off and try to get ready for a game?

“Geographically speaking, we don’t have to make the long trips, but we are also playing schools more our size. The confidence of our team in general, we look at it as a smaller obstacle than going up against a school that might have 20 or 30 more players.”

Since that 2005 playoff season, the Indians have endured hard times, to say the least. They were winless in two Class 5A seasons and managed just three wins the last two seasons as a Class 4A school.

Second-year coach John Ziegler said White has been at the forefront of reversing that trend this past offseason.

“He is the kind of kid that you want on your team as far as leadership and doing whatever it takes to make the team better,” Ziegler said. “He’s a great leader and works real hard and never misses a workout. He will do whatever you ask him to do.”

Doing whatever is asked has come easy for White.

As a sophomore, White was the Indians’ fullback. As the Indians changed their offense to a spread and lost the fullback position, White started at linebacker and was the team’s third-leading tackler. This year, the 5-foot-11-inch, 210-pounder will be asked to play at linebacker and on the offensive line.

Just another day at the office for White.

“As funny as it sounds, I played offensive line growing up, so it wasn’t that big of a jump or a switch,” he said. “Me being a senior, my job is basically making sure that everyone is doing things as well as they can and making sure that everyone comes together and meshes well together. Growing up, I’ve always had that role. It is really nothing new to me.”

With more familiarity with the spread offense and the offseason performance of quarterback Taylor Patterson in seven-on-seven passing league drills, the Indians have a renewed vigor. White sees a big difference with preseason practice to begin next week.

“We are excited. We are looking forward to this year,” he said. “We have been working hard and we are ready to play and show some teams that we can compete.”

Doing that would also earn the Indians some local bragging rights. It has been a few years since Murray County has played the likes of Southeast Whitfield, Pickens, Gilmer and Cartersville. In fact, the last time that the Indians played Southeast was during older brother Shawn’s senior season on senior night. So, Jake has a family tradition to continue there.

“It’s really exciting,” he said. “You get to play Southeast, and we haven’t played them in forever. My brother beat Southeast on his senior night at home, and I want to take that opportunity. I am really excited about playing closer games.”

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