Latest / Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards / 2023: Time to Turn the Page

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2023: Time to Turn the Page · Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards

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  All right, welcoming guys to another week's conversation of ho KO Houston County Bears
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  football. And that can only mean one thing, and that's the fact that
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  we are talking with Jeremy Edwards, head coach of the Bears. Coach,
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  thanks so much for doing this with us. We really enjoy you joining us
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  every week. Yes, sir, Phil, I enjoy it as well.
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  Well. Coach is always good to talk after a victory. You guys took
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  care of business on Friday night. Talk about the opening wind to open the
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  season. Yeah, I mean it was. It's good. It's actually a
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  really good crowd. You know, Sumter County brought a pretty decent crowd as
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  well, So it was a good night at Freedom Field. And started off
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  a little sloppy. First play, uh well, the first kickoff we stepped
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  out of bounce and we were out the ten yard line, and we first
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  play we fumble it, catch it, fumble it, and they still can
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  score and go up six nothing they miss extra point and but from that point
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  on, offense got on track, kind of settled down, I guess the
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  first game jitters and kind of got that out of our system and a j
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  ended up having a big night for us and our receiver receiving corps running games.
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  So we we felt good about it. But it's good to kind of
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  get those first game jitters out but then start kind of getting on a roll.
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  So it's a good win for the Bears and a good good crowd and
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  good support from our community, which is always great. Yeah, what's it
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  all came together for you guys? It sounds like, by the way,
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  what indeed a per four months over all for the team fifty six twelve,
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  the final score over Sumter County. And you mentioned a j I'm sure we'll
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  be talking about him a lot this year. But the tall drink of Water
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  as I like to call them, quarterback was perfect on the night, coach.
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  Every time he threw the ball, it was caught. Yeah, I
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  mean he was sixteen for sixteen I think about two hundred and eighty seven yards
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  I think through four touchdowns and actually ran for one his first first rushing touchdown
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  of his career. Yeah, he's excited about that. But he's done a
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  great job of really transforming his body. You know, he's put on some
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  some muscle and you know he doesn't look like that tall giraffe anymore. He
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  looks you know, like a like a true you know, big time quarterback.
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  And I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to change my description then from
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  tall, lanky, drink of water. I don't know if you ever heard
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  that or not, but anyway, that's how we just that's that's how a
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  lot of us, uh you should describe the you know, tall basically the
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  skinny guy. Okay, that's what it means. So we'll have to change
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  that. Yeah, he looks like a grown man. Now. Of course,
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  his dad's a big guy, so you know he gets it, honestly,
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  but he's you know, he's done a great job in the film room
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  and meetings and you know he was locked in and uh you know it good
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  to see that. You know, his success has definitely earned. But he
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  made some you know, like you said, he was you know, perfect
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  on the night from a you know, completion standpoint, but made some really
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  really tough throws and some tight windows that were really impressive. And uh so,
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  yeah, we're happy for him, and and you know, we just
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  gotta put it pass this now, wanting no mentality and move on to the
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  next. Yeah, that's the thing about it, you know, I guess
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  you know, really, you know, when we come in here on Mondays,
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  and of course those of y all that are listening to this, it
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  could be any day. Uh, and I understand that we always record this
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  though on Monday mornings with Coach Edwards, and you know, I was gonna
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  say it's probably I would think maybe our conversation one of the last things that
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  you do in terms of you know, reliving the football game before you guys
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  turned the page. Yeah. Absolutely, Well, we bring the kids in
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  on on Sunday after church and uh that we we get you know, some
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  special teams meeting in and then we break up into position groups and uh watch
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  the film and that gives us an opportunity to make some corrections off the Friday
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  Nights film and uh kind of put it to rest. We also do a
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  little thing we call Circle of Truth, which we will go out on the
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  practice field and circle of kids up and if we had any kind of food,
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  you know, foolish penalties or you know, loafs or things like that,
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  and uh, we kind of take care of that with an accountability practice,
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  I guess you'd say, with that and uh, and then we're done
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  with it. We're moving on and when they show up Monday morning, like
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  this morning, we had practice by fifteen because of the heat. When they
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  show up Monday, it's all full go to the next opponent, which right
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  now it is Perrys. So you guys, uh practice, How what is
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  the practice schedule? You mentioned giving up there on a five fifteen, which
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  I personally like, I know not all coaches do that, but so so
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  we and how often you'll do that? Well, this week, Phil,
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  we've we've changed it to all morning practices due to the you know, the
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  heat and it's supposed to be a record highs this week, and so in
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  order to beat the wet bulb, you know, we're gonna go in the
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  morning. So you know, this morning we practice seventy seventh degree. So
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  it's uh, you know, we're able to get it in. On a
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  typical week, we always go in the mornings at fifteen on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
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  Mondays and Wednesdays typically are our afternoon practices. We got some other activities
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  that we do with the kids as far as getting the dads involved with hot
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  dogs on Wednesday nights and things like that, and so, but this week
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  we felt like we needed to go in the morning. So we just kind
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  of flipped our flipped the script a little bit. So Monday and Wednesday we'll
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  go. This week we went, you know, go up by fifteen and
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  get out about seven, so our coaches and players can get ready for school
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  and coaches getting to morning duties and players can get showered up getting ready for
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  class. So when class, when school's over, you guys do not.
