There’s a fresh Musketeers culture under new head coach

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - In class 3A, the Academy of Richmond County is off to a 3-1 start, and they’ve been impressive.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the Musketeers, so we went over to find out what’s different about this year’s team.

“It’s a humbling experience, being at the top and then having a bad season and come back this year, our coaches are having a great game plan,” said Senior Grady Noegel.

One message, one game at a time.

“Forget about it, play the next down and think about the next game,” he said.

The Musketeers have been fighting their way through the gauntlet. A 2020 region title run quickly flipped into a losing one in 2021. It didn’t stop there.

Offensive Coordinator David Sammons was named head coach this offseason.

“I told them regardless of the situation, regardless of the win and loss record, I’m going to love them. Loving the guys as people first, loving the coaches as people first. You can’t coach and you can’t get on a kid if they don’t trust you or if they don’t know that they love you,” said Sammons.

It all starts in practice.

“It all starts in practice. I’ve been here for five years, they are probably the best practice group we’ve ever had. They love hitting, they love going at each other and competing. And that was my big thing, how can we make practice as competitive as possible? Because that’s where you win ballgames. You don’t win with a crowd in the stands, you win out there on the practice field and buying into practice and buying into being competitive,” he said.

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