ON Air with 912 Sports

  By Kevin Price

Photos by Dwayne Culpepper

Jason Strickland says Jamir Boyd is the emotional leader for Ware County’s football team this season. 

The Ware coach describes Tayshaun Franklin as the ultimate team guy and also a real-deal football player. 

Together, the senior duo gives the Gators a strong one-two punch at running back for an offense that is built around its rushing attack.

For the Gators, they don’t really look at Franklin and Boyd as being first and second on the depth start, either. They see both as a No. 1 guy and run plays they want based on down and distance and not which running back they have in the game at a given time. 

“We call plays. We’re going to do the same thing with either one of them in there,” Strickland said. 

Through the first seven games, the tandem had helped the Gators to a 6-1 record and a 1-1 ledger in Region 1-AAAA when this article was submitted on deadline. The team’s only loss was a 30-27 setback to perennial power Benedictine in the league opener. The Gators led that game at halftime, but struggled somewhat offensively in the second half with both Boyd and Franklin sidelined with injuries sustained before halftime. 

Ware had 1,442 rushing yards compared to 962 passing with three games left to play in the regular season and was averaging 7.5 yards a carry while scoring 27 rushing touchdowns. 

Franklin and Boyd had combined for 1,165 yards on the ground for the Gators. Franklin was the team’s leading rusher with 703 yards on 78 carries and averaged 9 yards a carry. He had 14 rushing touchdowns. 

Boyd, who missed the team’s second region game against New Hampstead the first week in October with an injury, had 462 yards and 5 touchdowns while averaging 7.7 yards per attempt. 

“They swap series usually, but whoever has the hot hand is going to be in there more,” Strickland said. “The good thing about what we have is we always feel like we have two fresh legs in there ready to bang that thing out.”

Franklin had four 100-yard games in Ware’s first seven games including a season-best 183 yards in the team’s 42-9 win over Tallahassee-Lincoln on Sept. 19. He scored four touchdowns at New Hampstead on Oct. 2 while rushing for 134 yards when Boyd was sidelined. 

Boyd, meantime, has had three 100-yard games including his 144-yard night against Bartram Trail (Fla.) when he carried 9 times for a 16-yard average in the Gators’ 21-14 road win. 

“Both guys are 4.5-(second) guys (in the 40-yard dash,” Strickland said. “What’s also great is how good they are without the ball. Both guys block well in pass protection, too.

“They’re unselfish. They celebrate each other’s success. What’s impressive also is how much pride our offensive line takes in blocking for them. They understand 4 and 5 yards a time is a good football play.”

Franklin is known as “Tay” by his teammates and coaches. They all refer to Boyd as “Little” because he was born moments after his twin brother, technically making him the younger of the two. 

Franklin and Boyd have also been teammates on Ware’s basketball team and they are friends outside of school and sports, too. 

“I love it this way,” Boyd said. “Splitting carries means I don’t have to take all the hits. Other teams can’t handle both of us. We both have experience and this gives us the best chance to win games.”

Franklin agreed. “We noticed this last year and knew we had to come together and put our team on our backs.”

Strickland described his standout running backs as “high-character kids” and perhaps their individual make-up is just as responsible for them having the success they’re presently having as their athletic abilities. Their journeys to their senior seasons should be inspiring for their younger teammates. 

Boyd has battled a rash of injuries since his freshman year from a broken ankle as a ninth-grader to knee, elbow and rib injuries after that. 

Boyd was thrust into a heavy workload last year when his brother RJ Boyd, a year ahead of his twin siblings in school, was forced to miss his senior season due to bone cancer in his knee. Jamir weighed about 160 pounds, however, and couldn’t withstand the physical pounding from week to week, though he led the Gators with 593 yards rushing in 11 games. 

“He was injured last year because he was so light,” Strickland explained. “We told him in order to get on the grass this year he had to gain weight. He ate everything in site, worked out like a maniac and put on 30 pounds and he might be even faster now.”