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  Obviously Pright is just done for the day. Well, right now, what
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  we're doing and what we typically do on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Now, obviously
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  this week as well as we got to cut cut special teams out because you
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  can't get it all in and in really an hour and a half, and
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  so well we'll do a special teams walk through inside our indoor facility, which
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  is our old gym. We're not blessed like somebody else, so we call
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  it our indoor facility. It's our it's our old gym. You know,
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  we got the nice new million dollars gym. But we'll go here in the
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  old gym and we'll get through all our special teams and walk through it and
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  game playing all that good stuff. But which is an ideal, but we're
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  always going to protect our kids. We're always gonna, you know, air
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  on the side of safety, and so we want to pure that. We
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  want to make sure that they're fresh and when I beating them down in the
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  in the in the heat all week, and so we show up Friday,
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  we're ready to roll. I got you. We're talking with Jeremy Edwards,
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  head coach of the Houston County Bears. This is the Hoko Coaches Show with
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  Coach Edwards and myself, Phil Jones. We always review the previous week's game
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  and of course we'll talk about the upcoming upon it. So Coach Edwards,
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  let's do that now and let's move forward. You just mentioned Perry coming up,
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  man, I tell you what good football team. Coach Smith has done
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  a great job there. Give us the breakdown on the Perry Panthers. Well,
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  they they they've lost a good bit, you know, from their team
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  last year to graduation, which is natural. But you know, like you
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  said, coach Smith does a good job of He's done a really good job
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  since he took over there kind of getting that program on the winning way.
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  And you know, it's a rival game in this county. Uh So,
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  anytime you got a rival game. You know, no out of where you're
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  at, you know it's always gonna be a hard fought game, very emotional
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  and gotta go down to their place and uh, which you know its gonna
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  be exciting. You know, they've got the light show and all that good
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  stuff, so you know it'll be fun, you know, non reagion game,
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  but a rival, like I said, and uh, we know we
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  gotta we got a large task ahead of us, and we're we're just we're
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  looking forward to the challenge, you know, coach. So this is one
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  of my pick six games of the week. I picked six games every week,
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  and the reason I picked this one is because, you know, I
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  see a lot of similarities. I think there's a lot of similarities with you
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  guys and and Perry in that you know used to be. Of course it's
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  changed now, but used to be where you know, you guys were kind
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  of the forgotten teams. And I think you would agree with that in terms
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  of football, uh you know, related to Goes. It's just you know,
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  you had all the other teams, you had all the other Middle Georgia
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  teams and then you know I've run into some people before. It didn't even
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  realize Perry was in Houston County, so that kind of you too, of
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  it. But but those days are no more, obviously, Perry, I
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  don't know how many defending how many region champions they are defending region championships.
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  Obviously, you guys have done well. Even as the three seat in the
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  region last year, you guys make it all the way the quarterfinals. So
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  I think those days are gone, and that's got to make you feel good.
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  I'm sure it makes coach Kevin Smith feel good. Yeah, I mean
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  I think they're They've won three consecutive I believe that's region championships, so they've
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  He's done a great job with that program. I know. Kevin is h
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  very big on culture and as you are, of course. Yeah, I
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  mean he's he does a really good job with that and like I said,
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  I can't say enough good things about what he's done for that program. We
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  had a barn burner last year. You know, they jumped out ahead of
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  us pretty good and we were able to you know, which was a testament
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  to our kids. Were able to fight back, you know, and got
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  back in the game and ended up winning it, going for two in the
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  end. So I'm sure they're gonna feel like they want a little payback on
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  that. But you know, like I said, we uh, we feel
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  good about our team, but we we definitely know that we're going to get
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  their best shot and we better be ready for it. So you know,
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  the practice this week is gonna be intense and we're gonna, you know,
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  make sure we cross all our teas and got all our eyes and make sure
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  that we got all the details covered as we get ready for the battle on
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  Friday. Absolutely. You mentioned last year's game fifty seven to fifty six.
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  Coach, what a ball game it was. Do you foresee maybe another game
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  like that in terms of being having a lot of points scored, Well,
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  I hope we can score fifty seven, So yeah, I don't know.
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  The less they Yeah, they do a great job both sides of the ball
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  and special teams. They're solid. They've got some playmakers. They've got a
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  a kid that transferred in from from Peach playing quarterback who's who's very good.
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  He's a lot different from the guy they had last year, but he can
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  throw the ball around and they got some guys that can catch it. And
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  defensively they play extremely hard. I mean it jumps off the film, and
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  they play real hard and they run to the ball, and you know they
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  they're they're coached up and you can see that. It's evident on film and
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  and so, like I said, we're gonna get their best shot. But
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  you know, I think we've improved in some areas. One thing I think
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  kind of plays in our favor, uh should is is the fact that we've
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  played a game and we've gotten some of those jitters out, you know,
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  from a first game. This will be their first game. Uh, they
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  haven't played for a couple of weeks since they played North Side in their scrimmage.
