Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Only one of those is opl like high school. We're
going to the Hambleton's hot Line. Coach Brian Moore is
the head football coach about to start year number two,
and he is live on Hamilton's hot Line. Hamilton's has
two locations to serve you on, Magnolia and Ogill Tree.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning, Coach, Good morning, d Mark. How are you all?
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I'm good good. How's everything with you?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good? Good? You know you're you're right. It's a kind
of a different time because spring sports and school and
everything else is winding down and we're starting a new season.
It's just always been a unique time finishing up track
in baseball, and our track team especially had had a
good weekend. Several of our football players run and have
always been you know how it is de market a
(00:39):
like of those guys are throwers, sprinters, and you know,
coach Gillen finished a great first year as well, so
we're proud of those guys.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, take us through. How many days have you had, coach?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, so two days with the varsity, three with our freshmen,
so we're sort of lacing those together. Today will be
our first combined day with rushman and varsity, so it
will be a massive group of people out at Bulldog Stadium.
We're looking at around two hundred and five kids out
there today. So we organizationally logistically have worked all weekend,
(01:15):
really all all through January, you know, starting in January,
all through today, but working on just the efficiency of
those numbers, you know, making sure that you know, everyone
has a place to be, the kids understand where to be.
It's almost like two groups of everything, you know, two
groups of fundamentals, two groups of circuits. Any team period,
(01:35):
competition period. Those kids have to have coaching as well,
so uh, you know, we're excited about that, but it
is an undertaking and but it's important for me for
those young guys to watch our older guys practice how
they operate. I think that's really really valuable and Spring
kind of affords.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Us that have you ever done this before coaching it's
something you do or wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, always done it. But you know, we so we
sort of do a hybrid version. So four days of
freshmen football are separate, completely separate, h and then four
days are together. And so that's how we do it again,
so that they could get kind of the best of
both worlds as they have time for us to spend
just on them, our varsity and freshman staff together, but
(02:20):
also to be able, as I said, to see the
older guys and how they kind of go through practice
and what they do, you know, as they're waiting their
turn and going through mental reps and all that kind
of stuff. So I think it's huge. Again, it's just
always overwhelming, and honestly, we're fortunate with our facility being
as nice as it is, but we only have one field,
(02:40):
you know, and so we're really jam packed. So we
use the indoor, we use that space behind the goalpost
on the jumbo tron side, and so there's just a
lot of graphs that's in use with two hundred guys.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, it has to be Brian Moore with a so black,
a Bulldog football coach starting year number two, talking about
his football team in spring practice. The numbers, coach, I mean,
we got.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, so there's two hundred and five total nine through twelve.
There's something like eighty freshman you know, you know how
I am. We've talked about this before about the numbers
of our class and what we need this is, Look,
we have no idea what a fourteen year old is
gonna look like when he's eighteen, you know, and we
got to let that guy grow and develop at his
(03:24):
own pace. And it's our coach's job and my job
to keep them connected until they get to the point
where they're ready to play. You know, because though any
of those guys out of the thirty seniors last year,
I think about guys like Ben Swint and some of
those guys, I mean, they they developed later and those guys,
but Zion Henderson are punter. Those guys became starters as seniors.
(03:44):
You know, we played a lot of football, and you know,
they they if you had said, well when they were fourteen,
you know, those guys might not have been part of
the picture long term, right, And so that to me
is very important and starts at our middle school and
it goes all the way up to our you know,
to our varsity.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, our greed coach. If someboke can look at an
eighth grade or seventh grade and tell me how big
they're going to be and how good they're going to be,
the ball it up and sell it now, because you'll
be a multi millionaire, that's right, no question. Yeah, Brian
Moore was we're talking spring sports so what's the object here? Coaching?
What you're trying to accomplish?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Well, I think Spring is about acclamation to the system.
You have a lot of new faces in Spring. You know,
we have tryouts in December, and so we've got kids
that you know, probably fifteen that didn't play last year
that are part of our program now. So them understanding
how to practice. I mean they've been through a great
weight program with Kate McGee. He's been incredible. Or four
(04:38):
months of all seasons so far has gone extremely well.
