By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Unity Prep Rams are under new leadership.

Drew Waltson has taken over as the team’s football coach, and he’s been hard at work not only building a team, but also upgrading the facilities at the campus in LaGrange.

The school, which moved to LaGrange for the 2018-2019 school year, is located at what used to be Cannon Street Elementary School.

“I haven’t let up,” Walston said. “We’ve got a new facility, weight room, locker room that I built from the bottom to the top, pure elbow grease. We’ve got something special going on.”

Walston has spent the summer getting to know the players, many of whom he recruited to be a part of the program.

“I’ve got such a good group of kids this year,” Walston said.

Walston began his coaching career at Dawson Street Christian School, and he was a part of some successful teams during his tenure.

“I used to be a part of that program with Vince Sutton,” Walston said. “Vince gave me my first opportunity to be a coach, and then I went over to Heard County.”

After taking a break from coaching, Walston is excited to be back in the business and he’s looking to bring some stability to a program that has seen a lot of turnover over the years.

“They’ve had a lot of coaches in the past,” Walston said. “It seems year after year they have coaching turnover. So I’m going to be here for the long-haul.”

The players have participated in workouts throughout the summer, and Walston has also taken them to a handful of camps.

“I put the kids on a bus this summer every Friday and took them to a camp somewhere,” Walston said. “So I kept them interested. We got to travel and see some college campuses.”

The team will begin preseason practice on Thursday, and the players will be on the field from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.

“We’ll try to get the guys some conditioning and try to get the guys some group work,” Walston said.