Siegel’s Eleiyah Wade, sliding, is signing with Volunteer State.
Former Hillwood football coach Taylor Burks has joined Oakland’s coaching staff.
MURFREESBORO – Oakland football coach Kevin Creasy has four new faces on the defensive side of his coaching staff for the 2015 season.
The latest hire, former Independence coach Mike Matthews, is former Siegel assistant and current Knoxville Catholic head coach Steve Matthews’ brother.
Mike Matthews has recently been at Independence and will coach defensive backs at Oakland. His son Brendan Matthews (6-foot-2, 220) will be a junior at Oakland; he was a backup quarterback at Independence this past year and will likely compete for the same position in the fall with Cody Miller and Wanya Moton.
“He gives us another option,” Creasy said. “We went from one quarterback when I got here to three. All the kids love Cody. That says something about the locker room. (Cody) is a great competitor, and we expect him to compete with the others. It should be a great competition.”
Q&A: New Oakland coach works for perfection
Mike Matthews will be helped in the secondary by defensive coordinator Stephen Jackson, who has been with Creasy the past five years at Trousdale County. Jackson was a co-defensive coordinator for Creasy in Hartsville the past two years.
Former Hillwood head coach Taylor Burks has joined the Patriots staff and will coach linebackers. Creasy said Burks won a national championship at Georgia Military as a defensive coordinator.
Former Oakland volunteer coach Jeremey Anderson has returned to the staff and will be a volunteer defensive line coach.
On offense, Scott Thomas will be the quarterbacks coach. He is a former Riverdale standout.
Tyler Eady, who was a freshman offensive line coach last year, has been moved up to the varsity to coach the line with assistant Matt Snow.
Softball signings: Recent Siegel High graduates MacKenzie McMahan and Eleiyah Wade will sign later this week with Volunteer State Community College.
McMahan and Wade helped lead Siegel’s softball team to a fourth-place finish in the Class AAA state tournament this past month.
Hannah McCravy, a recent Oakland graduate, has also signed with Vol State.
Eagleville pitching duo leads team into postseason
Baseball commitment: Recent Eagleville graduate Matt Westberry has committed to Motlow State Communicy College. Westberry finished 6-4 with a 1.10 ERA this past season with 80 strikeouts.
Popovich selected: Oakland rising sophomore Tanner Popovich has been named a Brine National High School All-America and will represent the Georgia region at the 2015 Brine National Lacrosse Classic from June 29-July 2 at the River City Sportsplex in Virginia.
The classic brings the top players in the country to one venue, where they play on regional teams in front of NCAA lacrosse coaches.
Contact Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 or tkreager@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kreager.