Morgan County (GA)

Head Coach: Jared Rector (2nd year with the program)

Staff: Carter Schultz, Stuart Spence, Tim LeClaire, Sam Simmons

Morgan County finished 9th at the 3A Traditional State Tournament a year ago with a fairly young squad. The dogs do graduate State Runner-up Micah Reid, but the bulk of the lineup is back and looks ready to make a run for a top 5 finish in 2023. Caleb Turner and Paul Bessette both climb onto the podium last year as a sophomore and freshman. Both have an opportunity to make a run for the top step this season. Cason Turner and Omar Hayes both punched their ticket to Macon a year ago and will look to do the same (and climb onto the podium) in 2023.

They key will be solidifying the lineup around those four and continuing to develop to get more tickets punched this season. Miles Butler and Chase Scherer should join Bessette down low … both have post-season experience. Dylan Rivers and Trip Davis will be counted on to step in around Omar Hayes and Cason and Caleb Turner. With Reid gone - the dogs will be back in the hunt for someone to nail down the top part of the lineup. Look to Christopher Morgan and freshman Jetavious Ward. Keep an eye on Andrews Casillas who returns from injury - he was one match from placing in 2021. Dylan Smith and Judson Carter could step in down low as well.

“We made a lot of steps foward last year with a very young team. Now that team is a little older and more experienced everyone is ready to make an impact and take this team to the level we should be at.”

— Coach Rector

NOTE: All mentions of placers and qualifiers in the body are based on the 2021-22 season. If a wrestler placed higher or lower in a previous year it is not captured above.

North Murray (GA)

Head Coach: David Thornbury (3 years head coach at Kell, first year at North Murray, 9th year coaching high school wrestling)

Staff: Jeremy Norman Jason Wheat Ryan Locke Michael Kimsey

What will we see from a new look North Murray squad in 2022-23? State Placers Hernan Hernandez and Tyler Wheat have graduated as well as Devin Hunte. Coach Thornbury takes over the squad after leading Kell the last few seasons - so North Murray has a change up top as well. This is a team that will likely have several new starters that will look to compliment the core of returners the Mountaineers have coming back.

Brock Bennett qualified for the state tournament a season ago as a freshman and this squad may not have a single senior on the team in 2022-23. Meaning they will be young, but not necessarily inexperienced. Joining Bennett with post-season experience are Elijah Hardin, Cody Wheat, and Ashton Head. Add in Eli Young, Camryn Shaver, Leo Gonzalez, Jacob Debord, and Hunter Walkey and you have a heavy Sophomore and Junior class that will be called upon to lead a solid group of incoming freshmen. If Brandon Locke, Jonathan Vicente, Easton Foster, and Michael Bejarano can make an impact and if the returners continue to get better you should see a North Murray team that grows by leaps and bounds from the beginning of the season to the end. Where they end up will be up to how well they progress.

“North Murray qualified for state duals for the first time in school history last season. The Mountaineers also had back to back seasons with two state placers for the first time in school history. The historic class of 2022 had seven starters graduate, Including state placers Devin Hunte, Tyler Wheat and the school’s first two time state placer Hernan Hernandez. The Mountaineers return six sectional qualifiers, and have a roster full of freshman and sophomores who look to step up on the varsity stage.”

— Coach Thornbury

NOTE: All mentions of placers and qualifiers in the body are based on the 2021-22 season. If a wrestler placed higher or lower in a previous year it is not captured above.

Greenville (SC)

Head Coach: Nick Jones (entering 4th year)

Staff: James Berdan, Jay Belton, Chris Hart, Stu Katzen, Grantt Hopkins, Sean Linnane

Greenville finished 11th a season ago at the 4A Traditional State Tournament. The Raiders lose Marion Benson, but return all of their point-getters return in State Placer Grason Belton, Jonathan Sligh, Brayden Belton, and Miquel Kilgore. The Raiders have the horses to compete with the top teams in 4A at the Traditional State Tournament (or Upperstate) … the real challenge will be the new faces coming in and competing in the duals. Grason Belton will lead the way and should be hunting the top step. Sligh, Brayden Belton, and Kilgore all have state tournament experience and will push for a spot on the podium.

Keep an eye on Donovan Hawthorne who could make some noise up top at 195. The key will be the new group of Raiders that step on the mat for the first time … we might need to wait until after December (and the fall season) to see how this comes together for a push in January and February.

“Expectations are about as high as they have ever been in the past 10 years. We return 4 State Qualifiers and another that was 1 match away. We graduated a large portion of our lineup last year, so we will be trying to fill in the gaps in November and December but should be ready for the Region schedule in January. With a new Region we hope to improve our seeding for the playoffs. Ultimately we have a handful of guys we feel capable of making the podium at the end of the season. We are very excited to continue growing the program, scoring points, and having fun.”

— Coach Jones

NOTE: All mentions of placers and qualifiers in the body are based on the 2021-22 season. If a wrestler placed higher or lower in a previous year it is not captured above.