Latest / Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards / 2023: Embracing the Road Warrior Mentality

Transcript

2023: Embracing the Road Warrior Mentality · Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, guys, welcome in to another addition. Really not
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: just another edition of the ho co Coaches Show, but
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: it's actually the playoff edition of the Houston County Coaches Show.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: As the Houston County Bears still alive and moving on
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: into the second round of the playoffs. But we can't
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: do this show without the coach, so let's welcome in
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the man that's responsible for the success of the Houston
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: County Bears, Jeremy Edwards joining us coach. Congratulations on what
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: was an exciting win Friday night.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, Phil, I appreciate it. It was. It was
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: a lot of fun. I got a little too close
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: for comfort at times, a little tough on the heart muscle,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: but we pulled it out in the end and we
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: survived and advanced and won and no mentality.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Baby, there you go one and oh just got to
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: do it a couple a few more times. But yeah,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: as far as Friday night, coach, you know, great game,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: North Atlanta. Now this is the second consecutive year that
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: you met North Atlanta in the postseason. You and I
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: were talking a little bit before we went live here
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: on the air. Kind of a role reversal of sorts. Now,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: the final score was similar to last year, but as
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: far as the way the game went, as far as
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: the game began, especially last year, as you had reminded me,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: they jumped out on front or in front. But this
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Friday night, you guys get out to a what was
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: really a three touchdown lead, eighteen point lead in this game,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: twenty one to three early on. Talk about how things
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: developed early. It seemed like you guys were really clicking
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: there to come out starting the game.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well it was kind of a complete opposite of
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: last year, where you know, last year we threw a
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: ball high and it got tipped and they picked it off,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: and you know, this year it was a complete reversal.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: So we picked all their first play from scrimmage and
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: then two plays later we score to go up seven
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: and nothing, and uh, you know, we really kind of
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: jumped up on them. Our energy level was high to
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: start the game, and like you said, went up twenty
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: one to three at one point, you know, right before half.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: You know, we had a drive that kind of got
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: stalled out and gave them the chance to get some
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: points before half, and they capitalized on it to cut
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: it twenty one to ten. We knew we got the
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: ball back. We needed to do a great job after
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: half and put a drive together and we're moving the
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: ball effectively and you know, we've got to eliminate this.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: But some you know, pre snap post snap penalties and
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: you know, kind of killed the drive and so they
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: got the ball back and cut it to twenty one seventeen,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: and yeah, at that point it got a little too
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: close for comfort. But in the end we were able
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: to make some plays and ended up getting to win
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: in order to move on. So we're happy with the outcome.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: We know that playoffs you're going to get everybody's best shot.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: We certainly got theirs.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: You really did, and I thought it was again there
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: in the end, you needed the late score and you
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: get it to really secure the victory once again. I
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: know you get asked this a lot, but talk about
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the play of your quarterback. He just continues to amaze.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Does one and twine a J Hill?
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Aj was. You know when you look at the
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: percentage his completion percentage, it was you know, close to
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: fifty a little over fifty percent. But that's not you know,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: we had some crucial drops at times, and we had
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: some pass interference where they're just holding our guys and
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: so you know, you can't hold that against the kid
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: when it comes to completion percentage. But he was very
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: effective through for right at three hundred yards four touchdowns
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: and then turn the ball over and also ran the
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: ball effectively, which is part of his game that he
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: has really developed as he's matured in his body. You know,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: he's still sixteen, so he's he's still growing obviously, which
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: is scary looks. You know, he's a monster on the field,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: but he's really done a great job of you know,
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: with his footwork and things like that. When things break down,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: he's making plays and you know that that forced his
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: teams to have to defend all eleven and so I'm
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: happy for him. I'm I'm happy with the way that
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: he has progressed through the year, through the through the
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: years that I've been here, and then also just this
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: season alone. You know, he's done a really great job.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: So really happy for aj.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. We are talking to the Houston County head football coach,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Jeremy Edwards, who has been joining us every week all
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: season long, and we hope that we can continue uh
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: to do this. Coach, let's talk about the next opponent
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: coming up. So North Atlanta is behind you, you get
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: the playoff win there and something also before we talk
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: about moving on. You guys are kind of becoming known
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: for this road warrior mentality, you know, talk about that
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: real quick, going on the road, you know, up in
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: North Atlanta, getting to win, and then we'll talk about
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: your next opponent.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, it was a crazy fact that was I
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: think mentioned to me before the game. I was talking
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: with some of the TV folks and they were talking about,
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: you know, it's been since twenty and fifteen that Hoko
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: has played a home playoff game, which we'd love to
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: change that in the future, but yeah, you're right, it's
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: been since coach Lasser was here, Jake Brown was here
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: and I think his junior year twenty fifteen.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: How about that. Did not know that?
