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Episode 2- The Return to Practice and a Look Ahead · Friday Night's At The Creek

0:12
Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Friday
0:15
Speaker 1: Nights at the Creek with Coach Goodwin. Coach, it's hard
0:19
Speaker 1: to believe here we are getting ready to go into
0:23
Speaker 1: week one of the seasons.
0:25
Speaker 2: It's like I told you earlier, it catches you off
0:28
Speaker 2: guard every year. It sneaks up on you, even though
0:32
Speaker 2: you have a countdown going for everyone. But it's exciting
0:35
Speaker 2: time of year. Man, It's time to finally play a game.
0:37
Speaker 2: So I fired up for that.
0:39
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Friday Night Lights never sounded so much better than
0:44
Speaker 1: it does this week, kicking off week one of the
0:47
Speaker 1: regular season. Coach, I know we're going to be talking
0:49
Speaker 1: about week one here in a minute, and also your
0:52
Speaker 1: scrimmage a week zero. But before we get into all that,
0:55
Speaker 1: you've had some official practices now from yeah uh with
1:02
Speaker 1: the beginning of the of August and here we are
1:06
Speaker 1: ready to go into week one. But before we jump
1:09
Speaker 1: into all that, talk a little bit about how the
1:11
Speaker 1: official practices have been going for you guys.
1:14
Speaker 2: Special practices have been really good. That first week back
1:17
Speaker 2: from I give the boys last week off of summer
1:20
Speaker 2: to go be a kid, But that first week back
1:23
Speaker 2: was good. We finished with what we call Brave Knight
1:26
Speaker 2: varsity kids play flag football with the Bandham kids, middle
1:30
Speaker 2: school scrimmages seventh day, seventh versus eighth grade, and then
1:34
Speaker 2: we finished with the JV freshman scrimmage. Kind of gave
1:37
Speaker 2: the varsity guys one last Friday to you know, stay
1:40
Speaker 2: fresh and stay ready to roll. But it's really kind
1:45
Speaker 2: of a unique way of doing it. You know, having
1:47
Speaker 2: K through twelve all under the same under the same
1:50
Speaker 2: lights on the same night is a ton of fun.
1:53
Speaker 2: But the thing that I like about doing it with
1:54
Speaker 2: the JV freshman scrimmages, the spotlight is on the Bandam kids,
1:58
Speaker 2: the middle school kids, the freshman the JV team, you know,
2:01
Speaker 2: we've never had a freshman team before, and getting to
2:03
Speaker 2: showcase everyone but the varsity starters. Kind of a big
2:08
Speaker 2: mantra for us is NAM which stands for It's Not
2:10
Speaker 2: about Me, And it's kind of one night where those
2:13
Speaker 2: guys get to cheer on the rest of Indian Creek football.
2:17
Speaker 2: You know, I know they get a lot of that
2:19
Speaker 2: shine on Fridays, but they'll get their opportunities here coming
2:23
Speaker 2: up in a few weeks to kind of get that recognition.
2:25
Speaker 2: But it's a fun way to celebrate everyone. And then
2:29
Speaker 2: this last week I think for the whole state has
2:32
Speaker 2: been interesting to say the least. I think I think
2:36
Speaker 2: high school football has not really been at the forefront
2:38
Speaker 2: of people's minds with the weather right and and it
2:42
Speaker 2: got us off schedule, there's no doubt about that. You
2:45
Speaker 2: know that last Monday it was too hot to where
2:47
Speaker 2: pads were typically homets only on Monday, but no conditioning,
2:51
Speaker 2: and hey, you can't you know, do a whole lot
2:53
Speaker 2: on a Monday when it feels like one hundred and
2:56
Speaker 2: two outside or whatever it did that day. And then
3:00
Speaker 2: Tuesday was a rain out, and Wednesday was a rain out,
3:03
Speaker 2: and we did a walk through on Tuesday inside watch film.
3:07
Speaker 2: But I can tell you, you know, when you're going into
3:09
Speaker 2: a scrimmage and you've had two straight walkthroughs, if we
3:12
Speaker 2: would have had those kids do another walkthrough on Wednesday,
3:14
Speaker 2: we would have we wouldn't have accomplished much. And we
3:17
Speaker 2: sent them home because bad weather and all those different things.
3:21
Speaker 2: So it was hard to catch a routine last week.
3:24
Speaker 2: And you know, I think some of that is, you know,
3:28
Speaker 2: affecting everybody right now because of all the rain outs
3:30
Speaker 2: last week and all the different things that we had
3:32
Speaker 2: to go through. So you know, for us very fortunate
3:37
Speaker 2: to not be you know, struggling with weather like they
3:40
Speaker 2: have been in the North Side or up in the region.