But those guys haven't put the paths on and so
for them, you know, to go through and become acclimated
and then of course, as I mentioned, a freshmen and learning,
the difference between middle school practice and a sort of
a varsity type practice is very different. And then it's
all about physicality. I mean, who's going to run at
the ball? I mean who's gonna stick their nose in there?
(04:59):
You know, and and who's going to be able to
push through? Because all these practices are fully padded, they're
two plus hours long, they're grind. Spring to me is
like fall camp, and so to be able to go
through that time and h and understand what it takes.
Is is that's what springs about. And you know, everybody
that make it through spring springs tough. But those guys
(05:22):
that are there at the end, we feel really good
about them making it in the fall. Uh. And then
of course summer is another time where you've got to
get up early every day when everybody else is sleeping late,
you know, and all that deal. But that's what springs about.
Springs about toughness and effort and understand what it takes
and being over like a bulldog. And as I mentioned
last summer, Dean Mark, you and I talked about, you know,
we'll we'll do what we have to do as far
(05:45):
as you know, if we feel entitled and we're not,
you know, meeting the standard, we'll go back over there
to that old practice field and that old heel and
we'll run it and uh, we'll do those things to
get our edge back. But that's what it's all about
this time of year.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
How many days are you allowed? What fifteen ten? What
is the fifteen to ten?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
What is that ten total? Now they stretch it out.
I think the twenty didpen but I've never used that.
I've always used that three week span. But it's all
because of track, you know, in baseball, in our spring sports,
to make sure we wait absolutely as late as we
can because we had again I don't know how many
six or seven that were in the state meet last week,
(06:23):
and so you know, we wait as late as we
can so we don't miss those guys. But two days
and uh, you know, we try to make sure that
we've got we're ready, you know, at the at the
end of their spring season. But we also take care
of them too. I mean, some of you guys are
two or three sport guys. We got to get smart
on how we you know, how we put them back
in practice. So we'll be a little bit limited with
those guys today and make sure they're ready to roll.
(06:46):
But yeah, we kind of stretched that out so that
we can you know, watch film and have extra time
to let our bodies still up. Because the physicality of practice, yeah, is.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Spring intensity like you like you would have it in
the fall.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Coach. Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously we're we're hunting
for what that standard looks like, you know, and I
think Tuesday, I get well, excuse me, Thursday, I give
you an example. We did sixteen reps of one verse
one Thursday and in the practice, and I do a
scoring system, so everything we do in spring is good
verse good. But I do a scoring system. And our
(07:20):
defense was down by I think four points with how
we score it and came back in won and at
the end, but up until that point had not been
very consistent, and so like you're looking for, you know,
those coachable moments like this morning, I have a team
meeting and I'll go through that stuff. You know, I'll
talk about you know, it's great because you finished strong,
but I mean, you can't be down twenty one points
(07:40):
when you decide to play either, you know, and so
so some things like that about starting fast, and so
we've really worked hard on that, and our messaging has
been really important. You know, how we when you lose
thirty seniors, you know, you got to understand how to
talk to each other and you know how to build
on success. I think you know that that's one huge
thing for this spring too, to kind of finish answering
(08:01):
your question is finding out the people that are going
to be to the standard because we did lose so many,
you know, and so making these guys understand it it's
not only about you anymore. I mean, it's about leading,
like Tyler Moore is not here, ty Hudson's not here,
Malik Autry and Amory Smiley aren't here anymore. So defensively,
like who's gonna be that guy to step up and
kind of willis you know, and make a play when
(08:23):
it matters the most. And so that's really what it's
been all about. But it's been really physical and I've
been been really pleased so far with the growth of
a lot of our guys, especially through another great off season.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, it's very positions you're looking to feel coming back
coach that you lost.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
What are some of those they obviously yeah, I mean
more defensively than offensively. I think we returned six or
seven guys that have played a lot of football on offense.