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was that was a crazy stat that they
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: threw out at me. But yeah, we knew that we
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: had an opportunity this year. We want to try to
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: capitalize on our schedule to get some whole playoff games,
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: but unfortunately we didn't get it done. And so yeah,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: we're we're road warriors and that's something that I talked
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: to the kids about often. You know, when we hit
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: the playoffs, just like last year, we just got to
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: We're gonna put them in the best position to be successful.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: We're gonna our admin does a great job of supporting
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: us and everything we need as far as game day
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: and when we have to go on the road, and
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: the teachers here phenomenal with you know, providing support for
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: our players and making sure that they stay you know,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: in tune with their their coursework and things like that
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: so they don't get behind. But yeah, it's uh, it's
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: not easy, especially when you talk about going up to Atlanta,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: and we'll do it back to back weeks with this
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: week we don't have to go quite as far up
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: but the college park to play Woodward Academy, which is
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: going to be a huge challenge for our for our program,
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: but a where we're we're looking forward to it. Our
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: kids are fired up, and you know, we just got
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: to keep it going.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: All right, So let's talk about Woodward Academy. I've been
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: there before, uh nestled right there in the middle of
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: a college park in the shadow uh the Atlanta Airport. Obviously,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: they've got a great program, great history coach. UH, but
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: take us into the year twenty twenty three. This past season, well,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: I guess this season. Come about the regular season, they
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: had a good year obviously, Uh they won, of course
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: to advance. What do you see in Woodward Academy when
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: you take a look at them on film.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Well, they've got they've got guys all over the field.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: You know when they talk about college recruits and stars
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: and all that stuff, you know that's uh, it's at
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: almost every position you know, they've got They've just got
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: really really good players. They've got a lot of you know,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: former NFL players sons on the field, and so uh
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: it they posed some problems certainly, uh and some matchup
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: issues for us, but uh, you know, I feel like
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: we our coaching staff will put together a plan that,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: like I said, puts our kids in the best position
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: to be successful. And that's all we can ask for.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: And uh, we got to go out and play harder
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: and longer than they do and uh and we'll see
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: what happens in the end. But it's they're definitely a
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: good ball team. They've played some good opponents. They played
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: McCallie out of Chattanooga, who's a great program. They played
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Marist went over time with Marist. They dropped both of
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: those games, but you know, they they're they're solid. Coach
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Hunt does a great job. He's he's got a lot
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: of experience and uh uh I know they'll have a
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: good game plan versus us. We just got to match
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: the energy level and and uh and be more physical
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: than them and and we'll see what happens.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: I see a lot of similarities.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Coach.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: By the way, we're talking with Jeer and Edwards, head
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: coach of the Houston County Bears here on our it
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: G next Houston County Coaches show that we have been
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: doing with coach Edwards all season long. We hope to
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: continue several more weeks talking to the head coach of
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: the Bears. So I look at the seam in Woodward Academy.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: I see similarities between those guys in your team, starting
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: really with their quarterback who does a good job for them.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Talk about their quarterback, Griffin Marshall.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: Well, they play two quarterbacks, Phil, I think Marshall is
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: the is really the one. But with some injuries and
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: things like that, they've they've started kind of rotating. You know,
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: one's better than the other as far as runner as
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: opposed to passer, but they mix it up now. I
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: don't know if they'll mix it up versus US. But
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: the worst round of the playoffs, it was by series
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: just about. And so they they've kind of settled in
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: on that. They've got a really, really good running back.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: They play several guys both ways, which would work in
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: our advantage. You know, they're very similar when to North
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Atlanta when it comes to their depth. You know, that's
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: something that I think we've got to exploit. But certainly
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: the guys that they put out there on the field
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: or are very highly recruited and obviously very good football players.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: And so we got to hold those guys in check.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: And we got great football players too. I mean, you know,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: I talked to our kids. I told our kids, it's
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: a it's a five star culture versus a bunch of
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: five star players. And uh, I don't mean that that
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: we don't have good players at House and County. But
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: I feel good about our team and how we play
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: as a team, and I just I feel like that
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: we'll we'll put them in a great position this week
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: and we'll go out there and get our best shot.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Landon Walker is the junior is the other quarterback,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: And you're right he In fact, they're touchdown production split
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: evenly right down the middle as far as touchdown passes.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: So absolutely, talk about preparing for two different quarterbacks, coach,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: that's got to be tricky. I mean, not knowing really
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: you know who's going to be having the ball who?