3:43
Speaker 2: You know, we feel very blessed and fortunate, but you know,
3:46
Speaker 2: it's definitely struggle for everyone across the state right now
3:49
Speaker 2: from a football standpoint, But like I told you, I
3:50
Speaker 2: don't think football is the most important thing in the
3:53
Speaker 2: world right now.
3:53
Speaker 1: So absolutely making sure that communities stay together and don't
3:59
Speaker 1: get wipe out. There's been a lot of flooding going on,
4:02
Speaker 1: as you mentioned in terms of that. So coach, let
4:05
Speaker 1: me ask you that. Let me ask you this from
4:09
Speaker 1: a situation where you maybe have one or two days
4:11
Speaker 1: that kind of throw you off your schedule. I mean
4:15
Speaker 1: you look at that as a blessing and a curse
4:18
Speaker 1: where you're like, Okay, we're going to be throwing some
4:20
Speaker 1: adversity our way, and how are we going to adapt
4:22
Speaker 1: and how are we going to come through this? Or
4:24
Speaker 1: are you looking at it completely at a curse saying
4:27
Speaker 1: oh my god, this just really threw us all off.
4:31
Speaker 2: I think your job, when you're in charge is to
4:32
Speaker 2: figure it out and make the best of it. No
4:34
Speaker 2: matter what. Sure, yeah, there's what we've been depe You
4:38
Speaker 2: got to make it a blessing. Sometimes. What I would
4:41
Speaker 2: tell you is it's unique specifically going into week zero,
4:46
Speaker 2: because week zero there's no points on the scoreboard and
4:50
Speaker 2: it's a scrimmage. So you want to prepare a little
4:53
Speaker 2: bit for your week one opponent. You want to prepare
4:55
Speaker 2: a little bit for your week zero opponent. So trying
4:57
Speaker 2: to navigate that I think was the most difficult part.
5:03
Speaker 2: But the lack of reps, I think is where it
5:06
Speaker 2: can be difficult to miss a few days, especially early
5:09
Speaker 2: in the season. You know, you trying to think of
5:13
Speaker 2: how to phrase this. Do you want to get as
5:16
Speaker 2: many reps as you can early in the season. You know,
5:18
Speaker 2: if you miss a day or two in week seven,
5:20
Speaker 2: you don't feel as bad about it. But early in
5:23
Speaker 2: the season, like to miss a couple of days, Like
5:25
Speaker 2: you can sputter pretty quick if you're not getting the
5:27
Speaker 2: reps that you're used to.
5:28
Speaker 1: So you know, get those butterflies out and get the
5:32
Speaker 1: kids into a routine and in a in a rhythm.
5:36
Speaker 1: And like you said, week seven, you miss a day
5:39
Speaker 1: or so, no big deal because you've got that rhythm
5:41
Speaker 1: and it's right quick to get right back into a
5:44
Speaker 1: pattern if you will.
5:47
Speaker 2: That's but once again, our job is figured out. We're
5:50
Speaker 2: not going to complain about our circumstances, and no one cares.
5:53
Speaker 2: You know, it's our job to go out there and compete,
5:55
Speaker 2: make the most of it.
5:55
Speaker 1: So absolutely so this past Friday night, like everybody else
6:00
Speaker 1: is across the state of Indiana, whether it was a
6:02
Speaker 1: scrimmage or a jim beree week zero, that allowed teams
6:07
Speaker 1: to kind of get one last official practice in with
6:11
Speaker 1: another team before you go live on Week one the
6:14
Speaker 1: following Friday, talk a little bit about how your Week
6:17
Speaker 1: one scrimmage went.
6:19
Speaker 2: So we scrimmage Edgewood. This is the second year that
6:21
Speaker 2: we scrimmage Edgewood. They're a sexual opponent of ours, and
6:27
Speaker 2: two sides of the coin here. I thought defensively, we
6:29
Speaker 2: were really really good. Offensively, we have a lot of
6:33
Speaker 2: things to improve on, and I think some of that,
6:36
Speaker 2: you know, is missing those reps at practice and doing
6:40
Speaker 2: those different things. Not an excuse. Some of that was
6:43
Speaker 2: Edgewood making plays and doing the right thing on when
6:46
Speaker 2: they were on defense. Some of that is our execution.
6:49
Speaker 2: But like I told the guys, you know, on the
6:51
Speaker 2: offensive side of the ball. It's a great time to
6:53
Speaker 2: refocus and reconnect and we're going to get it fixed.