Oftentimes when he worked out, RJ was working out with him while remaining in Waycross as he rehabilitated his knee. RJ has worked out most days with the Gators since the season began as he plans to resume his playing career next season. A three-star recruit in the Class of 2025, he signed with N.C. State which plans to honor his scholarship once he can return to the playing field. 

“We push each other,” said Jamir, who is listed this season at 5-foot-9, 190 pounds on the Ware team roster. 

Strickland noted that Boyd became the team’s fiery leader when offseason workouts began in January following the Gators’ 6-6 campaign last season which ended with a loss to eventual state championship North Oconee in the second round of the state playoffs. While he went to work to get bigger and stronger, Boyd went to work on everyone else, too, making sure all the Gators gave maximum effort in the weight room. 

“I knew the team needed a leader. I figured that someone might as well be me,” he says. 

Franklin hasn’t always been a running back. He played wide receiver and tight end last season until he was moved into the backfield with RJ Boyd sidelined by his health issue. 

Boyd was 6-2 and 215 pounds, and the Gators turned to Franklin who is now 6-1 and 210 pounds to become the bigger running back they needed in their offense that was geared toward featuring Boyd and his bruising running style. 

“He was willing to do what was needed,” Strickland said. “He’s the ultimate team-guy. Tay’s built himself into a football player. College coaches would ask me what I thought he was, and I would tell them I really don’t know. He might be a running back, might be this or that. I don’t know, but what I do know is you’d be getting a good football player with him.”

That was last season. Now, Strickland gives the coaches a different answer. “He’s a running back. It’s not close,” he says. “The more reps he’s gotten, he’s seeing it. He’s banging it in there, getting tough yards. He’s cutting against the grain, running by people.”

Franklin echoed his coach’s thoughts. He says he miles ahead of where he was last season. “I was very raw last year,” Franklin admits. “I didn’t know how to read it last year. I ran hard, but basically got the ball and ran straight ahead with it.

“Now, I know what everyone is doing. I’m seeing the holes. My vision has gotten way better.”

Both running backs will have the chance to play college ball, too. Both are academically qualified and will make someone’s roster better the moment they sign a letter of intent, their high school coach says. 

Franklin committed to Bryant University in Rhode Island back in June. Boyd is getting interest from several NCAA Division II schools at the moment, according to Strickland. 

   By Kevin Price

Photos by Andrea Heflin

Bacon County head coach Thad

Williams says Santiago Bizzell can do

it all.

“If I had three more Santiago’s, I’d

be thinking state championship,”

Williams said with a little laugh. “I’m

blessed to coach someone like him.”

Bizzell, who is the featured Scholar-

Athlete in this installment of 912

Sports Magazine, has been a

blessing for Bacon’s first-year head

coach and also the Raiders football

team. The Raiders keep him on the

field at all times to take advantage

of his athletic talents and play-

making abilities.

His athleticism will be on display

after the football season ends, too.

That’s because Bizzell is a three-

sport standout at Bacon. He also

plays basketball and baseball for the

Raiders.

“He excels at all of them,” Williams

noted.

When it comes to football, the 6-

foot senior starts at wide receiver

on offense for the Raiders. He also

starts in the defensive secondary

and returns punts and kicks on

special teams.

He relishes the opportunity to

impact a game in any of the three

phases.

“It’s exciting,” he says about playing

both offense and defense and also

serving as a return man. “If you’re

out there, you can always make a

play.”

Bizzell has impacted games in all

three roles already for the Raiders

who were off to a 4-2 start which

included a 1-1 mark in Region 1 in

Class A Divison 1 when this article

was submitted on deadline.

Bacon had the week off when this

story written. They were preparing

for a stretch run to end the regular

season that featured games against

Jeff Davis, Worth County, Fitzgerald

and Brantley County. The first three

teams in that list were also ranked

in the top 10 in the state the last

week of September.