I mean, so, uh, you know that was big for
us to have some guys like Jordan Waite and Kobe
Key and I think three of our linemen and you
know we're back, and you know, a couple of the
(09:01):
receivers Jalen Washington specifically a lot of experience there. And
then you know, really I think one of the best
players in Alabama, Blake Johnson, for him to come back,
But do more, you know, not again, he's a perfect
example of what I'm referring to about not just about
you anymore. I mean, now you've got to pool guys
with you. You're gonna have to open your mouth and communicate.
And so we've had a lot of conversations about that. Again,
(09:24):
our character program and the small groups and things that
we've worked through this all season helped with that. But
those that's really really important. And defensively, you know, ten
of eleven starters are gone. You know, we had one
returning starter. However, we played guys a bunch. I mean,
we rotated guys. We've played eight it's eight to ten
decent of linemen. We played three to four linebackers. We've
(09:47):
played some d b's. All those guys played special teams
to get them reps, and they played a full JB season.
You know, that's one of my deals is you know,
we're not gonna cancel JV games. We're not gonna play
three ninth great games. We have this year, eight night
great game scheduled in seven JV game scheduled right now,
and we have no problem picking up another one. And
(10:07):
it's exhausting, I mean to you know, I know everybody
kind of especially as you get towards the middle of season,
to jump on a bus and go to Stand Hope,
or jump on a bus and run the Central and
play a game on a Monday after a long, long day,
after a long Sunday. It is exhausting, but it's what
gets you ready to not have those down years, you know.
(10:27):
I think where you have those down years is when
you lose a class of thirty like we did this
past year. You lose eight college players, you know, and
others that I think, frankly, you know, got kind of
messed over with the transfer portal and all that kind
of stuff, which is another subject. But when you lose
those guys, if you don't develop them, you don't play JV,
(10:49):
you don't play them on special teams, you don't rotate
them on Friday nights and find spots for them to play,
then that's your fault, you know. And so like for me,
you know, that was one of the biggest things coming in.
It was no secret that we had a great senior
class last year. What was going to be our answer
when that class walked out the work? Yeah, that's what
we worked real hard on and I think I think
it's it's evident right now that we're not so green
(11:13):
that we have no experience. So I'm excited. I have
no idea what it's going to look like against Wutumka
in about eleven days, but I'm really really excited to
see our guys.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Brian Moore with au soap like a Bulldog football coach.
We're talking spring football. The Dogs have a game them
sixteenth to May. You just alluded to that coach to
kind of go over that with us on the sixteenth.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, so first, so it's kind of a different structure.
Last year we played Clay Chalupa and all four groups
played that same day, but we couldn't quite get that
done from a scheduling standpoint. So our rising eighth graders
and rising ninth graders will play or sorry, eighth grader
will played Ben Russell. That'll be at four point thirty
on May thirteenth, and then our ninth graders will play
(11:54):
Lagrange right after, so looking probably around a five forty
five central kickoff time. You know, Lagrange will being on
Eastern but we'll be on Central time. And then on
May sixteenth, the JV will play we Tumka at five
and then the varsity will follow at six point thirty
and play we tunka structurally, we'll play three quarters of
(12:15):
jv and three quarters of varsity. And so all of
our kids, I told them, I said, look now, in
eleven days and I'm about to go and bring it
up in this team meeting, but in eleven days, every
one of you, at some point are going to run
out there. I mean every single person, all one hundred
and twenty plus ten through twelve. Guys, you're gonna run
out there. And when you do, you know you're you're
(12:35):
gonna be responsible for the film you put out. Do
I know what to do? Am I going to run
and be physical? You know? What's what's that going to
look like? And so that gives us a little urgency
that all of our kids, every single player will run
out there. And I think that's huge for us as
we kind of you know, we talked about that d mark.
When I came, it was like, well, you know, are
(12:55):
we going to play a spring game? Well? I really
always want to because I want I want that to
be the reward, you know, for our guys to go
through a hard nine days of practice leading into that
tenth day. I want those guys to have something to
look forward to. And I think just like any of us,
you know, it helps you kind of get to your
goal when you know what's at the end. And so
I think that's what our guys are looking forward to
(13:16):
the most. And it helps us with urgency with spring ball.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah it is. It's and and give them something to
be excited about to coach, So that's right. Yeah, there
you go kicking. I know we've got a good kicker back.
