Who will lead the Warriors come fall?
THOMASVILLE - Rodge Waldrop was without a doubt one of the greatest quarterbacks to come out of Brookwood. He set multiple school and state records with wearing the Warriors blue and now is off to Georgia State where he will undoubtedly do big things. But Waldrop’s success and graduation leaves Brookwood in a bit of a pickle. Who will replace the best quarterback Brookwood has ever seen?
Head coach Shane Boggs and the Brookwood coaching staff have narrowed it down to two players. Pearce Hightower, a junior who transferred from Colquitt County where he spent last year as a back up QB behind Neko Fann and others, or Roland Waldrop, Rodge Waldrop’s younger brother and an incoming freshman.
According to coach Boggs, the Warriors have not made a decision on the QB position and there is no real timeline.
“We certainly don’t have a deadline,” Boggs said. “I think the big thing right now is they are pushing each other, they’re getting better every day.”
Both Hightower and Waldrop shared equal amounts of playing time during Brookwood’s six 7v7 works outs this summer.
“Coming out of spring ball we just really thought that they had different skillsets and certainly needed to both be part of the equation and let them push each other,” Boggs said. "I would say I’ve been impressed and pleased in a lot of different ways.”
When asked what has impressed him, Boggs said that both have been very impressive in their leadership skills and that it’s hard to “differentiate” between the two in that aspect. He also said that both have contributed well on defense at the corner position, which Boggs went on to say “we’ll probably need them both to play over there”.
Skillset wise, Hightower is a better runner and comes into this position battle with a couple years of varsity football experience. However, Waldrop appears to be a better passer and Boggs said he was “impressed with how what seems to be game ready he (Waldrop) already is”. It is worth noting that Waldrop is no stranger to varsity athletics. He played valuable minutes on Brookwood’s dominant boys basketball team early in the season when many key players were out.
It would not be extraordinarily unique for coach Boggs or Brookwood to go into the season running a two quarterback system. Boggs ran a two-QB system for part of the season during his time at Tennessee High and twice at Brookwood. While he was at Taylor County, they ran a two QB system the entire season and came out with 10 wins. However, when he was asked about the possibility, the Warriors coach didn’t seem too keen on the idea. He instead chose to talk about the battle between Waldrop and Hightower and pointed to the necessity of the fall scrimmage to really get a read in who their guy will be.
“Summer 7-on-7 is not Friday night football so we have two get this thing into the fall, first practices, that kind of thing and then see how it plays out during the scrimmage,” Boggs said.
Brookwood will face Pataula in a preseason scrimmage on Aug. 9 before beginning the season on the 16 in an away game versus Westfield.
Brookwood School
Located in Thomasville, GA, Brookwood School is a private school for grades JK-12. Students benefit from a challenging academic program, fine and performing arts, competitive athletics, and a wide selection of extracurricular activities.