Piedmont, AL – Piedmont ‘light years’ ahead of where it was this time in 2023, enters Miller’s second season as its head coach looking to build on last season’s strong finish.
Forgive Jonathan Miller if he doubted the coaching gods this time last year.
He chose to follow the wildly successful Steve Smith at Piedmont, a high school version of replacing Nick Saban at Alabama. Miller knew he’d have to replace 10 starters on offense, including the graduated quarterback who owns four major Alabama High School Athletic Association career records.
Miller came in clear-eyed about opening the season with eventual Class 4A runner up Cherokee County and Class 3A preseason No. 8 Sylvania.
He knew the young Bulldogs would have to weather the early season, but then a knee injury claimed arguably his top offensive skill players, Rollie Pinto, in the fourth game, and they lost to Calhoun County rival Ohatchee.
Class 4A power Anniston would follow, and Piedmont found itself 1-4 for the first time in … forever, as Piedmont fans and Miller felt, and Pinto wouldn’t be Piedmont’s only significant injury.
Here Miller was, trying to please a fan base who’s team had made eight consecutive Class 3A semifinals and had won five state titles since 2009. He could be forgiven for looking to the sky and saying, “Guys, a little help here?”
Miller has seen it before. Just a few years ago, one of his Saks teams battled through five surgical injuries.
We recall all of this to put in perspective where Miller and Piedmont find themselves today … with a healthy team that finished 2023 strong and returns most of its key skill players.
Miller, Piedmont’s second-year coach, has had a full offseason cycle, and realignment didn’t leave the Bulldogs such a front-loaded schedule.
Oh, and about that Saks team that gave Miller its own version of Job’s trials? It won 21 games over the next two seasons, made the 2021 semifinals and came within a whisker of denying a Smith-coached Piedmont their last state title together.
“If you compare this year to last year, at the same time of the year, same point of preseason practice, I think we’re definitely leap years ahead of where we were at,” Miller said. “We’re excited about that. I think our kids are hungry. I think our coaches are hungry to get out to a little bit better start than we had last year.”
Piedmont finished 2023 5-7, its first non-winning season since a 5-5 finish in 2005, but the finish looked nothing like the start. The team that put on an offensive show in a 35-30, second-round playoff loss to then-unbeaten Lauderdale County comes into 2024 with momentum.
It comes with a skill group reminiscent of that 2021 group that matched Jack Hayes and Co. in a 52-44, overtime thriller in the Class 3A semifinals.
Rollie Pinto, one of the area’s top rising athletes, and Ishmael Bethel give returning quarterback Cole Wilson big-play targets. Wilson’s ability to get them the ball showed through in last season’s second half.
When the Bulldogs want to get physical, they have a physical returning running back in Hayes Gunn.
They must replace key losses on the offensive and defensive lines, but a coach who’s 105-39 entering his 13th season as a head coach enters 2024 with a much more workable situation.
Bulldog facts
Things to know about Piedmont football heading into the 2024 season:
— Jonathan Miller enters his second season as Piedmont’s head coach and 13th season overall as a head coach. He’s 105-39 overall with 11 playoff appearances, including three semifinal appearances.
— After losing WR/RB Rollie Pinto to a knee injury early in the season, the Bulldogs went 5-7 overall and 4-3 in Class 3A, Region 6 in 2023. They finished third in the region and fell to Lauderdale County 35-30 in the second round of the playoffs.
—Key graduation losses from 2023 include the following All-Calhoun County players: OL Sam Tolbert, DL Chance Murphy, DL Fisher Adams, LB Luke Rhinehart, DB Trevor Pike, WR/DB/KR McClane Mohon, DL Dalton Griffith, OL Tanner Curvin, OL Jonah Pike, RB Dontavious Jordan.
—The following All-County picks return: senior QB Cole Wilson, senior WR Ishmael Bethel, senior LB Kale Austin, junior WR/RB Rollie Pinto, senior LB Brody Homesley, senior LB Caleb Tidwell, senior DB Demetrius Owen, senior RB Hayes Gunn.
— Players to watch: Pinto returns from injury and factors big in Piedmont’s offense. He and Bethel, in concert with Wilson as a second-year starting QB, should give Piedmont a potent passing attack, and Gunn’s running balances the Bulldogs out. Sophomores OL Braylan Williams, LB Bentley Chandler and LB Chase Kirkpatrick are expected to have breakthrough seasons, senior OL Noah Farmer.
— Realignment put Piedmont in Class 3A, Region 6, now a nine-team region. The Bulldogs align with Glencoe, J.B. Pennington, Locust Fork, Ohatchee, Saks, Wellborn, Weaver and Westbrook Christian.