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, how do you prepare? Is my question? For
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: two different quarterbacks with two different skill sets.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Well, schematic schematically, they're they're pretty simple when it comes
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: to what they try to do offensively. You know, obviously
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: you know that one of them is more of a
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: threat to run than the other, so you've always got
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: to be ready for that. And uh, but they don't,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: you know, they're they're really good at what they do,
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: you know, and and it hasn't really changed from week
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: to week. They do what they do. They they're going
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: to take their shots down the field and they're going
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: to try to establish the run. But like I said,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: they've they're playing several guys on both sides of the ball,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: key guys, and so we've got to use that to
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: our advantage. But you know, to answer your question, you know,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: you just got to know which one's in and and
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: the skill set that they bring, like one of them
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: is a really good runner and more of a drop
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: back guy. Our guys will identify who's in the game,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: and our coaches, our defensive staff has done a tremendous
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: job this year of getting our kids ready and putting
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: them in great positions, and we've really improved that side
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: of the ball. I can't say enough how proud I
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: am of the work that our defensive staff has done,
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: you know, and some of the guys we were able
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: to bring in to kind of beef up that part
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: of that part of the staff, and it's it's really
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: paid dividends for us.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. Well, coach, last queste, I'll give you
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: a final word. Coach, the last question. What's it going
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: to take to win this game Friday night and move on?
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, offensively, we've got to be great on
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: on first down. We got to execute first down, we've
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: got to play fast, try to establish our tempo. You know,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: last week we scored, uh, we didn't have a lot
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: of long drives. We scored from from far several times,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: and so we you know, when you do that, you
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: put your defense right back on the field. So we've
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: got to do a great job of controlling the ball
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: and you know, and and and making sure that we're
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: not you know, having any self inflicted wounds. You know,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: we we we're kind of our work own worst enemy
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: when we get stopped a lot of times just because
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: we get behind the chains because of foolish penalties and
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: things like that. So we got to clean those things up.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: And then defensively, you know, we we've got to stop
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: the run. They've got a tremendous running back on and
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: try to make them one dimensional. And I think if
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: we can do that, uh, that's gonna be you know,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: it should be a good night for us. But we
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: gotta we got to come out with high energy and
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: we got to be fired up to play, and we
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: got to earn it. That's the biggest deal with talking
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: to our kids. We got to earn it. And nothing
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: changes from last week this week. It's wanted o mentality
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: and if you want it, you got to earn it.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: So we'll see what happens.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Coach, as always, thanks so much for taking time out
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: to join us, not just to join us, but also
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: to be very thorough and describe me and kind of
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: setting up for our listeners what to expect, and you
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: always do a great job of that and we do
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: appreciate it. And coach, we're pulling for you. Fingers crossed man,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: go out there and get a win and you and
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: I'll come back and talk again next well, we'll talk
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: again next week either way, but definitely want to be
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: talking about another victory.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir, thank you, Phil. I appreciate all your kind
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: words and all your support and and you know I
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: look forward talking to you next week, hopefully next Monday
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: morning after a victory. For sure.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Same here. Coach Edward's best of luck and again go
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: get them. Talk to you next week.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir, thank you.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: All right, that's Jeremy Edwards, head coach of the Hoko Bears.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: What a great job he's done there, leading the Houston
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: County football program back to back trips to the playoffs
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: and hoping that they can take it even further. And
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: one thing's for sure, we're going to be here with
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: him for the journey wherever that takes us. Hope you'll
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: stay with us too, right here at ITG next and
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the Houston County Coaches Show with head coach Jeremy Edwards.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Hope you guys have a great week. Talk to you
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: next week.