6:56
Speaker 2: You know, we had a great summer and I felt
6:58
Speaker 2: like the showing that we had on Friday isn't who
7:00
Speaker 2: we typically are. But like you said, you get those
7:05
Speaker 2: butterflies out, you know, you figure some things out, you
7:08
Speaker 2: go make adjustments. So it's a good time to learn
7:12
Speaker 2: from those mistakes or errors or missed opportunities because there's
7:17
Speaker 2: not a scoreboard and you get to refocus on that
7:19
Speaker 2: and say, hey, here's what we need to do to
7:21
Speaker 2: go win football games, and we'll go do that.
7:23
Speaker 1: So I always had a coach say that if you're
7:26
Speaker 1: going to make mistakes, make it during practice or those
7:28
Speaker 1: scrimmagees there. Yeah, we may yell at you, we may
7:31
Speaker 1: get on you, but at the end of the day,
7:33
Speaker 1: it's not going to affect our record or or getting
7:37
Speaker 1: ready for the tournament. Actually, it should be making us
7:39
Speaker 1: better in that process. So make mistakes when it doesn't
7:43
Speaker 1: really matter. It's not going to affect the scoreboard. Yep.
7:46
Speaker 2: Absolutely, But like I said, the Bryce spot definitely. Obviously
7:50
Speaker 2: we didn't have special teams in our scrimmage, but fel
7:52
Speaker 2: like our defense was outstanding all night, better in group,
7:55
Speaker 2: and guys got after it, flew around to the ball
7:58
Speaker 2: like we expected to. But part of the week zero
8:01
Speaker 2: scrimmage is that everyone gets in. You know, we got
8:03
Speaker 2: to scrimmage our freshmen versus their C team, our JV
8:07
Speaker 2: versus their JV. So a really really good night. Everyone
8:10
Speaker 2: got a lot of reps and meaningful reps and it
8:12
Speaker 2: was really really good. So and most importantly with the
8:15
Speaker 2: week zero scrimmage, got out healthy. So that's exactly what
8:18
Speaker 2: I really, really what you're looking for in the week
8:21
Speaker 2: zero scrimmages. Get out healthy.
8:22
Speaker 1: Yes, that's more important than anything, making sure that you
8:27
Speaker 1: get out and you're ready to go for a week
8:29
Speaker 1: one and not have to start making adjustments before you
8:32
Speaker 1: even wind up against the ball on Friday night.
8:36
Speaker 2: Yep, absolutely, So I think every coaching in the state
8:40
Speaker 2: would tell you that the inner squad scrimmage in week zero,
8:43
Speaker 2: like you hope to play well, but you're really just
8:46
Speaker 2: hoping to get out healthy. So we were able to
8:48
Speaker 2: check that box and feel good about that.
8:50
Speaker 1: So, Yeah, couldn't make you a little nervous at times,
8:53
Speaker 1: right going.
8:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you're the head coach, you a little nervous
8:57
Speaker 2: about a lot of things, but it's good news is
9:02
Speaker 2: it's like it's time to play football. So you know,
9:04
Speaker 2: what happens, happens, but it's it's time to go so.
9:09
Speaker 1: Well, and it's probably also nice to be able to
9:10
Speaker 1: see your freshman in your JV get some reps in
9:14
Speaker 1: with the crowd, kind of get them getting a feel
9:18
Speaker 1: what it's going to be like coming up when they
9:21
Speaker 1: get the call for Friday nights.
9:23
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and you know, obviously not a massive crowd, but
9:27
Speaker 2: it's good for them to be able to get out
9:28
Speaker 2: there and get some of that attention, get some of
9:30
Speaker 2: that shine a little bit, and a lot of the
9:32
Speaker 2: varsity players to catch them up. You know, I think
9:34
Speaker 2: the varsity's kids' favorite part of the JV portions they
9:38
Speaker 2: get to wear the headsets. So that's always a million
9:40
Speaker 2: dollar question is do we get to wear the headsets?
9:43
Speaker 2: So they get to do that and they get to
9:46
Speaker 2: make it fun and they get to celebrate those guys
9:47
Speaker 2: when they make plays.
9:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's all about wearing the headsets. And then
9:51
Speaker 1: when they really do get away of the headsets on
9:54
Speaker 1: Friday night or Saturday or Sunday, well, it's a little
9:57
Speaker 1: different when it's for real, right.
10:00
Speaker 2: Absolutely so. It was our first time really kind of
10:03
Speaker 2: getting in those headsets as well and getting the feelback
10:05
Speaker 2: of it as coaches too, So.
10:07
Speaker 1: Absolutely well, coach kind of shifting gears a little bit.