How's our punting and kicking doing, Coach, I know you
lost your punter.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, we did a really good one. Reese basilely has
handled punting so far. We've done only so far, we've
only done like skilled circuit development stuff. We walked through
full units and we will kick live in the spring game.
Coach Woods and I both want to go through that
and see our guys. Obviously that won't be perfect because
(13:51):
we have not repped it, you know, nearly as much
as we will through the summer and in the fall.
But I but I do. I really liked our group,
you know, not only is reached by back as far
as our kicking, but also Cam Rayley's back as our snapper,
who I think is a college snapper that that matters,
you know, his opt time as far as getting the
ball back to the punter quickly. Uh he will. He
(14:13):
will step up and handle some short snaps as well.
So I'm really excited about Cam and the job he's
doing with Cooper and Fuller, young will beholders for ups.
You know, Losing Brody Jones as far as our holder
is is a little scary because Brody in huge moments
like the big field goal against Central all that at
(14:33):
the end. You know, he's a guy that has really
you know, done a lot over the years. But Fuller
and and Widdle competes for that job. And so coach
Ferguson Jamie fergus has done a good job with all
of our specialists but returned that and then a couple
of young kickers as well, that I'm excited about. So, uh,
I feel good about special teams. We've got a lot
of guys back as far as you know returners. Jalen
(14:55):
Washington has returned punts and kicks, so he's back. Uh
so a lot of our specialists and then and you know,
our coverage guys in return guys as far as guys
covering kicks and blocking for punts. A lot of those
pieces are back and so, like I said, we played
a bunch of tenth and eleventh traders last year, so
that we had some experience coming back in those phases
(15:15):
as well.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
There you go. Of course, all this would be on
the fifteenth of May. Coach sixteenth?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
What day is it?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Think that's Friday at the old Doug Stadium. There you go?
All right, anything else you want to bring up? Coach
for go?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
No, you know, I was just going to say, I
want to brag on Cade McGee one more time. You know,
our strength and conditioning director of athletic performance, Uh, incredible
all season. Uh. You know, we've added a bunch of
sports science that's been a new thing for me as
far as you know, GPS tracking systems that practice to
tell us we know down, we know down to the
(15:49):
step of how many you know, steps and miles these
guys ran a practice. It is incredible. Uh. Some of
the velocity based training, the bar tracking stuff we're using
in the weight room tells us how fast gys are lifting,
So that that has been new to me, you know,
as far as the sports science, so that has been
something that I'm really really excited about every day when
I get to work, I check the tracking stuff and see,
(16:12):
you know, kind of I can tell how fatigued our
guys are. You know, I can tell where they are
at the end of a of a spring practice week,
Like we were not as fast Thursday as we were Tuesday.
It was again proven through the data, and so for me,
that tells me, all right, when we get to game
week here and you know, we got one more like
camp type week of spring, we'll get the game week
(16:34):
that third week, you know, we need to pull back
a little bit and make sure we're fresh and ready
to go at the end of that week against we coming.
So stuff like that has been a growth thing for
not only me, but our coaching staff, and so really
proud of our coaches, every one of them return this year.
That's something else I wanted to mention. That's hard to
do to keep your entire staff intact, but I think
(16:54):
there's a lot of growth that happened over this all
seasons through clinic ing and just being together in a
second year. So I appreciate Miss Fisher and doctor Seymour
for helping me keep those guys around because there were
some opportunities out there because I've got some good coaches
and so I appreciate them helping me do that. But
excited about year two. It's really nice to not still
be hiring people and all that kind of deal late
(17:15):
in spring. So we're excited about the year. We're excited
about our senior class, and just like everybody else in
ople like, excited to see us next Friday.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Good deal. Coach, thank you for your time this morning.
