HSFT Stop #44: Pickens County

For the Pickens County Tornadoes, building a football program has been a process.

And after eight years at the helm, head coach Michael Williams has seen just about everything with this program.

The Tornadoes went 2-7 last season, but Williams has had this senior class since they were in eighth grade. He says they’ve seen the highs, the lows and everything in between.

“They understand they’ve seen the great, they’ve seen the bad, they’ve seen it all,” Williams said. They’ve seen the in between. So they understand what it’s supposed to look like. They have given me the life that you need to get back sometimes and standing here in front of them every day and they looking at me ten toes ready to go and, you know, having my back with whatever I say, saying what about do to get the young guys prepared and ready to go.”

That experience is now being passed down.

Because with a young roster, the seniors have to be more than just players. They have to be the foundation.

“The foundation means starting from the start. I mean, instead of coming out here, you know, lollygagging, everybody can be serious. It can’t only be five, six people that want to come win. You got to have a whole team with you. You got to have a coach with you. You got to have everybody on the same page, on the same goal. And they’ve got to start with me,” Enoch said.

And that standard has to extend to the younger players, because they’re going to be asked to play a big role.

Even sophomores are being asked to play a big role, on and off the field.

“To me, I’ve got to be a perfect leader. I’ve got to show the younger kids, so they want to come in to do the right thing and know what to do on the field,” Stewart said.

That’s really what this season is about for Pickens County – not trying to skip steps, but making sure the ones they take are in the right direction.

“We’re trying to make guys more focused and get them to where they need to be to get on field with us and play and get us to where we need to be. We need to start trying to do everything right the first time. So when we get later on, we don’t mess up and we can keep it on the road and keep going,” Petty said.

Coach Williams has played and coached a lot of football, and he knows a program doesn’t change overnight.

It’s built one practice, one player and one day at a time.

“It’s a process that you have to go through. Sometimes you’re gonna have ups, and sometimes you’re going to have downs, but as long as you keep a solid foundation the good will come back,” Williams said. “You’ve just got to be able to, you know, lay the foundation and keep it there. So all you can do is build from it and just know, keep going and understand that it’s brighter days ahead. And hopefully this year it’ll be the brighter days.”

The Tornadoes will try to build on that foundation when they kick off the 2026 season against Aliceville on Aug. 21.