THOMASVILLE — The first month of summer workouts are nearly complete for the Thomasville Bulldogs and first-year head coach Jonathan DeLay. He expressed excitement about the development of his players, even during one of the hottest Junes in recent memory.

“The summer has been great. (Tuesday) we went to Lee County for an OTA and it was the first time we were able to put our best 11 on both sides of the ball on the field together at the same time,” DeLay said. “We have been playing so many guys both ways. There’s obviously things we’ve got to work on, but it was just nice to be able to put everybody we want to put on the field at the same time together.”

This summer marks the first time since 2016 that the Bulldogs are transitioning between head coaches. DeLay is the new head ‘Dog following Zach Grage’s departure to Lowndes. He will lead a team looking to make it back to the championship game, though this time it will be in Class AAA. He discussed the transition to head coach and how the players have handled the change.

“There’s some things I’ve been able to delegate and relinquish that I wasn’t able to during the spring,” DeLay said. “As far as the kids, to them it’s football. My relationship with them has helped the transition be more smoother. Football is football for them. They’re getting after it every single day. We still demand a lot out of them to do the things our way and make sure we’re doing things with great body language and great energy, great physicality and great tempo so that when we do get to the season, things can transition out of shorts and into pads.”

Thomasville’s first game is scheduled for Aug. 19 at Brooks County.