By Kevin Price

For GCS Athletics

 

The Brunswick High Pirates are ready to kick off a new campaign Friday night against longtime rival Camden County.

 

The 2026 season also will be the first for new head coach Byron Slack with the Pirates.

 

Slack took the Brunswick job knowing the Pirates have won plenty of games in recent seasons, so he wasn’t facing a major rebuilding job. But putting his stamp on the program has included some changes that he felt were necessary to sustain that success on the field.

 

“For the most part, we’re satisfied with where we are going into the season,” Slack said. “I’m satisfied with how the kids have responded to some of the changes we implemented.

 

“We had to do a lot of work on ourselves, things that really didn’t involve the X’s and O’s of football. We had a lot of things we could improve on.”

 

The Brunswick job opened after former head coach Garrett Grady resigned soon after last season to take a job as the offensive line coach at Coffee.

 

Grady led the Pirates to three region championships, including the 2025 league title, and four straight state playoff appearances during his time at the helm.

 

Brunswick finished 9-3 last season, which came to an end with a loss to Gainesville in the second round of the Class AAAAA state playoffs. That game was stopped in the third quarter with Gainesville leading 42-0 after a bench-clearing brawl broke out between the teams on the field. The Red Elephants went on to play in the state championship game.

 

Slack previously was the head coach at Cook High School before accepting the head post with the Pirates back in January.

 

He was 28-20 in four seasons with the Hornets and led them to the state playoffs each season. Cook’s 2023 team went 11-3 and reached the Class AA semifinals.

 

Slack has also been a head coach at Hillgrove in metro Atlanta. His coaching past includes stints as a defensive coordinator at Camden County and also perennial big-school heavyweights Lowndes and Colquitt County.

 

He inherits a Brunswick program which has made the state playoffs in seven straight seasons.

 

The Pirates have been a high-scoring team in recent seasons. Last year’s team scored a school-record 525 points while averaging 43.8 points per game.

 

Brunswick lost a key figure from its offense, though, as quarterback Grant Moore has graduated and moved on to the college ranks. Moore was the Region 1-AAAAA Player of the Year last fall after tossing a school-record 29 touchdown passes and passing for 2,639 yards which is the second-best single-season total in school history.

 

All is not lost, however, with Moore’s departure. The Pirates will still have the services of senior running backs Josiah Gibbons and Nigel Gardner who give the offense a potent one-two punch.

 

The senior stalwarts both rushed for more than 1,200 yards last season while combining for 29 rushing touchdowns as well.

 

“They’re dynamic players,” Slack said. “We have a lot of dynamic skill-kids. I’ve said that from day one.”

 

The Pirates also still have play-makers in the receiving slots including senior Waseem Murray, who finished with just over 700 receiving yards a year ago.

  

Brunswick’s new starting quarterback coming out of the preseason is senior Keegan Walker.

 

“He’s done a good job of learning the offense and taking command,” Slack said. “I think he can win a game for us and not just manage it.”

 

Slack also likes the offensive line which features Chris Wingster and Kam Smith along with guys like Chozen Owens and Markhei Hughes will will play on the lines on scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

 

“Our coaches have done a great job taking what they have and getting that group going,” Slack said about the offensive front.

 

Slack is putting his signature on the Brunswick defense. He said the Pirates will run a 3-4 base and be fast and attacking.

 

“We’re gonna slant and bring pressure as much as we can,’ he said.

 

The defensive line includes Owens, Mordecai Moore, who is quick but also one of the strongest players on the team and John Prescott who the Pirates have moved to the front.

 

“He’s a natural pass-rusher,” Slack noted when talking about Prescott.

 

Slack likes his linebackers, especially Trent Lee who the coach says “is everything you want.”

 

Other linebackers are Antwan Thomas and Braylen Johnson, a senior who was among the region’s top tacklers last fall.

 

BHS has an athletic secondary featuring Ziyan Rankin, Samir Dobbins, Brayden Jackson and Rakeim McCaster.

 

“What we do defensively almost fits our personnel to a tee,” Slack said.

 

Braxton Davis will do the kicking and punting for the Pirates.

 

In additon to playing Camden, Brunswick’s non-region schedule includes a home game against Groves on Aug. 28 and a Sept. 11 meeting at home with Class AAAAAAA power Grayson.

 

The Pirates will begin their Region 1-AAAAAA schedule on Sept. 18 with a trip to August to face Grovetown and they will be at home the next week against Greenbrier.

 

BHS will be at Bradwell Institute on Oct. 2 before taking a week off to begin preparations for the City Championship game against Glynn Academy on Oct. 16.

 

Brunswick’s final three league games are home dates with South Effingham and Effingham followed by a road game at Lakeside-Evans in Augusta to close out the regular season.   

Coming Friday: A preview of Brunswick High’s opening game which kicks off at 7:30 Friday night at Glynn County Stadium.