Forrest hires Justin Palmer, whose Shelbyville offenses set TSSAA football records

Forrest hired Justin Palmer as its football coach Monday, signaling a change in the Rockets offense and allowing Palmer to move back to Middle Tennessee. 

Palmer will install a spread passing scheme that helped Shelbyville set TSSAA football records during his four seasons there from 2016-19. Previously, the Rockets had run the wing-T.

“I think the kids will be excited to be in the spread because if they’re watching college football, they know programs are (running that),” said Palmer, who went 16-17 the past three seasons at Obion County, reaching the playoffs the past two years. “I did my homework before my interview. After watching some Hudl highlights, I think the pieces are there.”

Palmer went 33-14 at Shelbyville and led the Eagles to the 2019 Class 5A quarterfinals.

Shelbyville quarterback Grayson Tramel set the TSSAA regular-season single-game record with 606 yards passing against Summit in 2017. His 3,492 passing yards that year rank 10th in TSSAA regular-season history.

Shelbyville receiver Avery Brown finished with 1,596 receiving yards in 2017, which ranks seventh in TSSAA history. Airius Trice’s 111 catches in 2018 ranks third in TSSAA regular-season history.  

Shelbyville fired Palmer three months after the 2019 season due to a personal matter, he told the Tennessean at the time. 

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Palmer is 53-47 overall as a head coach. His career began at West Creek as an assistant. He also went 3-7 in one season as Creek Wood’s head coach. 

Palmer replaces former Forrest coach Eli Stephenson, who was fired in November after going 7-14 the past two seasons. Stephenson was 45-36 overall in six seasons.

Reach sports writer Tyler Palmateer at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @tpalmateer83.