High School introduces Sellers as New Football coach

By Cole Gardner | February 3, 2026 |

On Tuesday, January 27, the Appling county high school held a meet and greet event for media and news outlets to introduce new head football coach, John David Sellers. Many may know sellers as he is a alumni from Appling County High School, and was the quarterback for the Pirates football team in 2004. After High School, Sellers went to further his football career at Austin Peay for three years. After finishing his college career he stayed at Austin Peay to begin his coaching career as a student assistant with the team. He became then running backs coach for the Governors in 2011. He spent one year as the governor’s quarterback coach in 2013, but chose to move back over to coaching the running backs the following season.
After leaving Austin Peay in 2014, Sellers coached at Clarksville Academy in Tennessee for two years, moved back to the area to coach at Bacon County High School, and then went to coach at Grayson High School. His final stop before Appling County was in Lowndes County High School as the quarterbacks coach for the Vikings. He coached in Lowndes for two years before returning home to Appling County to be its next head football coach after the departed of former head coach and now Camden County High School head coach Tucker Pruitt.
During the media event, Sellers talked about how he was excited about coming back home to coach at the program, saying that it coming back home was more of a bonus to him, as getting to coach the pirates is what makes him the most excited. He stated that he has thought Appling has been one of the best football jobs in the state for a while now and that for him getting to come back home is a added bonus for this opportunity. Sellers talked about how there is not a lot of big changes that has to be made to how the team is, but how there is some stability needed to be brought in and improve on the features that have been working very well for the pirates over the past couple of years. One of the biggest items sellers talked about was not just about teaching the athletes the game, but also about how to grow the players into men as well. He said “I am a firm believer that you have to handle your business and take care of things off the field in order to have success on the field.” He talked about how he and his coaching staff will be teaching the players about how they will act in the classroom, with other students, and just how they deal with just everyday life. “The how is how you get to the results you want on Friday nights, and we will focus in that day in, day out, in the weight room, how we train, how we operate around the building at school, and how we enter onto the grass on Friday nights and play.” He talked about how a majority of his life he has worn red and black, and has not gotten the opportunity to were those colors in a long time and is looking forward to that.
Sellers was asked about what he is looking forward in the spring training time for the team. He did not elaborate on that much yet as he still wanted to get his coaching staff established first over the next couple of weeks and then focus on that with his staff. He was asked about the next season in general for the team. He said that for next season it’s not the games that are in August, September, and October that are his priorities on winning, it’s the region games and the playoff games that are his focus, and to win those ball games they have to focus on what they will be doing during the spring time and the rest of the time leading up to those games. Training on the field and in the weight room is where the difference is made for the teams that win state championships. Sellers was able to meet and speak to the team earlier that day were he informed the players that their focus will be on how they do things, and if they perfect how to do things, then it will show on the field, and the results will come on Friday night.
He was asked about how he looks as the game from both sides of the field. On the offense side of the ball, he joked saying that when he was young and played quarterback that he thought the ball should be thrown almost every time, but as he progressed through the years coaching his mind set changed and said that he would much rather run the ball then throw it. He said they would still be throwing the ball but, he referenced that a lot of teams that win during the playoff time of the year, a lot of them successfully run the ball.
He was also asked about if he is excited about learning from the players as they are from him. He responded by saying yes and talking about how this is one of the first teams that he has came to where the entire culture of the team is not having to be rebuilt and established and that he is looking forward to learning what the players have been taught and what works for them, and showing them some things that they may not know that he has learned over his years as coaching. The final question was is what should Appling county be excited for about what he will be bringing on to the field on Friday nights? He said that they will be putting a exciting product on the field and that he is going to encourage his team to celebrate the successful moments on the field not only from the players, but from his coaches as well. He said that the energy on the field can be a game changer on the field a lot of times, especially if the teams that are playing are equally matched in aspects of training and how they play the game. So he said that he will be encouraging everyone in the field to be celebrating and he would like to see the stadium full with fans there celebrating with the team in those big moments.
The High school will be having a public meet and greet for Sellers on Monday, February 23, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The football schedule has been released for next season as well with the Pirates traveling to Jeff Davis at the beginning of the year to reignite an old rivalry with Jeff Davis County Yellow Jackets on August 7. They will also scrimmage Brunswick High School the following week. The pre-region games will include going to New Hampstead High school in Bloomingdale, and for Savannah high school and rival Wayne county high school to come to Appling to play. The region schedule will include for the pirates to travel to Johnson High School and Beach High school in Savannah, and to travel to old region foe Toombs County High School. The pirates will host Tattnall County High School, Brantley County High School, Islands High School of Savannah, and at the end of the year Region Rival Pierce County High School. Next years schedule looks like it will be a exciting one with a lot of teams close to Appling being played so get ready for the next season. GO PIRATES!