I appreciate it, and we'll see you next week.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
All right, Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
You got crying more with the head football coaches, hope
like high school
Only one of those is opl like high school. We're
going to the Hambleton's hot Line. Coach Brian Moore is
the head football coach about to start year number two,
and he is live on Hamilton's hot Line. Hamilton's has
two locations to serve you on, Magnolia and Ogill Tree.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning, Coach, Good morning, d Mark. How are you all?
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I'm good good. How's everything with you?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good? Good? You know you're you're right. It's a kind
of a different time because spring sports and school and
everything else is winding down and we're starting a new season.
It's just always been a unique time finishing up track
in baseball, and our track team especially had had a
good weekend. Several of our football players run and have
always been you know how it is de market a
(00:39):
like of those guys are throwers, sprinters, and you know,
coach Gillen finished a great first year as well, so
we're proud of those guys.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, take us through. How many days have you had, coach?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, so two days with the varsity, three with our freshmen,
so we're sort of lacing those together. Today will be
our first combined day with rushman and varsity, so it
will be a massive group of people out at Bulldog Stadium.
We're looking at around two hundred and five kids out
there today. So we organizationally logistically have worked all weekend,
(01:15):
really all all through January, you know, starting in January,
all through today, but working on just the efficiency of
those numbers, you know, making sure that you know, everyone
has a place to be, the kids understand where to be.
It's almost like two groups of everything, you know, two
groups of fundamentals, two groups of circuits. Any team period,
(01:35):
competition period. Those kids have to have coaching as well,
so uh, you know, we're excited about that, but it
is an undertaking and but it's important for me for
those young guys to watch our older guys practice how
they operate. I think that's really really valuable and Spring
kind of affords.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Us that have you ever done this before coaching it's
something you do or wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, always done it. But you know, we so we
sort of do a hybrid version. So four days of
freshmen football are separate, completely separate, h and then four
days are together. And so that's how we do it again,
so that they could get kind of the best of
both worlds as they have time for us to spend
just on them, our varsity and freshman staff together, but
(02:20):
also to be able, as I said, to see the
older guys and how they kind of go through practice
and what they do, you know, as they're waiting their
turn and going through mental reps and all that kind
of stuff. So I think it's huge. Again, it's just
always overwhelming, and honestly, we're fortunate with our facility being
as nice as it is, but we only have one field,
(02:40):
you know, and so we're really jam packed. So we
use the indoor, we use that space behind the goalpost
on the jumbo tron side, and so there's just a
lot of graphs that's in use with two hundred guys.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, it has to be Brian Moore with a so black,
a Bulldog football coach starting year number two, talking about
his football team in spring practice. The numbers, coach, I mean,
we got.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, so there's two hundred and five total nine through twelve.
There's something like eighty freshman you know, you know how
I am. We've talked about this before about the numbers
of our class and what we need this is, Look,
we have no idea what a fourteen year old is
gonna look like when he's eighteen, you know, and we
got to let that guy grow and develop at his
(03:24):
own pace. And it's our coach's job and my job
to keep them connected until they get to the point
where they're ready to play. You know, because though any
of those guys out of the thirty seniors last year,
I think about guys like Ben Swint and some of
those guys, I mean, they they developed later and those guys,
but Zion Henderson are punter. Those guys became starters as seniors.
(03:44):
You know, we played a lot of football, and you know,
they they if you had said, well when they were fourteen,
you know, those guys might not have been part of
the picture long term, right, And so that to me
is very important and starts at our middle school and
it goes all the way up to our you know,
to our varsity.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, our greed coach. If someboke can look at an
eighth grade or seventh grade and tell me how big
they're going to be and how good they're going to be,
the ball it up and sell it now, because you'll
be a multi millionaire, that's right, no question. Yeah, Brian
Moore was we're talking spring sports so what's the object here? Coaching?
What you're trying to accomplish?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Well, I think Spring is about acclamation to the system.
You have a lot of new faces in Spring. You know,
we have tryouts in December, and so we've got kids
that you know, probably fifteen that didn't play last year
that are part of our program now. So them understanding
how to practice. I mean they've been through a great
weight program with Kate McGee. He's been incredible. Or four
(04:38):
months of all seasons so far has gone extremely well.