10:10
Speaker 1: And this coming Friday night, Augets the twenty first, ye're
10:13
Speaker 1: playing Western at home, a nonconference game, seven o'clock kickoff. Initially,
10:19
Speaker 1: what's your thoughts on Week one?
10:21
Speaker 2: So Week one started this last year early season the
10:25
Speaker 2: senior night for us, and we get to celebrate nineteen
10:29
Speaker 2: awesome seniors. Awesome group of kids. Had those guys for
10:34
Speaker 2: three years now and kind of the first group that
10:37
Speaker 2: it is the first group that I've had for the
10:38
Speaker 2: majority of their high school career. So that's a awesome
10:42
Speaker 2: group to get to celebrate a big class for us.
10:45
Speaker 2: Nineteen kids. That's a large group at a school like
10:48
Speaker 2: Indian Creek with six hundred kids. So we're excited to
10:51
Speaker 2: honor that group before the game, but we know that
10:56
Speaker 2: we're going to be in for a dogfight. It came
10:58
Speaker 2: down to the last two minutes last year year at
11:00
Speaker 2: Western made a big play at the end to win it,
11:04
Speaker 2: but the Colby's, you know, they've been in high school
11:08
Speaker 2: football since you know, the beginning of time in their
11:10
Speaker 2: football family, and they're not going to have very many
11:13
Speaker 2: wide receivers on the field, and it's gonna be a
11:16
Speaker 2: to thist fight in a telephone booth. And we're you know,
11:19
Speaker 2: excited for the challenge, but we know that they're going
11:22
Speaker 2: to bring their a game.
11:23
Speaker 1: So absolutely, and they probably have had this game circled
11:30
Speaker 1: on our calendar, especially if it goes down the last
11:32
Speaker 1: two minutes and maybe they felt like they should have
11:35
Speaker 1: won it. I don't want to put words in anybody's mouth,
11:39
Speaker 1: but I'm sure they kind of feel that way. So
11:41
Speaker 1: they're going to be looking for revenge, especially getting beat
11:44
Speaker 1: at home. They're gonna want to return the favor with
11:50
Speaker 1: you guys come Friday night.
11:52
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I think we talked about this, you know,
11:55
Speaker 2: last time, or maybe anytime you beat someone the year before. Yeah,
12:00
Speaker 2: the targets on your back. You know, they want to,
12:02
Speaker 2: like you said, get that revenge. But it's weak one
12:06
Speaker 2: and you know it's if you need motivation week one.
12:10
Speaker 2: They go home. You know, everyone's fired up, everyone everyone's geeked,
12:15
Speaker 2: and it's everyone's undefeated and morale's high. And like the
12:18
Speaker 2: town shows out because if everyone wants see football, So
12:22
Speaker 2: like I said, like whether we want or did win
12:25
Speaker 2: last year, Like, it's Week one high school football, and
12:27
Speaker 2: everyone's going to be juiced and ready to play and
12:29
Speaker 2: fresh and fired up. So that goes both ways. So
12:34
Speaker 2: we've got to be prepared for that. But you know,
12:37
Speaker 2: I think we're going to be fired up to play
12:39
Speaker 2: and get ready to roll.
12:40
Speaker 1: Man. Yeah, coach, you talked a little bit about, you know,
12:43
Speaker 1: getting fired up and everybody being ready to go to
12:46
Speaker 1: play in that Week one? Do you do anything to
12:49
Speaker 1: kind of calm them down a little bit? I mean,
12:51
Speaker 1: can can you look at a team and say this,
12:54
Speaker 1: this team's too hype going in and making mistakes? Is
12:58
Speaker 1: that a good feeling? How do you? How do you
13:00
Speaker 1: address that?
13:01
Speaker 2: You know, I think it's processed, driven and not too high,
13:06
Speaker 2: not too low, program models, sharpened the sphere which stands
13:10
Speaker 2: for daily improvement, And I think it's just keeping the
13:14
Speaker 2: main thing the main thing. But like we said, you know,
13:18
Speaker 2: if you follow your routine and keep them structured and
13:20
Speaker 2: address the things as they come up, it's a fine
13:24
Speaker 2: mind like you talked about, because you want them to
13:26
Speaker 2: be excited. But you don't want it to cross the
13:29
Speaker 2: line to where it turns into fifteen free yards for
13:31
Speaker 2: the offense. Right, So do I ever tell anyone to
13:36
Speaker 2: be less excited? Now, that's not really something that I emphasize.
