Aynor hopes even more compact offense leads to more victories

There was a point near the end of last season when Aynor realized what it was doing just wasn’t working.

The Blue Jackets’ bunched, oft-ugly offense, now known to most in the area simply as “Hammer,” stopped producing like it had earlier in the year. Not so surprisingly, Jody Jenerette’s team fell flat in the most important games of all.

The players had a good idea as to why that happened.

“It’s not about being pretty. It’s not about the air raid. We can’t really do that,” quarterback Caleb Jenerette said. “We definitely lacked the physicality. We tried to use speed. And we have no speed.”

Aynor went 1-4 in region play. More importantly, three of those losses (Dillon, Loris, Marion) weren’t even all that close. The one victory in Region VIII-AA was a two-point, overtime win against Waccamaw. Yards weren’t the problem; it was getting into the end zone. In those five games, the team averaged just 10 points per contest.

It’s safe to say that little went as the team had hoped. A renewed sense of optimism, though, accompanies the Blue Jackets into the 2016 year.

The team is going to close its offensive package even more, getting Jenerette directly under center more (as opposed to the shotgun), while also using him in a wing back slot from time to time. That’s a start, considering he rushed for 481 yards and nine touchdowns a year ago.

Around him will be the likes of Johnathon Gause, Brayden Nobles and Noah Seaver, three relatively unused running backs but ones Jody Jenerette believes can help get the Blue Jackets back to the winning ways they started just a few years back.

“This will be like where we were when we had Hunter Windham and won 15 games in two years,” the 12th-year coach said. “You can develop depth by teaching kids how to block. And we need to have a stable [at running back]. We didn’t have a stable last year. We had two or three running backs. We’re in a 100-percent running offense.”

Part of the change accompanies significant turnover.

Aynor brings back just five starters from last year, and one of the two on offense – Chandler Richardson – is shifting to tight end from center.

“It don’t bother me a bit, either,” Jenerette said.

Getting back to the playoffs won’t be easy either way. In addition to regular region foes Dillon, Loris and Waccamaw, the Blue Jackets are now also paired up with Lake City and Georgetown, two schools that were a classification higher than Aynor prior to the most recent realignment.

In order to succeed against that lineup, and qualify for November football, the players and coaches have decided to re-embrace their own mentality.

“We’re not afraid to get physical,” Caleb Jenerette said. “Aynor’s full of rednecks, so we don’t care about getting dirty.”

This story was originally published August 2, 2016 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Aynor hopes even more compact offense leads to more victories."