But those guys haven't put the paths on and so
for them, you know, to go through and become acclimated
and then of course, as I mentioned, a freshmen and learning,
the difference between middle school practice and a sort of
a varsity type practice is very different. And then it's
all about physicality. I mean, who's going to run at
the ball? I mean who's gonna stick their nose in there?
(04:59):
You know, and and who's going to be able to
push through? Because all these practices are fully padded, they're
two plus hours long, they're grind. Spring to me is
like fall camp, and so to be able to go
through that time and h and understand what it takes.
Is is that's what springs about. And you know, everybody
that make it through spring springs tough. But those guys
(05:22):
that are there at the end, we feel really good
about them making it in the fall. Uh. And then
of course summer is another time where you've got to
get up early every day when everybody else is sleeping late,
you know, and all that deal. But that's what springs about.
Springs about toughness and effort and understand what it takes
and being over like a bulldog. And as I mentioned
last summer, Dean Mark, you and I talked about, you know,
we'll we'll do what we have to do as far
(05:45):
as you know, if we feel entitled and we're not,
you know, meeting the standard, we'll go back over there
to that old practice field and that old heel and
we'll run it and uh, we'll do those things to
get our edge back. But that's what it's all about
this time of year.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
How many days are you allowed? What fifteen ten? What
is the fifteen to ten?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
What is that ten total? Now they stretch it out.
I think the twenty didpen but I've never used that.
I've always used that three week span. But it's all
because of track, you know, in baseball, in our spring sports,
to make sure we wait absolutely as late as we
can because we had again I don't know how many
six or seven that were in the state meet last week,
(06:23):
and so you know, we wait as late as we
can so we don't miss those guys. But two days
and uh, you know, we try to make sure that
we've got we're ready, you know, at the at the
end of their spring season. But we also take care
of them too. I mean, some of you guys are
two or three sport guys. We got to get smart
on how we you know, how we put them back
in practice. So we'll be a little bit limited with
those guys today and make sure they're ready to roll.
(06:46):
But yeah, we kind of stretched that out so that
we can you know, watch film and have extra time
to let our bodies still up. Because the physicality of practice, yeah, is.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Spring intensity like you like you would have it in
the fall.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Coach. Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously we're we're hunting
for what that standard looks like, you know, and I
think Tuesday, I get well, excuse me, Thursday, I give
you an example. We did sixteen reps of one verse
one Thursday and in the practice, and I do a
scoring system, so everything we do in spring is good
verse good. But I do a scoring system. And our
(07:20):
defense was down by I think four points with how
we score it and came back in won and at
the end, but up until that point had not been
very consistent, and so like you're looking for, you know,
those coachable moments like this morning, I have a team
meeting and I'll go through that stuff. You know, I'll
talk about you know, it's great because you finished strong,
but I mean, you can't be down twenty one points
(07:40):
when you decide to play either, you know, and so
so some things like that about starting fast, and so
we've really worked hard on that, and our messaging has
been really important. You know, how we when you lose
thirty seniors, you know, you got to understand how to
talk to each other and you know how to build
on success. I think you know that that's one huge
thing for this spring too, to kind of finish answering
(08:01):
your question is finding out the people that are going
to be to the standard because we did lose so many,
you know, and so making these guys understand it it's
not only about you anymore. I mean, it's about leading,
like Tyler Moore is not here, ty Hudson's not here,
Malik Autry and Amory Smiley aren't here anymore. So defensively,
like who's gonna be that guy to step up and
kind of willis you know, and make a play when
(08:23):
it matters the most. And so that's really what it's
been all about. But it's been really physical and I've
been been really pleased so far with the growth of
a lot of our guys, especially through another great off season.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, it's very positions you're looking to feel coming back
coach that you lost.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
What are some of those they obviously yeah, I mean
more defensively than offensively. I think we returned six or
seven guys that have played a lot of football on offense.