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  So it'll be interesting. But it'll be a high emotion game and you
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  know, I think it'll be a lot of fun. I know it'll be
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  a packed packed house over there at Perry and so we're we're looking forward to
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  it. We're closing out the Houston County Coaches Shows, our weekly conversation with
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  Ghost Jeremy Edwards. We thank you guys for listening each and every week.
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  So what are the things you know, we've kind of talking to generalities here
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  so far, but talk about offensively. What are the things that they do
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  well that you guys are gonna need to slow down or try to stop altogether.
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  Well, they've got a Cincinnati commit and Decry Anderson. He's he's a
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  really good football player, and you know he had a lot of success against
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  us last years. He's a receiver, but they'll they'll move him around,
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  you know, try to get him the ball in a bunch of different ways.
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  You know, so with him that you know, if they've got their
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  running back is actually the brother of the quarterback from last year, and and
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  and he's got some burst to him. You know, he's impressive on film.
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  And you know, so those two guys along with their quarterback getting the
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  ball to you know, uh Anderson and some of the other receivers that they
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  have. You know, I think we got to do a great job in
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  the secondary making plays, getting to the ball and creating some takeaways and and
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  uh, we gotta elimit, you know, we gotta eliminate some of our
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  our issues. We turned the ball over a couple of times, uh,
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  Friday night, and when you can't do that against good teams and win.
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  So we got to clean up some of those things ourselves. But you know
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  it's like every week we we we worry about Hoko. You know, you
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  know, we're worried about fixing us and and worried about us and you know
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  we obviously we game playing them and do all that stuff, but you know,
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  it ultimately comes down to eliminating mistakes on our end and playing our brand
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  of football and and uh, you know, I think which which will lead
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  to some success for us. How do you like, you know, playing
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  a game like this, you know it's a non region game, that's that's
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  to me, that's a good thing in that Uh, you know, you
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  know, you don't want to be getting into a region situation this earl and
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  the season. However, they are obviously a competitive team. To me,
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  this is kind of the best of both worlds. But I'll let you talk
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  about that. Playing the caliber opponent like a Perry team and essentially doesn't really
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  have a lot of bearing on your postseason issue. That's right. And when
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  I when I got the job, you know a year ago or so,
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  uh, I inherited the schedule that that was made right, you know,
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  But I do I agree with you one hundred percent that you want to play
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  some people out of region that are going to challenge you to get yourself ready
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  for a region. So we're gonna Yeah, you know, we've got two
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  of those I feel that are strong opponents, and Perry and one er robins
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  that will get the chance if the play that are also in county rivals.
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  So it makes an extra you know, special in that regard. But yeah,
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  I'm with you. You you want to you want to play some some
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  pretty tough opponents that are going to challenge you that you know obviously you want
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  to win them all, but you know they're gonna get you ready for a
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  region U region play and as you know, our regions knowslouch. So we've
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  we've got to get everything kind of kniced up and ready to go by the
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  time we get to uh our first region game, which will be in uh
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  three or four weeks now. So everybody healthy coming out of the Sumper game,
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  Yes, sir, We've everybody's healthy. Which was good. We played,
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  you know, our varsity guys played a half offensively. We played forty
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  five total plays you know, with with twenty seven I think of them being
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  with our with our ones, and so at at halftime we uh we got
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  them out and played JV the rest of the way, both sides of the
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  ball. That's good. So I guess within our our scrimmage game and our
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  game one we've played it really a full one, full game because we've we've
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  played our our main guys, I guess for a half of each of those,
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  so it's good and to keep them rested, you like to get them
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  the experience. But it's also good to get the young guys in, get
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  them and give them a chance to perform on Friday night because they work their
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  tails off too, and ultimately you make a bunch of moms and dad's happy
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  in the stands. So it's it's good right now, it's real positive on
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  Highway ninety six. Highway ninety six, I hear you, coach, and
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  you're absolutely right. Given those guys a chance to play is good for so
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  many reasons, all of which I think you mentioned. And then you've got
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  a course the fact that that's the future. You know, those will be
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  the guys that take the mantra, you know, next year and beyond.
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  So obviously a lot of advantages in being able to mpty your bench. Yes,
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  sir, absolutely all right, coach, listen, thank you so much
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  for your time. We appreciate you joining us every week and look forward to
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  talking with you next week. What we hope for is a win over a
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  period. Thank you, Phil, I appreciate I have a great week them,
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  do you? Coaches? Byebye? Now? All right, all right,
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  there he is. It is Jeremy Edwards, head coach of the Hoko
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  Bears. This is gonna be a good one. And as I mentioned,
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  look, these two teams used to be kind of the dormat of a Middle
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  Georgia football but no more. Now they are right up there amongst the best.
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  And it is going to be a dandy of a game it was last
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  year. I don't see this being any different. As Houston County travels to
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  Perry and as coach said, the lights show the talent, the quarterbacks.
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  It's gonna be a lot of fun. And we'll come back next week and
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  talk to coach Jeremy Edwards all about it right here on the Hoko Houston County
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  Coaches Show with Coach Edwards and myself, Phil Jones, right here, I
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  teach you next