Once the critical part of basketball season arrives, the Greyhounds will look forward to muchneeded help in the post by way of Judd Anderson, who at 6-foot-6 averaged 16 points and 19 rebounds last year at Ridgeland High School.
But there’s another task at hand for Anderson, who in February of this year moved to Gray.
He is poised to take over the controls of a Greyhound offense that passed for 3,241 yards last year with John Alan Richter calling the shots under center.
Enter Anderson, who with his tall frame has a commanding presence on the field to begin with. It didn’t take Anderson long to figure out the seriousness of football in Gray compared to where he came from in Northwest Georgia. It’s a setting he is thrilled to be part of.
“Just coming from a different place in northwest Georgia, it’s a whole different type of football, but I’m loving it,” Anderson said. “They take it really seriously. It’s fun.”
Toss in his ability to make throws in the pocket on an offense that lost just one skill position player last year in tight end Austin May, and it’s an environment that Anderson is excited to be part of with an offense including the speed and athleticism of Zion Ragins and Javious Bond. “It’s super-exciting.
They’re just really good,” Anderson said. “They’re fast, physical and go make plays.”
Others have taken notice of Anderson, too.
Ole Miss, Pittsburgh and Toledo have each extended offers to Anderson.
“He’s a really smart kid and really studies the offense hard. He’s done a great job of just fitting in,” Greyhounds offensive coordinator Josh Herring said. “He’s got a really big arm, obviously.
He’s tall, and he has a lot of physical tools. I think people will be surprised a bit with his mobility. He’s definitely a pocket passer. That’s part of his skill set, I think.”
In terms of offensive scheme goes, Herring says that Anderson being under center should not change the offensive approach terribly much compared to an offense with Richter the last few years.
“No matter what we have, either at quarterback or the skill positions, we’re always going to evaluate and look that the players we have and try to tailor things to what they do,” Herring said.
“(John Alan) had some things that are similar to Judd Anderson and some of them are different. We have some parts of our offense that we may focus on more one year than the other, but as far as our overall scheme, it pretty much stays the same.”