13:40
Speaker 2: But you know, if it's loose, that's where it becomes
13:43
Speaker 2: an issue. So I don't think excite it is necessarily
13:46
Speaker 2: the word. I think it's loose. I think it's goofy
13:49
Speaker 2: or unfocused. Then it needs to be addressed. But we
13:53
Speaker 2: never want to kill a kid's enthusiasm. And one thing
13:55
Speaker 2: I kind of pride myself on as a head coaches,
13:58
Speaker 2: I try to kids to be themselves. Now you've got
14:02
Speaker 2: to reel that in sometimes, but you know, I think
14:05
Speaker 2: that's important absolutely.
14:06
Speaker 1: I think both of us have probably seen where somebody's
14:09
Speaker 1: playing just a little bit too aggressive and you said,
14:13
Speaker 1: get to an unnecessarily call for fifteen yards. It maybe
14:17
Speaker 1: can break momentum going into a drive or something like that.
14:22
Speaker 1: So just making sure that they're, like you said, kind
14:24
Speaker 1: of balanced.
14:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, correct. And you know, I think managing that is
14:31
Speaker 2: you know, ultimately you want the kid to be able
14:33
Speaker 2: to manage those things. But I think it's just your
14:36
Speaker 2: job as the coach to step in if you feel
14:38
Speaker 2: like you need to. But it just it just depends
14:41
Speaker 2: on each kid in different circumstances, so you can't you
14:44
Speaker 2: can't treat everyone the same and you can't talk to
14:47
Speaker 2: everyone the same. So it's a balancing act. But that's
14:51
Speaker 2: why you get paid the big bucks.
14:52
Speaker 1: Right, That's what I was getting ready to say, that's
14:53
Speaker 1: why you get paid the big bucks to make sure
14:56
Speaker 1: everybody's under control. In terms of that, maybe just kind
15:01
Speaker 1: of open up the curtain a little bit for us
15:04
Speaker 1: here we are at the time of this recording on
15:07
Speaker 1: Sunday night. You don't play week one until Friday night.
15:11
Speaker 1: Maybe just kind of walk us through from a head
15:14
Speaker 1: coach's perspective, what you're kind of doing at a very
15:18
Speaker 1: high level to prepare for Friday nights after you come
15:24
Speaker 1: off of last week was the scrimmage, but you'll come
15:27
Speaker 1: off going into week two. Is there something that you do,
15:30
Speaker 1: like kind of walk us through your mindset?
15:34
Speaker 2: So I think that a mindset or kind of our process,
15:39
Speaker 2: you know, from from Friday night at ten pm to Monday,
15:46
Speaker 2: you know, so we typically give the varsity kids off Saturday.
15:50
Speaker 2: Some people don't, right, kind of what I've ran into
15:53
Speaker 2: with that over the years is you know, you've got
15:56
Speaker 2: kids taking the SAT, You've got a college visit, you've
15:58
Speaker 2: got grandma's birthday, You've got different things, and there's a
16:03
Speaker 2: JV game, and there's you know, we're doing freshman games now.
16:08
Speaker 2: So it's like just a lot of dynamics and moving parts,
16:12
Speaker 2: so going on, yeah, yeah, whatever. So there's a lot
16:17
Speaker 2: of things. And for me, like I don't love the
16:21
Speaker 2: idea of changing a standard or expectation on kids, and
16:24
Speaker 2: I don't know that it's fair to hey, like take
16:27
Speaker 2: a Saturday from them, like we become six days a week,
16:31
Speaker 2: and we talked about that, like it just becomes a lot.
16:34
Speaker 2: So kind of what we've landed on is, hey, you know,
16:37
Speaker 2: we want you guys to come out and support the
16:39
Speaker 2: JV and the freshman on those weekend games. If every
16:42
Speaker 2: you know, not everyone can make it, but if we
16:44
Speaker 2: can get a handful of guys there to support them,
16:46
Speaker 2: like that's that's good. But we will bring our varsity
16:50
Speaker 2: into review the previous film on Monday, Monday morning at
16:54
Speaker 2: seven am. The biggest reason I like that is when
16:57
Speaker 2: you come in on Saturday morning, like emotions are still high.
17:00
Speaker 2: If you haven't had full time to process. And I
17:03
Speaker 2: think coming in on a Monday morning at seven am,
17:06
Speaker 2: like the kids can be there. There's usually not a
17:08
Speaker 2: conflict with that. I just I just think that works
17:12
Speaker 2: better for us.
17:14
Speaker 1: And their emotions are in back and check too.
17:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, you get more time to process, like watch it
17:19
Speaker 2: from a lens where you're not so emotional or heated
17:23
Speaker 2: or whatever. You know, maybe maybe you played really good
17:28
Speaker 2: and then you get to come down from and say, well,
17:30
Speaker 2: that wasn't as good as I thought it was. So
17:32
Speaker 2: there's it's not always a bad thing, right from a
17:36
Speaker 2: coaching staff perspective, you know, we will try to meet
17:40
Speaker 2: on the coordinators will try to meet on Sunday morning,
17:44
Speaker 2: bright and early. Yeah, get on the same page, talk
17:46
Speaker 2: through different ideas. Hey what are we thinking here, and
17:51
Speaker 2: really just try to piece together that puzzle of the
17:56
Speaker 2: scouting report of what players need to be aware, what
18:01
Speaker 2: formationally makes sense, what does the other team like to do,
18:05
Speaker 2: and we're just all looking at those things. So we
18:08
Speaker 2: don't spend a ton of time together on the weekend
18:11
Speaker 2: as coaches, like we will spent a couple hours. But
18:15
Speaker 2: I really like our coaches to be able to go
18:17
Speaker 2: to church. I really like our coaches be able to
18:18
Speaker 2: spend time with their family or go to their kids
18:21
Speaker 2: events or whatever. Right, I think that's really important. It's
18:26
Speaker 2: important to me as well to be able to be
18:28
Speaker 2: at home and do those different things. So now are
18:31
Speaker 2: we texting? Are we on the phone? Are we doing
18:33
Speaker 2: those things? After we meet? Absolutely? And watching film. But
18:38
Speaker 2: we don't present our scouting report until Monday afternoon, so
18:41
Speaker 2: we've got a little bit of time there. We have
18:44
Speaker 2: the school day tomorrow to kind of connect on different things. Hey,
18:48
Speaker 2: you know we talked about this yesterday. Is this what
18:50
Speaker 2: you were thinking? And then we present the scouting report
18:54
Speaker 2: to the kids. We typically will do like a word
18:56
Speaker 2: of the week, a message mindset, Hey, here's the details
19:01
Speaker 2: to know, and then our scouting report will put different
19:04
Speaker 2: things on there, like what playing surface are we on,
19:06
Speaker 2: what weather should we expect? Was you know, just things
19:09
Speaker 2: that people don't always think about. What time the bus
19:13
Speaker 2: leaves right now? But there's all things, all types of
19:17
Speaker 2: things that we talk about in that meeting and we
19:18
Speaker 2: go over offense defense, special teams. It's kind of my
19:21
Speaker 2: job to set the tone for the program and kind
19:24
Speaker 2: of what the mentality is going into the week and
19:27
Speaker 2: then we'll talk offense, defense, special teams and we'll grow
19:29
Speaker 2: from there.
19:31
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Coacha, you kind of talked a little bit about
19:35
Speaker 1: what you're going to expect come Friday night from Western.
19:38
Speaker 1: Obviously they're going to be looking for revenge and all
19:41
Speaker 1: of that that we talked about, But who should we
19:44
Speaker 1: be looking at or who are you looking at come
19:46
Speaker 1: Friday night for Western?
19:48
Speaker 2: For Western? So when I when you see their offense,
19:54
Speaker 2: you know, seven dudes on the line, two wings, the
19:58
Speaker 2: quarterback that will lead block in a fullback that's about
20:01
Speaker 2: a yard and a half behind him. So the first
20:04
Speaker 2: thing that stands out to me offensively is like they're
20:08
Speaker 2: they're a full sale unit man, Like it's not just
20:11
Speaker 2: gonna be you know, last year they had a couple
20:13
Speaker 2: of kids that were studs and seniors. But what you're
20:16
Speaker 2: always going to see from the Colby's and the offense
20:19
Speaker 2: that they run, and now at Western, it's all eleven
20:23
Speaker 2: man and there's not an ego on that offense of like,
20:28
Speaker 2: hey throw me the ball, like they're gonna pound the
20:30
Speaker 2: rock and be under center and it's gonna be all
20:33
Speaker 2: eleven dudes like trying to freaking bash your head in
20:36
Speaker 2: and we've got to be up for that challenge from
20:39
Speaker 2: a defensive standpoint. Like I told you, they they graduated
20:43
Speaker 2: a lot of seniors last year, so they got some
20:46
Speaker 2: new guys and new roles. But similar to offense, like
20:49
Speaker 2: they're gonna sprint to the football, they're gonna try to
20:52
Speaker 2: play a physical brand of football and they try to
20:55
Speaker 2: create chaos on defense, and they can do a pretty
20:58
Speaker 2: good job of that. So we've got to be on
21:01
Speaker 2: point and you know, know we're what to expect from
21:05
Speaker 2: them and just be prepared for that. So they're good
21:09
Speaker 2: at what they do. They're well coached. Now I feel
21:14
Speaker 2: that way about ourselves too, but that just what makes
21:17
Speaker 2: this That's what makes us a fun Week one matchup
21:20
Speaker 2: and something that I enjoy in a non conference game
21:22
Speaker 2: is you know, going against a well coached team that's
21:26
Speaker 2: going to challenge you, going against an offense like that
21:29
Speaker 2: to challenge our kids, and it's fun. Man. So those
21:33
Speaker 2: are the things that we're expecting from Western on Friday.
