2025 local high school football previews: Adairsville Tigers
- Staff
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
July 29, 2025
2025 local high school football previews: Adairsville Tigers
Bartow Sports Zone is featuring each of the four local high school football programs this week with previews of the 2025 teams. Each local head coach responded to a questionnaire.
Head Coach Jon Cudd
Jon Cudd begins his fourth season as a head coach at Adairsville after serving as an assistant coach. His head coaching record at Adairsville is 24-10 and includes back-to-back region titles in 2022 and 2023. The Tigers have appeared in the state playoffs in each of their previous three seasons, falling in the second round in 2022 and the first round in the past two seasons. Adairsville was 6-5 last season and 3-3 in Region 7-AAA. They had non-region wins over Allatoona (28-27), Pepperell (31-14), and Woodland (44-14). The region wins last season were over LaFayette (44-13), Ridgeland (34-7), and Gilmer (28-0).
The Tigers this summer In June, we practiced from 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., including our weight program, SAQ, plyometrics, conditioning, and field work. We did a couple of 7-on-7s and one camp at a University. July is Monday through Thursday with weights, SAQ, and plyos, conditioning, field work, and an organized team activity.
What are your expected numbers for the 2025 season?
We have about 85 players this year.
Have you added any new coaches for 2025? What are their primary responsibilities?
We brought Robbie Stone back up from our middle school program to help with the offensive line.
Have the position assignments/coaching roles changed for any staff members retained from last year’s staff?
None
When is your official preseason scrimmage with another school?
We will play at Cartersville on August 8.
As head coach at Adairsville, what accomplishment for the program or development within the program makes you most proud?
Winning the second of the back-to-back region championships in 2023. I’m also proud of the development of our athletes in our weight program.
Who are the Tigers to watch on offense in 2025?
— Colt Sanford, WR, 2026, has great ball skills and is a returning two-way starter with offers from Reinhardt and Sewanee.
— Westin Crisp, WR, 2026, is a returning starter who had some big plays down the stretch for us last year. He has offers from Tuskegee, Howard, and Sewanee.
— Barrett Fuller, TE, 2026, a returning starter with offers from Reinhardt, Shorter, Tuskegee, and Sewanee.
— Zeek Carter, RB, 2028
— Jayvian Carson, RB, 2028
— CJ Gardner, OL, 2026, returning starter
— Archer Dasinger, OL, 2026, returning starter
Who are your defensive players to watch in 2025?
— Xai Gilbert, S, 2026, a transfer from Sonoraville with offers from Kennesaw State, Coastal Carolina, Toledo, Murray State, Stony Brook, North Alabama, Eastern Kentucky, and Tennessee State.
— We have a ton of newcomers we are excited about, especially at linebacker and on our defensive front.
Which players are competing to be your specialists? (kickoffs, punting, PAT, FG, kick returners, punt returners)
Cooper Souders is back as our kicker. Westin Crisp is back as our kick returner, and we have a competition to take over as our punter this year.
What do you see as the strengths of this year’s team?
This is a coachable group, and we have some depth on defense.
What are the primary challenges for this year’s team?
We will see how quickly this team can grow. We have a bunch of newcomers who haven’t played many varsity snaps.
Briefly, share your thoughts on the non-region portion of your schedule.
We are playing four teams from larger classifications, counting our scrimmage, plus a Pepperell team that will be better with a lot of returning players. We will have to grow up quickly because these teams are all expecting better seasons this year.
Based on your knowledge of returning players, etc, which teams are your region’s top contenders for playoff berths?
Calhoun, Northwest Whitfield, and Gilmer return a lot of really good players. The other schools in our region have some solid players coming back as well.
What are your general expectations for 2025, and any other thoughts you would like to share?
This group has had a sense of “togetherness” that has developed over the last couple of years. If they can continue to compete and hold each other accountable, I believe we will surprise some people.
2025 schedule (Home games in CAPS)
Friday, August 8 — Scrimmage at Cartersville
Friday, August 15 — at Allatoona
Friday, August 22 — PEPPERELL
Friday, August 29 — CASS
Friday, September 5 — WOODLAND
Friday, September 19 — at LaFayette
Friday, September 26 — CALHOUN
Friday, October 10 — at Ridgeland
Friday, October 17 — NORTHWEST WHITFIELD
Friday, October 24 — at Gilmer
Friday, October 31 — HERITAGE-CATOOSA