I mean, so, uh, you know that was big for
us to have some guys like Jordan Waite and Kobe
Key and I think three of our linemen and you
know we're back, and you know, a couple of the
(09:01):
receivers Jalen Washington specifically a lot of experience there. And
then you know, really I think one of the best
players in Alabama, Blake Johnson, for him to come back,
But do more, you know, not again, he's a perfect
example of what I'm referring to about not just about
you anymore. I mean, now you've got to pool guys
with you. You're gonna have to open your mouth and communicate.
And so we've had a lot of conversations about that. Again,
(09:24):
our character program and the small groups and things that
we've worked through this all season helped with that. But
those that's really really important. And defensively, you know, ten
of eleven starters are gone. You know, we had one
returning starter. However, we played guys a bunch. I mean,
we rotated guys. We've played eight it's eight to ten
decent of linemen. We played three to four linebackers. We've
(09:47):
played some d b's. All those guys played special teams
to get them reps, and they played a full JB season.
You know, that's one of my deals is you know,
we're not gonna cancel JV games. We're not gonna play
three ninth great games. We have this year, eight night
great game scheduled in seven JV game scheduled right now,
and we have no problem picking up another one. And
(10:07):
it's exhausting, I mean to you know, I know everybody
kind of especially as you get towards the middle of season,
to jump on a bus and go to Stand Hope,
or jump on a bus and run the Central and
play a game on a Monday after a long, long day,
after a long Sunday. It is exhausting, but it's what
gets you ready to not have those down years, you know.
(10:27):
I think where you have those down years is when
you lose a class of thirty like we did this
past year. You lose eight college players, you know, and
others that I think, frankly, you know, got kind of
messed over with the transfer portal and all that kind
of stuff, which is another subject. But when you lose
those guys, if you don't develop them, you don't play JV,
(10:49):
you don't play them on special teams, you don't rotate
them on Friday nights and find spots for them to play,
then that's your fault, you know. And so like for me,
you know, that was one of the biggest things coming in.
It was no secret that we had a great senior
class last year. What was going to be our answer
when that class walked out the work? Yeah, that's what
we worked real hard on and I think I think
it's it's evident right now that we're not so green
(11:13):
that we have no experience. So I'm excited. I have
no idea what it's going to look like against Wutumka
in about eleven days, but I'm really really excited to
see our guys.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Brian Moore with au soap like a Bulldog football coach.
We're talking spring football. The Dogs have a game them
sixteenth to May. You just alluded to that coach to
kind of go over that with us on the sixteenth.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, so first, so it's kind of a different structure.
Last year we played Clay Chalupa and all four groups
played that same day, but we couldn't quite get that
done from a scheduling standpoint. So our rising eighth graders
and rising ninth graders will play or sorry, eighth grader
will played Ben Russell. That'll be at four point thirty
on May thirteenth, and then our ninth graders will play
(11:54):
Lagrange right after, so looking probably around a five forty
five central kickoff time. You know, Lagrange will being on
Eastern but we'll be on Central time. And then on
May sixteenth, the JV will play we Tumka at five
and then the varsity will follow at six point thirty
and play we tunka structurally, we'll play three quarters of
(12:15):
jv and three quarters of varsity. And so all of
our kids, I told them, I said, look now, in
eleven days and I'm about to go and bring it
up in this team meeting, but in eleven days, every
one of you, at some point are going to run
out there. I mean every single person, all one hundred
and twenty plus ten through twelve. Guys, you're gonna run
out there. And when you do, you know you're you're
(12:35):
gonna be responsible for the film you put out. Do
I know what to do? Am I going to run
and be physical? You know? What's what's that going to
look like? And so that gives us a little urgency
that all of our kids, every single player will run
out there. And I think that's huge for us as
we kind of you know, we talked about that d mark.
When I came, it was like, well, you know, are
(12:55):
we going to play a spring game? Well? I really
always want to because I want I want that to
be the reward, you know, for our guys to go
through a hard nine days of practice leading into that
tenth day. I want those guys to have something to
look forward to. And I think just like any of us,
you know, it helps you kind of get to your
goal when you know what's at the end. And so
I think that's what our guys are looking forward to
(13:16):
the most. And it helps us with urgency with spring ball.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah it is. It's and and give them something to
be excited about to coach, So that's right. Yeah, there
you go kicking. I know we've got a good kicker back.