Worth County was ranked No. 1

going into October while

Thomasville, another team from the

region, was ranked No. 3. The

Bulldogs handed the Raiders their

region loss in mid-September.

Through Bacon’s first six games,

Bizzell had 28 catches for 472 yards

and five touchdowns. He was

named the Coastal Pines Technical

College Player of the Week by 912

Sports following Week 3 of the

season when he stood out in a 35-

16 victory over Treutlen.

In that game, Bizzell set a school

record with three interceptions

from his cornerback spot. He also

returned a punt 60 yards for a

touchdown and caught a 32-yard

touchdown pass. Bizzell had six

catches for 62 yards in the game.

“We’re always trying to find ways to

get the ball in his hands,” Williams

said. “He’s just THAT guy to me.

“On our call sheet, we have plays

that are all plays for Santiago.

There’s maybe 14 or 15 plays just

for him, whether it’s a run or a

pass.”

The Bacon coach said Bizzell has

“crazy” ball-skills that are on display

when he’s on either side of the ball.

“He’s just a play-maker,” Williams

said. “We have him in the middle of

the field on defense, so he can

orchestrate everything. But, he can

go from one hash to the other in a

blink of an eye.”

The Raiders also rely heavily on his

experience and overall football

knowledge. He’s another coach on

the field for the team, especially on

defense.

“He’s smart and he knows the

game,” Williams accentuated. “He

always knows the game plan on

both sides of the ball, knows our

checks, everything.”

Bizzell doesn’t take his talents for

granted. He works hard to make the

most of his abilities and to improve

his overall play, according to the

coach.

“He has a grind-mindset,” Williams

said. “There’s not a day he takes off.

He practices hard. He’s always

asking what he can do to get

better.”

Bizzell says that just him. “I’ve just

always figured if you are gonna do

something, you might as well do

your best. There’s no sense in going

half-tail.”

That outlook is something Bizzell

got from watching and listening to

his mom as a young kid. His mom

played basketball and baseball at

Bacon. He also has a sister who

played sports at Bacon and is now in

in school at Paine College in

Augusta.

“She’s always pushed me to be

better, never let up, always taught

us how to be strong,” Bizzell says.

His mom, Bizzell explains, is his

biggest role model, too.

“I know it was a lot on her to raise

two kids by herself and do

everything she’s done for us,” he

says.

Bizzell will go from the football field

to the basketball court when the

football season ends. He is an

outstanding guard for the Raiders

who can score and defend.

“He can dunk with ease, shoots the

3-(pointer) really well. He’ll ask to

guard the other team’s best player.

He’s just a player,” Williams noted.

Bizzell also will play his final season

on the baseball diamond with the

Raiders thing spring. A left-handed

fielder and hitter, Bizzell has played

infield and outfield for the Raiders

and also pitched some last season.

He says he might be in the starting

pitching rotation this season. If he’s

not on the mound, Bizzell most

likely will be out in center field,

running down flyballs in the gaps

and taking hits away from

opponents.

“Baseball was actually my first love.

When I was younger, I wasn’t the

biggest or fastest, but that didn’t

matter in baseball. Now, I’m in love

with all three sports,” he says.

Bizzell is also outstanding in the

academic arena, too. He carries a

4.0 grade-point average while

taking honors classes at Bacon

County. He is also involved in Beta

Club.

This semester one of the classes he

is taking is pre-calculus. Bizzell says

he enjoys social studies classes the

most.

“I’ve always liked learning about the

past, but also what we do now and

how that might affect the future,”

he notes.

Speaking of the future, Bizzell does

plan to go to college to further his

education. He also wants to

participate in college athletics.

But right now, he’s not sure if his

future in college sports will involve

football, basketball or baseball.

“He’ll have a big decision, but will

have plenty of options,” Williams

said.

Bizzell said he recently went on a

recruiting visit to Thomas University

for baseball. Memphis is currently

the largest school to show interest

in him in football.

Bizzell said he is interested in

majoring in business and marketing.