Columbia preparing to be 'remembered in December' as summer workouts get underway
The 2024 summer season is officially underway and the Columbia Eagles football team is back to work as they wrapped up the second day of summer workouts. "It's definitely exciting to get back out with the guys," Columbia head coach, Greg Barnett said of the Eagles returning to action following their end of spring season break. "The first two days have been pretty exciting and looking forward to tomorrow and looking forward to continue building on what we're trying to accomplish day by day," Barnett said.
And as the Eagles start their preparations for the 2024 season, they'll be doing so with a few younger players stepping into key roles. "This year is definitely a new team," Barnett said however adding that the Eagles "still have some special players here," as he spoke highly of second year quarterback Cameron Graves, who he expects to "elevate his game," and sophomore Rashaad Silver, who Barnett says has "emerged as a playmaker,".
Barnett would go on to explaining that the Eagles "are continuing to try and find those pieces, we know that we have them within the program, we just have to make sure that we work hard everyday so that we can bring the best out of the kids," Barnett added. And while the start of the 2024 season is still a couple a months away, Columbia looks to build off of the success of their 2023 season that saw them finish at 9-4 overall and 5-1 in region play, advancing to the third round of the Georgia High School Association state championship tournament.
"Last year we were definitely led by some special players, we had great leadership, they did a great job instilling some of the work ethics and hard work within this team. You know going to the third round was pretty exciting but it's definitely not the ultimate goal. That's a space that Columbia football hasn't been in, in quite some time," Barnett said adding that the Eagles look to take their season further this year, however also understanding that they cannot live in the past.
"Last year was last year. You can't win this year's game's with last year's scores so what we did last year is totally out the window and we're looking forward to this year moving forward," Barnett said. The Eagles will open up the 2024 season on August 16 against Cartersville.