How's our punting and kicking doing, Coach, I know you
lost your punter.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, we did a really good one. Reese basilely has
handled punting so far. We've done only so far, we've
only done like skilled circuit development stuff. We walked through
full units and we will kick live in the spring game.
Coach Woods and I both want to go through that
and see our guys. Obviously that won't be perfect because
(13:51):
we have not repped it, you know, nearly as much
as we will through the summer and in the fall.
But I but I do. I really liked our group,
you know, not only is reached by back as far
as our kicking, but also Cam Rayley's back as our snapper,
who I think is a college snapper that that matters,
you know, his opt time as far as getting the
ball back to the punter quickly. Uh he will. He
(14:13):
will step up and handle some short snaps as well.
So I'm really excited about Cam and the job he's
doing with Cooper and Fuller, young will beholders for ups.
You know, Losing Brody Jones as far as our holder
is is a little scary because Brody in huge moments
like the big field goal against Central all that at
(14:33):
the end. You know, he's a guy that has really
you know, done a lot over the years. But Fuller
and and Widdle competes for that job. And so coach
Ferguson Jamie fergus has done a good job with all
of our specialists but returned that and then a couple
of young kickers as well, that I'm excited about. So, uh,
I feel good about special teams. We've got a lot
of guys back as far as you know returners. Jalen
(14:55):
Washington has returned punts and kicks, so he's back. Uh
so a lot of our specialists and then and you know,
our coverage guys in return guys as far as guys
covering kicks and blocking for punts. A lot of those
pieces are back and so, like I said, we played
a bunch of tenth and eleventh traders last year, so
that we had some experience coming back in those phases
(15:15):
as well.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
There you go. Of course, all this would be on
the fifteenth of May. Coach sixteenth?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
What day is it?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Think that's Friday at the old Doug Stadium. There you go?
All right, anything else you want to bring up? Coach
for go?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
No, you know, I was just going to say, I
want to brag on Cade McGee one more time. You know,
our strength and conditioning director of athletic performance, Uh, incredible
all season. Uh. You know, we've added a bunch of
sports science that's been a new thing for me as
far as you know, GPS tracking systems that practice to
tell us we know down, we know down to the
(15:49):
step of how many you know, steps and miles these
guys ran a practice. It is incredible. Uh. Some of
the velocity based training, the bar tracking stuff we're using
in the weight room tells us how fast gys are lifting,
So that that has been new to me, you know,
as far as the sports science, so that has been
something that I'm really really excited about every day when
I get to work, I check the tracking stuff and see,
(16:12):
you know, kind of I can tell how fatigued our
guys are. You know, I can tell where they are
at the end of a of a spring practice week,
Like we were not as fast Thursday as we were Tuesday.
It was again proven through the data, and so for me,
that tells me, all right, when we get to game
week here and you know, we got one more like
camp type week of spring, we'll get the game week
(16:34):
that third week, you know, we need to pull back
a little bit and make sure we're fresh and ready
to go at the end of that week against we coming.
So stuff like that has been a growth thing for
not only me, but our coaching staff, and so really
proud of our coaches, every one of them return this year.
That's something else I wanted to mention. That's hard to
do to keep your entire staff intact, but I think
(16:54):
there's a lot of growth that happened over this all
seasons through clinic ing and just being together in a
second year. So I appreciate Miss Fisher and doctor Seymour
for helping me keep those guys around because there were
some opportunities out there because I've got some good coaches
and so I appreciate them helping me do that. But
excited about year two. It's really nice to not still
be hiring people and all that kind of deal late
(17:15):
in spring. So we're excited about the year. We're excited
about our senior class, and just like everybody else in
ople like, excited to see us next Friday.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Good deal. Coach, thank you for your time this morning.
I appreciate it, and we'll see you next week.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
All right, Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
You got crying more with the head football coaches, hope
like high school
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