Today’s Four Questions interviewee is Marietta coach Cameron Duke, whose team defeated then-No. 4 McEachern 21-19 in a Class 7A game last week. Duke was hired before the 2025 season and inherited a program coming off a two-year record of 5-16. Marietta finished 5-6 last season after an 0-4 start. Duke previously was head coach at Edgewater in Florida, where his record was 85-16.
1. What won the game for you?
“We were able to control the clock and establish a running game. We were even in turnovers. We were able to get a lead and control most of the game. I thought our quarterback, Jayden Whiteside, played a gutsy game (throwing three touchdown passes). We gave up a touchdown on a bad snap on a punt, and they scored on special teams. Casey Barner hit us with a 70-yard run, and he’s one of the two or three best players I’ve ever seen in high school football. But other than those two plays, I thought we controlled it.”
2. How does this year’s team compare to the team that finished strong last season, winning five of its last seven games?
“The foundation of last year’s team was laid by that senior class. These guys are building off that and doing the same thing, just being humble and hungry, trying to get better. We have a closeness that’s special, but we had that last year too. That’s a testament to the 2025 senior class.”
Note: Marietta returned eight starters on offense and five on defense. Back are the team’s leading 2025 passer (Whiteside), rusher (Titus Grant) and receiver (Isaac Copeland) and a top-125 national junior prospect, Merrick Ham, who starts both ways and had two touchdown receptions against McEachern.
3. Now that you’ve been in Georgia for a season and a half, how would you compare football here to your home state, Florida?
“Georgia is some of the best football in the country, if not the best. It has great coaches across all levels of the state. I think that the upfront play, on the line of scrimmage, is probably better here. Both states have speed from the skill positions. The coaching across the board is going to be better. There are some great coaches in Florida, some of the best I know, but week in, week out, there’s an elite level that goes on in this state. Florida is great as well, and I’ll never talk negative about them, but it’s special up here too.”
4. What do you feel was the single most important thing that you and your staff did that has taken the program from where you found it to where it is now, ranked for the first time since 2019?
“It takes a village, everybody from the administration to the community to the coaches and players, getting guys to truly know and love one another. We’ve done things to grow those bonds. For the second year this past summer, we’ve taken 25 players on a leadership trip to Ecuador, where players and coaches go to serve and learn. We’ve gone to (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) camps at West Georgia University for the second year in a row. We took a trip to play NFL Academy to open the season and were there (in Europe) for six days. We do things weekly and daily to help our players learn each other and grow closer to each other.”
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