‘The pressure comes from within.’ Picayune football enters a new era under Cody Stogner
When Cody Stogner was named heir to Dodd Lee as the next Picayune football coach, he planned to keep everything as similar as possible to the program that Lee ran in his 24 years on the job.
Enter the uncertainty and everything that comes with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s obviously a lot different compared to the past with everything that’s going on, having to follow guidelines,” Stogner told the Sun Herald. “But the excitement is still great around here. We were one game away from a perfect season and we have seniors coming back that we’re excited to get back. We’ll see if we can pull off the same this year.”
While the Maroon Tide has screened players and followed other protocols, Stogner said the summer was relatively uneventful as it relates to the coronavirus. Only one player had to leave the team for 14 days after a family member tested positive.
Less than two weeks before the season-opening home game at Meridian on Sept. 4, a level of normalcy has returned to Picayune football after practice started on Aug. 17.
“I can tell they missed it,” Stogner said on Monday. “We all missed it.”
A new era starts for Picayune football
Stogner, who previously served as the team’s offensive coordinator, stepped down as the Picayune baseball coach in January to take over the football program.
While Stogner seems a more relaxed character than Lee away from the field, the new head coach doesn’t foresee drastic changes at Picayune.
“Nothing has changed,” he said. “It’s just a new guy blowing the whistle and a new guy making the practice schedule.
“Nothing was broke so we’re not going to try to fix anything. It’s a new era, but it’s the same attitude at Picayune.”
Stogner will call plays on offense this season while defensive coordinator Seth Hayden will handle the other side of the ball.
In Stogner, Hayden sees a mixture of continuity and change for the Maroon Tide.
“He’s taken that base line and put his spin on it,” Hayden said. “The intensity is the same, and maybe greater. His organization is tremendous. The communication with the coaching staff is still great. You’ll still get Picayune football — that extra effort. We’re going to line it up and run at you. You play with great effort.”
Lee had an intense presence on the Picayune sideline, holding coaches and players to account during games.
While Stogner may seem a more laid back coach away from the field, the first-year head coach plans to do much of the same this season.
“We have a little different personalities, but we’re both very competitive and want to win,” Stogner said. “I’m a very vocal guy. I tend to get loud. I’m loud by nature. I’m not necessarily screaming or yelling.
“Coming from Coach Lee’s coaching tree, you’re competitive. I had the chance to play to play for him. I was born and raised to be competitive and I think that’s something my father instilled in me.”
Even though the pandemic has proven a distraction this year and Lee is no longer marching the Picayune sideline, the expectation to win games this season hasn’t let up in the community.
“I think everybody is excited,” Stogner said. “They know what they’re used to and what Picayune football is all about. I was born and raised here. I know everybody in this town.”
Maroon Tide plans to keep it on the ground
In recent years, Picayune has hitched its wagon to one workhorse running back on offense.
Last season, senior Cameron Thomas was one of the nation’s top rushers with 291 carries for 3,517 yards and 48 touchdowns. Picayune rushed for 6,276 yards as a team.
More players will get carries this season, but there appears to be a star in the making in sophomore running back Dante Dowdell.
Dowdell, who ran for 466 yards and five touchdowns as a freshman, stands about 6-foot-2, 210 pounds and packs plenty of punch when he hits the line of scrimmage.
“He’s kind of got that it factor,” Stogner said.
Senior Austin Samples, who has shown that he can break big gainers, is also sure to get his hands on the ball this season after rushing 92 times for 668 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Dorian Robinson, a junior, will also get carries after running eight times for 70 yards and two touchdowns a year ago. Sophomore Jessiah Contee and Damarius Magee will also factor into the depth at running back.
At fullback, Stogner is working with three players who will see time on defense — junior Payton Wadell, sophomore Peyton Wells and sophomore Darnell Smith.
“We have a good stable,” said Adam Feely, Picayune’s athletic director who coaches running backs and quarterbacks. “We’re still Picayune true and true. For 20-plus years, we’ve depended on good backs.”
Samples and Dowdell will be two-way players with Dowdell seeing time at defensive end and Samples starting at safety.
Lining up at quarterback this season will be senior Isaac Hickman, a senior who played in 14 games last year and proved steady. He threw for 324 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.
On the offensive line, Picayune returns four starters – senior Collen Penton, senior Garrett Hunter, senior Thomas Daniels and senior Kaylup Jones.
Picayune defense has plenty to replace
In Hayden’s first season as defensive coordinator, he’ll be tasked with replacing eight starters.
“We have to play with great effort, tremendous effort,” Hayden said. “We have to line up properly first and foremost, then just play with great effort and fly around to the football. We have to play every snap like it’s our last play.”
Hayden, who plans to run mostly a 40 defense, feels confident that he has the depth along the defensive line with eight players who can rotate in. His first group will likely be comprised of Hunter, Jones, Penton and senior Carson Conner. The next batch isn’t lacking in talent with junior Dekeyvion Jones, senior Thomas Daniel, senior Trey Dorsett and Dowdell.
“Those guys are just as good, if not better,” Hayden said. “Those guys are pushing to be first-string. We have eight guys that can be potential starters.”
Robinson is the lone returning starter at linebacker and Hayden feels good about senior Nick Doane plugging in as a starter at linebacker as well. Senior Andrew Willis, a 6-foot-2 athlete who played basketball previously, also has the potential to be a standout in the linebacking corps.
Samples, who will be the starting free safety, and senior cornerback Jashawn Lee, who Hayden describes as his fastest player, will be relied upon to lead the way in the secondary.
Like Stogner, Hayden embraces the expectations of competing for state championships after coming up one game short last year in a 38-26 loss to West Point in the Class 5A title game.
“Stogner and I talk about it. We love it from the competition standpoint,” Hayden said. “The pressure is not from the community. The pressure comes from us. We want to be good. That’s who we are as a staff and a football team. The pressure comes from within.”
