Kickoff:

 

A look at Brunswick High’s opening game:

 

Opponent: Camden County

 

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

 

Where: Glynn County Stadium

 

Records: BHS 0-0, 0-0 Region 1-AAAAAA; CC 0-0, 0-0 Region 1-AAAAAAA

 

Last year: CC won 44-35 in Kingsland

 

All-time: CC leads overall 28-13-1

 

 

Game Preview

 

Brunswick and Camden will meet in the season opener for the fifth straight season.

 

The Wildcats have won the last two meetings. They won last year’s contest between the teams 44-35 at home.

 

Brunswick had won the previous two games between the programs.

 

This game will take on a new look largely because both the Pirates and Wildcats are starting the 2026 season with new head coaches and also several new assistants on both coaching staffs.

 

Brunswick’s new head coach is Byron Slack who is no stranger to South Georgia football. He spent the last four seasons as the head coach at Cook High School over in Adel and led the Hornets to the state playoffs in all four seasons including a semifinal appearance in the 2023 campaign.

 

He also has spent time as an assistant coach at Camden County, Lowndes and Colquitt County. It’s perhaps cruel irony that he will make his debut with the Pirates against Camden, where he worked under head coaches Jeff Herron and Welton Coffey who remains the school’s athletic director. Both coaches are expected to be in attendance at Friday’s game.

 

Slack served as the offensive line coach under Herron before moving over to coach the defensive line. He was part of the coaching staffs that guided the Wildcats to back-to-back state championships in 2008 and 2009. Slack became Camden’s defensive coordinator under Coffey who succeeded Herron as head coach following his first stint with the Wildcats.

 

 “I think he’s a good fit for Brunswick. I really do,” Herron told 912 Sports when Slack was hired by the Pirates back in January.

 

Slack takes over the BHS program which had been led by Garrett Grady who won three region championships in his four seasons as the head coach. Grady’s 2025 team won Region 1-AAAAA and reached the second round of the state playoffs before falling to eventual state runner-up Gainesville at Glynn County Stadium.

 

Grady resigned from his post with the Pirates shortly after last season and was quickly hired by Coffee to become the offensive line coach and assistant head coach.

 

The Wildcats are also under new leadership. Tucker Pruitt has taken over as Camden’s head coach. He replaces Travis Roland who was let go after two seasons with the Wildcats. He has since landed as head coach at Wheeler in metro Atlanta.

 

Pruitt is also a familiar name in the South Georgia coaching ranks. He was the head coach at Appling County last season before the Wildcats came calling.

 

He had been the head coach at Fitzgerald, his alma mater, before going to Appling. Pruitt coached the Purple Hurricanes for eight seasons beginning in 2017. He led the team to a state championship back in 2021.

 

Pruitt’s Fitgerald teams won 10-plus games in six of his eight seasons and reached the state semifinals or finals six times as well.

 

Pruitt also was an assistant at state powers Valdosta and Lowndes, serving as offensive coordinator for both schools. While at Valdosta, he helped he Wildcats to a state title in 2016. That is the last state title won by the legendary program. Pruitt worked under head coach Alan Rodemaker who he hired to become Camden’s defensive coordinator after accepting the head post.

 

Pruitt is the son of Robbie Pruitt, another ultra-successful coach who re-established Coffee as a perennial power.

 

Pruitt inherits a Camden team that missed the state playoffs each of the last two seasons.

 

Brunswick’s offense is replacing record-setting quarterback Grant Moore who is now playing at University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

 

The Pirates return a pair of stalwarts at running back in seniors Josiah Gibbons and Nigel Gardner who have already verbally committed to Georgia Southern and Memphis, respectively.

 

The BHS offense also lost tight end Heze Kent who is now playing for the Florida Gators, but the Pirates still have a big-play threat in senior wideout Waseem Murray.

 

The Pirates are switching schemes on defense under Slack. Players to watch on this side of the ball include linebackers Trent Lee and Braylen Johnson along with defensive lineman Chozen Owens.

 

Friday’s game will kick off at 7:30 p.m.