When Nolensville High School opens in August, it will have a baseball coach who is accustomed to starting from scratch.
Brentwood Academy’s Prince Momodu was just one of several Midstate footballers to commit over the weekend. He plans to play at Austin Peay.
Nolensville hired Summit High School baseball assistant Zach Hudson as its head coach Monday.
Hudson spent the past five seasons with the Spartans under head coach Chad Kirby, who he joined at Summit when the school opened in 2011.
“Learning from coach Kirby here at Summit has been really big for me,” Hudson said. “I got to experience it from an assistant’s point of view and I think that’s going to be valuable for me in terms of knowing what needs to be done and what’s in front of us.”
Nolensville was recently approved to join the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association for the 2016-17 school year. The school, which is expected to have 550 students in grades nine and 10, will participate at the junior varsity level in football until the 2017 season.
A Nashville native and an alumni of both Overton and MTSU, Hudson made a habit of winning in his playing days.
He graduated from Overton in 2006 and was apart if the 2005 Bobcat team that finished with a 40-5 record, including 35 straight wins and a runner-up finish in the state championship.
Hudson then moved on to play for MTSU from 2007-10 and was a part of the 2009 team that set a school record with 44 wins and won the Sun Belt Conference championship.
Hudson said he hopes to turn the program into one to watch and that he is eager for his chance to coach his own team.
“As they grow and get more experience, hopefully it will grow into something special,” he said. “I’m very excited and ready to get started.”
Commitment craze: With National Signing Day (Wednesday, Feb. 3) fast approaching, Twitter was flush with commitments over the weekend with the action spilling into Monday afternoon.
Father Ryan Athlete Bryce Vickers was the most recent commitment. He made his announcement to continue his football career at Georgia Tech as a preferred walk-on via Twitter Monday afternoon after school.
Division II-AA state champions with Brentwood Academy Prince Momodu and Isaac Way both committed over the weekend with Momodu choosing Austin Peay and Way choosing SEC contender Ole Miss.
Ensworth senior center and fullback Blake Mitchell had scholarship offers to play football from Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay and Georgetown College, but the big man chose to pursue preferred walk-on status at Mississippi State instead.
East Nashville safety and quarterback DeVarius Cortner must have liked what he saw on his official visit to North-Carolina based Western Carolina University last week, as the two-way threat made his verbal commitment via Twitter before lunch Monday.
Cortner first committed to Navy, but later changed his mind and decommitted. He was entertaining offers from Army, UTC, Mercer and Murray State.
His commitment came just one day after fellow Midstate standout Jay King chose to commit to South-Carolina based Coastal Carolina University
The Hillsboro wide receiver chose the Chanticleers over offers from Georgia State and University of Tennessee-Martin.
Cane Ridge senior cornerback and wide receiver Austin Jackson committed to Eastern Kentucky University, while teammate Brysen Terrell chose Cumberland University.
Stepping-up: Two former assistant coaches are going to being taking over Midstate football programs.
Riverdale assistant Jason Dobbs will be the new head coach at Moore County, athletic director Wendy Hart confirmed. Dobbs is replacing Jeremy Austin, who was relieved of his duties after going 6-5 last season.
Dobbs spent 13 years as an assistant at Trousdale County before taking over as Riverdale’s offensive line coach in 2010.
Forrest didn’t have to look far to find its new man after football coach Matt Kriesky left last week to take over the Centennial program.
Rockets assistant Brent Johns will take the reigns of the squad in 2016, confirmed athletic director Scott Delk.
Johns spent the last three seasons as the offensive coordinator for the Rockets.
Reach Sam Brown at 615-259-8232 and on Twitter @SamBrownTN.