Perhaps no one in the Griffin High camp was looking forward to spring football practice more than second-year Bears offensive coordinator Justin Rogers.

"We are pumped," he said.

It's easy to see why — all 11 starters return on offense from a team that finished 9-3 and reached the second round of the state playoffs for a school-record fourth year in a row while increasing the school-record string of consecutive state playoff appearances to 11 seasons.

"We're blessed with some good, young talent that we're all excited to watch mature," said Rogers.

It's a far cry from what Rogers and his fellow coaches on the offensive side of the ball faced a season ago — one returning starter. It might as well have been two different seasons. There were the first five games when the Bears battle through injury, juggled lineups and waited for someone to step up as they managed to average 10.8 points per game and miraculously help the team post a 3-2 record.

Then there are the next six games when injuries faded, players stepped up and personnel solidified. Subsequently, Griffin was averaging 35.1 ppg and riding a six-game win streak heading into a second-round state playoff game against eventual state champ Tucker which Griffin lost 46-0.

That has all since faded, as new talent has arrived in camp this year to join all of the returners.

"We've got the most depth at receiver of any team I've ever been a part of," Rogers is quick to note. "I feel we have eight receivers who can start for any high school team."

Rogers is high on 6-foot-1, 175-pound rising sophomore and Max Prep All-American Darquavious Mangham, as well as rising junior Trey Willis, rising sophomores Keyston Fuller, Jordan Colbert and 6-foot-4, 190-pound freshman Christian Owens who did not play last season.

Back to deliver the ball to them is the two-quarterback tandem of Jaquez Parks and Anforne Stroud.

The team's running back, who's also a pretty good receiver in his own right — as he proved in a 47-43 opening-round state playoff win against Jonesboro with two touchdown catches in the game's waning moments — is rising junior Devontae Freeman.

"The best thing we have going is competition," said Rogers. "Competition is the best motivator. These kids know they better bring their lunch pail to work every day."

That also puts the Griffin coaching staff in a unique position of being able to have a little fun by building and adding to base package it installed last season.

"We've got some new things to add on offense," Bears 12th-year head coach Steve DeVoursney said.

More specifically, according to Rogers there are three things the team will change on offense this season: Increased tempo, aggressive downfield blocking and simplified play calling.

About the first of the three changes, Rogers simply said, "We want to play fast."

"That's something we started with last year, but we got away from by design," he added. "Our kids were very young and they couldn't play at that pace."

The results were obvious as Griffin suffered its worst preseason defeat in more than a decade, losing 34-0 at home to Newnan. Things didn't go much better in the next game when crosstown rival Spalding High took Griffin scoreless into overtime where the Bears eventually gutted out 3-0 victory.

"We went into the first two games — the scrimmage and the opener — and had to get away from it," said Rogers. "But now they are experienced and seasoned. We feel we can snap the ball and play at a fast pace and put pressure on defenses."

The second change that will be introduced is the downfield knockout block. The theory is if you take the guy out you open the door for a big play, but if you don't it's at least as good as a brush block most of the time.

"We want to be the most physical team — and I tell our kids this all the time — in the nation, not just Georgia," said Rogers. "A lot of people think of wishbone football and I-formation football as being physical, but there ain't no rule the spread can't be just as physical in the spread."

Of course, all of this is orchestrated with the current personnel in mind to create as many big-play, quick-strike touchdowns as possible this season for Griffin.

Part of the unit's ability to increase its tempo and pace will come from a streamlined play-calling verbiage, designed to get everyone on the same page faster and with fewer mistakes than the old system.

"We've simplified the verbiage and done away with the old nomenclature," Rogers said of the old hole and zone-numbering systems preferred by most of the coaches in the past. "We're just trying to simplify it for our kids to make it easy and not do it the way we've always done it because that's the way we've always done it. We're trying to find out what works best for the Griffin High players right now."

It's also done with speed in mind.

The center and quarterbacks will call the plays walking up to the line of scrimmage — no huddle, and little interference from upstairs. In fact, every player will be verbalizing their assignments if it goes as designed.

"All of the players have a responsibility on every snap," said Rogers. "By verbalizing it, we know they're on the same page. It's a way for their position coaches to know pre-snap what was their kid thinking, so we know where the problem is — if there's a problem — and we can get it corrected immediately."

If it all works as neatly as it looks on the drawing board, Griffin could be lighting up scoreboards with alarming regularity this fall. Fans can catch their first glimpse of the new offense at the annual spring Green and Gold Game at 5 p.m. Thursday, May 24 at GHS.