Andrew Jackson football has flourished in recent years. How that can continue in 2021
It didn’t take long for Hammond Wrenn to break free.
The Andrew Jackson junior quarterback took the first snap of his team’s scrimmage against McBee on Sunday and turned it into a highlight reel — speeding away for a 60-plus-yard touchdown and giving the Volunteers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“That felt amazing,” Wrenn said post-scrimmage, shaking his head and wearing a big smile. “As soon as I saw that hole open, I was like, ‘There’s no turning back now.’”
There was another big play later in the game, too: In the second half, Volunteer running back Trey Thompson received a handoff, shrugged off a few tackles and took a 50-plus-yarder to the house.
Those plays on Sunday were special for what they were: Long rushes are exciting and rare and make the game worth watching, sure. And they’re good omens for the AJ offense — particularly Wrenn, who played as the team’s backup quarterback for the playoff-bound Volunteers last season before taking up the starting mantle this year.
But those plays were also special, in retrospect, because they were surprising. One of the key strengths Andrew Jackson will have in 2021 is its consistency, head coach Todd Shigley told The Herald in a recent interview.
Having big-play potential only adds to the allure of what the Volunteers could be.
“They’re winners,” Shigley said after exhausting a whole bunch of ways in which his guys have impressed him this summer. “I don’t know; they just find a way to win.”
Shigley has had several programs like that recently — ones that just find ways to win. The coach, who arrived in Kershaw as an assistant to see the tail end of the program’s 20-year stretch without a winning season, has helped return the Lancaster County 2A program back to what it was in the 1980s and early 90s. (The Volunteers, under Shigley, have made the playoffs the past three years.)
And as far as this 2021 team goes? The Volunteers are consistent, Shigley says. Committed. Constant.
But that doesn’t mean they’re not dangerous.
“Again, with this team, they’re just sorta steady,” Shigley added. “And I told them that’s what we want.”
Here’s a close look at Andrew Jackson football in 2021.
Andrew Jackson football personnel
Offense: Shigley said he’s expecting a lot from his offensive line. And he has good reason to.
The line is led by Wyatt Faulkenberry (5-foot-11, 210 pounds), a returning senior starter who embodies this team’s consistent and steady identity. He’s joined by another senior, Wyatt Cassidy, and will get help from sophomore Brooks Horton and others.
“We’re bigger up front than we’ve ever been (since I arrived),” Shigley said. (The coach said he knew he had something noteworthy on the OL when one of his assistant coaches told him that the team’s size this year is similar to how big AJ’s line was back in its 90s heyday.)
Those linemen will be protecting Wrenn — a tough, mobile quarterback (5-foot-11, 155 pounds) — as well as a committee of running backs. That group includes sophomore Trey Thompson, who broke free for that aforementioned touchdown run at Sunday’s scrimmage.
Defense: Shigley said the team is faster, on average, than in years past. A lot of that speed comes from AJ’s secondary.
That unit will be led by a stack of senior defensive backs who’ll also moonlight as receivers on offense. Among them: Quammi Ealey, Ethan Watts and Bryce Helms (who was the starting QB last year but wanted to play both offense and defense this year).
The team’s defensive front should be formidable, too: Payton Hornsby will be returning at linebacker after an All-Region year in 2020; JT Gandy will play both defensive end and WR (if that tells you anything about his speed); and Fuller Simms will be another senior leader in the linebacking corps.
Volunteers at a glance
Head coach: Todd Shigley. (Shigley has been at AJ for seven years, first as an assistant before landing the head coaching gig in 2017. In his time in Kershaw, Shigley has helped pull the once-heralded Lancaster County program out of the doldrums: His coaching staff has cobbled together three straight playoff appearances — including one in the team’s 10-win 2019 — after 20 consecutive losing seasons from 1997-2017.)
Last year: 2-3 (2-2 Region 4-2A). The Volunteers, disrupted by a COVID quarantine in the middle of the team’s season, earned an at-large bid to the 2020 playoffs but lost in the first round to eventual Lower State champion Marion.
Base defense: 3-3.
Offensive philosophy: Balanced.
Key departures: OJ White (WR); DJ Ealey (WR, signed to play football at Morris College); Darius Bruce (signed to Newberry); Trey Watts (DB/FS).
One last note on team consistency: The Volunteers have about 50 players in the program (32 on varsity), which is the fewest Shigley has had since he became the head coach in 2017. But the players he does have are committed, he said: “We had 25 guys who met 90% of their workouts over the summer. We’ve never had that before. So it’s clear they want it.”
Andrew Jackson football schedule
Stay up to date on all the high school football schedule shifts — many of which are already happening — at heraldonline.com.
Aug. 20 BYE
Aug. 27 Latta
Sept. 3 at Mullins
Sept. 10 at Battery Creek
Sept. 17 Gray Collegiate
Sept. 24 at Indian Land
Oct. 1 Central Pageland
Oct. 8 North Central (Homecoming)
Oct. 15 at Cheraw
Oct. 22 at Chesterfield
Oct. 29 Buford (Senior Night)
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
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