Gay renews emphasis on weights, run game in return to roots as Montgomery County coach

Gabe Gay is Montgomery County’s newest head football coach, but he actually began his history with the school system as a student.

“I’m actually a Montgomery County graduate, graduated 2004,” said Gay.

His decision to become a football coach can be attributed to two people: his high school football coach and his grandfather.

“Those two probably were two of the biggest influences for making me want to get into coaching.” 

During his time at Montgomery County High School, he played football as an Eagle under Coach Luke Smith, who was a major influence, and an inspiration. 

“He took a lot of time up with me, kept me out of trouble, and it really taught me about… being just a good person overall, and that inspired me to coach,” said Gay.

Another of his inspirations was his grandfather, May Dobbins, who played an instrumental role in the history of Montgomery County sports. 

“He actually started the athletic program at the school,” said Gay. “The school actually sits on Dobbins Street. Him and my grandmother were the first house on this street, so he was a longtime coach-administrator.”

In 2010, Gay started his coaching career as a defensive assistant at East Laurens High School. By the 2013-2014 season, he transitioned into the offensive coordinator role.

“I wasn’t actually calling plays then, but it was heavily involved with the game planning, and, you know, by the 2015 season, I was calling plays,” said Gay.

He worked at East Laurens for seven years before taking a co-offensive coordinator position at Jeff Davis, and in 2019, returned to Montgomery County as offensive coordinator.

Then, in 2021, he moved to West Laurens, again as an offensive coordinator, and spent four years in Dexter, his last a record-setting offensive season for the Raiders and Georgia Southern-bound running back Ty Cummings, before returning to Montgomery County this offseason. 

“Over a decade of coordinator experience,” said Gay.

He’s never been a head coach before, though he did serve as an interim for “a couple of games” during his time at East. The job, so far, has presented challenges which had never occurred to him to prepare for.

“You hear people say, you know, when you’re a first-year head coach, there’s things that you’re going to deal with for the first time in your career, things you didn’t think about,” said Gay. “You can think you’re prepared, something’s going to come up that you hadn’t thought about and prepared for.”

To balance out his inexperience as a head coach, Gay has been relying on the expertise of his assistants, such as Britt Ingle, who’s been in the game for over 30 years with head coaching experience at both nearby Wheeler County and Treutlen, and will be serving as his defensive coordinator. 

In general, Gay has been “over the moon” about his staff. 

“That’s been a great resource for me,” he said. 

Heading in a new direction… 

One strength Gay believes his time as an offensive coordinator has given him is the ability to adapt to his team’s strengths and weaknesses.

“I feel like each school I’ve been at, the offensive style has been a little bit different,” said Gay.

A big part of the time since his hire has been dedicated to discovering the identity of his new team. 

He wasn’t here for any of the team’s previous season, which ended with a 1-9 record, but has been reviewing game tapes to learn more about the Eagles’ strengths and weaknesses.

“I don’t know what this team – this current team – will be better at,” Gay said, in reference to past teams he has trained who excelled at running and controlling the ball. But being able to be successful both running and passing is the goal. 

“Balanced is what all OCs want to be,” said Gay. “You want to be balanced, but, you know, we’re going to do what our players can do best.”

For Gay, one of the most important factors to winning in high school football is a strong emphasis on strength and conditioning. 

“I still think at this level of football, you have to win in the weight room,” he said. 

To that end, Gay has worked to get Montgomery County’s training program closer to what it was the last time he coached here. 

“We had a really good weight lifting program when I left, and I kind of wanted to reestablish some of the things we were doing,” he said. “You carry the weight room to the field with you.”

He is also working to unify the middle and high school football programs in order to create greater continuity. 

Getting after it, aggressively… 

Gay’s biggest priority is to establish the run, running the ball on offense and stopping the run on defense, which requires physicality that’s been an emphasis on the offensive and defensive lines. 

In terms of strategy, the Eagles are planning to run a gap scheme spread system on offense, and a 3-3 stack as their base defense. Gay said players are taking to both well. 

“They’re trying to do what we’re asking them to do, and I feel like they’re buying into the scheme, I really do.”

The team is particularly focusing on aggression, not wanting to “sit in one place and wait around.”

“We’re going to try and be aggressive and put pressure on the offenses as best we can,” said Gay.

Multiple returning players have impressed, such as Elijah McEwen (6-0, 190), who has “been a very good player on both sides of the ball.” Gay also describes wide receiver Zaden Waller (5-9, 160) as an “explosive player.” 

Other notables includelinebackers Hayden Hayes (5-10, 215) and Kenya Tate (6-2, 215), and Christian Jordan (6-3, 200) and Kameron Henderson (5-8, 170) in the secondary. 

“I really feel like our linebacking corps can really be a strength of the team.”

Ramone Garcia, who comes over from the Montgomery County soccer team, will serve as the new kicker. 

Great to be an Eagle… 

Gay has a number of fond memories from his time in the Montgomery County school system, most of them related to football. 

“I was able to play in the playoffs three straight years, and coming back as an offensive coordinator, I had a great experience coaching here,” Gay said. 

His ultimate goal is to give his players an opportunity to make similar lifelong memories. 

“I want kids in Montgomery County, when they graduate, no matter what their record is, they feel like they had a good playing experience,” said Gay.