How Loren Purvis is approaching first year as South Effingham's head football coach

Loren Purvis has been a student of the game of football since his prep days running the Wing-T as a quarterback at Irwin County High School.

Now the 33-year-old is ready to pass along lessons learned in his first head coaching job at South Effingham as the Mustangs begin padded practices this week.

Purvis is returning to Guyton after serving as offensive coordinator at Morgan County High the past two seasons under highly-regarded coach Clint Jenkins, who he worked with earlier in his career at Dacula High School. He also worked under Georgia coaching legend Jeff Herron, the current Camden County coach, when Herron was at Prince Avenue Christian near Athens.

Purvis was the OC under South Effingham coach Nathan Clark in 2019 and 2020.

"I'm a small town kind of guy. I grew up in Irwin County, a two stoplight town, and I loved it there," Purvis said. "So I think South Effingham is a perfect fit. It's a real busy time of the year, and we're excited to get the season started."

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Purvis and his wife, Shannon, are the parents of two young girls -- Charlie Kate is five-years-old and Ellie Ray is just three months -- born the week that Purvis was hired at South Effingham.

Clark stepped down at the end of last season to return as an assistant at Lee County High School. He posted a record of 13-27 in four seasons leading the Mustangs, with the best year coming in 2019 when South Effingham went 6-5, reaching the playoffs with Purvis running the offense. South Effingham finished 4-5 last season.

A graduate of the University of Georgia, Purvis comes from a family of accountants and originally planned to major in business. But after working with kids in a ministry while attending college, he realized his calling was coaching and teaching and changed his major to education.

He said he'll be calling plays from the sideline once again this season for the Mustangs.

"Calling the offensive plays has always been important to me, so I'm don't want to give that part of coaching up," Purvis said. "They've been running the Wing-T here, and I've been running more of a pro-style, Power I offense. But I love the Wing-T and we're going to stay with that schematically, while mixing in some pro style. We ran 65% of the time last season (at Morgan County) and still had a quarterback who threw for more than 1,000 yards, so we'll be putting that wrinkle in there."

Purvis said senior Kaden De Genaro will start at quarterback for the Mustangs, and he's excited to be reunited with a player that he worked with during his freshman season.

He said senior Jeremiah Washington will move from the outside to inside linebacker.

"He embodies everything you want in a football player from his work in the weight room to how he practices," Purvis said. "He never backs down and is a great leader."

Senior Ashton Anderson, who won the Class 6A heavyweight wrestling title last season and was the Savannah Morning News Wrestler of the Year, is back at offensive tackle anchoring a line that includes center CJ Lord.

Sophomore Mikey Ward and senior Riley Bilenski form a strong tandem as defensive ends, said Purvis, a former wrestler who says the sport helps football players reach the next level. He said South Effingham wrestling coach Chris Bringer, who also coaches the Mustang linebackers, brings an emphasis on toughness to the defense.

"I know offensive coordinators and quarterback coaches might get a bad reputation for only wanting to work with the skill guys," Purvis said. "But I love mixing it up with our linemen. They are so important to the success of a football team."

Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Loren Purvis ready for first head coaching job at South Effingham