THOMASVILLE — The transition period continues for the Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets and their first-year coaching staff, led by head coach Justin Rogers.

The first half of the summer was a success. Following last week’s “dead week,” the team hopes to continue to make strides during July in preparation for the upcoming season.

“We’re still learning these kids. Time reveals character and who you really are, vice versa. They’re learning us,” Rogers said. “It wasn’t until spring football that we got the whole staff here, and even after that, we had to make some changes. The month of June, we finally put the entire staff together. We made some staff changes even after spring football. 

“No doubt, you’re still learning each other and feeling each other out. Every day is important. You don’t diminish anything. Having consistency is what we’re fighting right now, just making sure that we consistently strive to get better daily.”

Relationship building is essential during this year’s summer workouts and trips to team camps. Each new position coach could have as few as four to five players or as many as 13 to 15 players they regularly work with.

“Everybody wants to talk about the head coach and the coordinators, this thing comes down to position coaches and having your sub units and sub cultures of the nine units that you have,” Rogers said. “Having those position coaches in place to make sure that they can coach the position, which is obviously important, the techniques and fundamentals necessary for that position but also making sure they’re building relationships with that corps group of guys.

“If each assistant coach builds a strong unit where they don’t want to let each other down, then the team culture takes care of itself.”

The Yellow Jackets’ schedule is nearing an end for this summer. Central will test itself in a shoulder pad camp with Lowndes on July 18 and July 20.

“That’ll be a great test for us,” Rogers said. “When you get done with that shoulder pad camp on July 20, we’ll give them a long weekend, Thursday through Sunday off. But when you start July 25 with acclimation week, it’s on. There ain’t no stopping. “We hope to play late into the year. Once it’s July 25, the season starts.”