High-school head football coaches from southeast Georgia were celebrated recently at CrabDaddy’s Restaurant on St. Simon’s Island by In the Game High School Sports Magazine.

“We have been doing this a number of years,” Southeast Georgia’s In the Game High School Sports Magazine publisher Shawn Smoak said. “It’s a great time to let the coaches come and just hang out and have fellowship together. After the Fourth of July, everything these coaches are doing is getting ready for their first official practice. Mid-June, a lot of them are still at camps, just like most of those teams have been at the Ware County defensive pad camp for the past few days.”

Coaches had an opportunity to renew old relationships and began new ones at the kickoff dinner. Several ended up on the In the Game Radio Show, which was broadcast live from CrabDaddy’s.

“This is my first kickoff dinner, and it’s a really nice event. It’s good to be able to come out and see all of these coaches, a lot of that (I) coached against and a few (we) played against,” first-year Long County head coach Eric McNair said.

McNair has been the offensive coordinator for the past couple of seasons and, despite a 3-7 finish in Blue Tide head coach Ron Flott’s final season, McNair is looking forward to the 2015 campaign. Former Bradwell Institute defensive coordinator Jeff Miller, who coached linebackers last year at Long County, will assume the role of Long’s defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.

“I’ve got a good staff, and that’s going to be real important,” McNair said. “The players are working hard right now in the weight room. We averaging about 70-75 every session. The region is still going to be tough with Vidalia and state champion Benedictine, but we are looking at more of a spread look to utilize our speed. And if we can stay healthy, I really think that we can have a pretty good season.”

Bradwell head coach Greg Hill also spoke about what his team is trying to do to get ready for the season.

“We certainly didn’t finish the way we wanted to last year,” he said. “I was ready to get back at as soon as January rolled around. One major change that we are doing is going to the straight wing-T. As a team, I think it fits us a better. That’s not to say we don’t have other wrinkles, but we ran the wing-T in the spring, and I think it suits us pretty well.”

Before the coaches were given their gift bags and left to return to their schools, Smoak announced that the Southeast Edition of In the Game High School Sports Magazine would sponsor its first-ever media day.

“We are going to have our own media day in join sponsorship with Mayo Clinic Health Systems Waycross,” Smoak said. “It will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Old Depot in Waycross on Saturday, July 25. We are inviting all media from Savannah to Jacksonville to come and have access to all of the players at one time. This going to be a great event, and we look forward to seeing you and your players represented there.”

In the Game High School Sports Magazine is available at area Flash Foods stores.