21:36
Speaker 2: Is a really physical football game. They're going to try
21:38
Speaker 2: to hold the ball and keep away from us, and
21:42
Speaker 2: we've got to be able to take advantage of our
21:43
Speaker 2: opportunities when we do have the ball and score when
21:47
Speaker 2: given the opportunity.
21:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't miss hip those opportunities when they're when they're
21:52
Speaker 1: right there with you. That to me sounds like an
21:55
Speaker 1: awesome game. It's going to be very physical. I like
21:58
Speaker 1: a very physical game to watch and in terms of that,
22:01
Speaker 1: but it also sounds like it's going to be one
22:03
Speaker 1: or lost right there with the defense. Uh like like
22:07
Speaker 1: it's supposed to be mm hmm.
22:10
Speaker 2: Well, you know I I I was a defense coordinator
22:13
Speaker 2: for a long time and coaching coaching mentor of mine.
22:18
Speaker 2: Brian nay as a famous quote of defense wins championships,
22:22
Speaker 2: but offense sales tickets, you know, but defense, man like,
22:27
Speaker 2: that group is what's going to have to really step
22:30
Speaker 2: up and be prepared for this offense. You know, we've
22:33
Speaker 2: got some upper classmen that we're really going to rely on,
22:36
Speaker 2: whether it's Brandon Moffatt and nose tackle, or Grady Walker
22:40
Speaker 2: at inside linebacker or even our dvs on the back end.
22:43
Speaker 2: You know, we've got four seniors at d V and
22:47
Speaker 2: Jackson Green and Grayson Green, Alec Burris and Rishand you know,
22:51
Speaker 2: we think of a wing tea team and you think
22:54
Speaker 2: of those big boys up front. You know, I mentioned
22:56
Speaker 2: a nose tackle and a linebacker, but those dvs don't
22:59
Speaker 2: have their eyes on their key and all of a sudden,
23:01
Speaker 2: you know, a big play comes out of nowhere and
23:02
Speaker 2: they're running down the field. So it's it's classic gap sound.
23:08
Speaker 2: You got to be you know, eyes in the right spot.
23:10
Speaker 2: You got to be disciplined, and it's things that we
23:12
Speaker 2: pride ourselves on. But you've got to be willing to
23:17
Speaker 2: out last them. You know, they're going to try to
23:19
Speaker 2: freaking get you frustrated and say, hey, we're gonna not
23:23
Speaker 2: do our job, and that's when they go and crease you.
23:26
Speaker 2: So you've got to be disciplined mentally tough to go
23:29
Speaker 2: twelve rounds with those guys.
23:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and to some degree that that's great playing
23:34
Speaker 1: them week one, you know, in terms of that, depending
23:39
Speaker 1: on how you play, it can also really set the
23:41
Speaker 1: tone of what the rest of the season is going
23:43
Speaker 1: to be, like.
23:44
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I mean there's no doubt Week one is
23:46
Speaker 2: a big momentum builder. Like you it can alter a
23:51
Speaker 2: season in those first two games, like you're really trying
23:54
Speaker 2: to catch the momentum and something to be you know,
23:57
Speaker 2: positive with and you know, I've been in situations or
24:02
Speaker 2: have seen teams where it's like that slow start. You know,
24:05
Speaker 2: it can either recharge you if you're not a mature team,
24:08
Speaker 2: if you don't have very good culture. I've also seen
24:10
Speaker 2: people or teams not be able to bounce back from
24:13
Speaker 2: it because they don't have the leadership and culture to
24:16
Speaker 2: get it right. So it can set the town for
24:19
Speaker 2: the entire season. But for us, man like I try
24:22
Speaker 2: to tell these kids, like, you've got nine opportunities to
24:25
Speaker 2: perfect your craft before you know, it really counts in
24:28
Speaker 2: the postseason, so it matters. We want to win them all,
24:33
Speaker 2: but either win or you learn, so absolutely so, we're
24:37
Speaker 2: going to go after this thing and attack it with
24:39
Speaker 2: everything we can. And I feel like, you know, we're
24:42
Speaker 2: gonna be ready to go toe to toe with these guys.
24:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it helps that you've also seen them play.
24:47
Speaker 1: I mean, you've played them once already a year. It's
24:50
Speaker 1: not completely new h in terms of that, so you
24:54
Speaker 1: already have a feel for what the game is going
24:56
Speaker 1: to be like. And for those returners, I think that's
24:59
Speaker 1: very helpful and they could be leaders for maybe somebody
25:02
Speaker 1: stepping up playing for the first time.
25:04
Speaker 2: Well we're talking about the guys on Friday, But a
25:07
Speaker 2: tremendous part of this is the Scout team. Guys in
25:09
Speaker 2: the Scout team look that we get during the week.
25:11
Speaker 2: You know, it's such a forgotten part. It's such a
25:14
Speaker 2: forgotten part of this whole thing. But like, if you
25:17
Speaker 2: get a good scout look and can replicate that during
25:20
Speaker 2: the week, like, it makes a huge difference. So that's
25:22
Speaker 2: something that we're going to be looking towards from our
25:25
Speaker 2: kids and they know the importance of that, and you know,
25:27
Speaker 2: we've got to put together a full week of work
25:29
Speaker 2: in order to you know, it's not easy to win games, man.
25:33
Speaker 2: I think we take that for granted sometimes, Like it's
25:35
Speaker 2: it's it's hard to win high school football game. And
25:39
Speaker 2: it takes you know, everybody, whether it's the scout team
25:42
Speaker 2: or the you know, third string guy that's on kickoff
25:46
Speaker 2: return or kickoff or whatever it is. Man, Like, it's
25:49
Speaker 2: all hands on deck, and we got to you know,
25:51
Speaker 2: take advantage of that opportunity day by day to get better.
25:55
Speaker 1: So yeah, because thank you for bringing up the Scout team, because,
25:59
Speaker 1: like you said, that's a team that gets overlooked, but
26:02
Speaker 1: it's a very valuable because they're the ones getting you
26:06
Speaker 1: ready for Friday nights. And if they're not doing their
26:08
Speaker 1: jobs and they don't understand what that team's going to
26:11
Speaker 1: look like on Friday night, how can your starters be
26:15
Speaker 1: prepared if they're not, you know, being pushed to the
26:19
Speaker 1: limits on Friday or with the Scout team.
26:23
Speaker 2: And you know, we get guys like are starting running
26:27
Speaker 2: back through Pingleton or a kid that plays a lot
26:29
Speaker 2: of tight end for US, Abe Woodley. You know, they'll
26:32
Speaker 2: go in on Scout Team just to say, hey, like
26:33
Speaker 2: I want to I want to give these guys a
26:35
Speaker 2: really good look, and you know it might help that
26:37
Speaker 2: Aid gets to play full back and carry the ball
26:39
Speaker 2: a little bit. But you know some guys that you know,
26:43
Speaker 2: like in NAT, tames H Gage Curtis. You know, we've
26:46
Speaker 2: we've even got guys like Mason Porter and Nathan Dillingham
26:49
Speaker 2: who were starters for US last year, and they'll get
26:51
Speaker 2: reps on Scout Team, you know, and we'll do some
26:54
Speaker 2: good on good sessions here and there. But you know,
26:58
Speaker 2: we've also got JV that come in and give us
27:01
Speaker 2: a heck of a look as well that are trying
27:03
Speaker 2: to earn their way on there. So it matters man,
27:07
Speaker 2: you know, I know it's not the most glamorous thing
27:09
Speaker 2: in the world. I've done it at different points in
27:11
Speaker 2: my career, but I can tell you from experience, when
27:14
Speaker 2: you get a good scout team look during the week,
27:17
Speaker 2: it's very beneficial because no matter what you do, like
27:20
Speaker 2: that first drive against an offense like this is very
27:23
Speaker 2: difficult because the speed and the execution is Yeah, you
27:27
Speaker 2: just have to adjust to it, you know, and I
27:28
Speaker 2: don't and you don't. It's not necessarily because you're not
27:32
Speaker 2: ready to play. But those dudes execute, you know, they're
27:36
Speaker 2: what they do at a different level. But when you
27:39
Speaker 2: have that scout team and you're ready to go and
27:42
Speaker 2: you've seen, you know, a tough look at you all week,
27:47
Speaker 2: you just hope that that you know, adjustment isn't as
27:49
Speaker 2: much so and that doesn't mean, you know, an opening
27:53
Speaker 2: drive like you're not ready to play. Like I said,
27:54
Speaker 2: it's just acclamation man.
27:57
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's especially when you're going from image to
28:00
Speaker 1: going live and when I say you know it's going
28:03
Speaker 1: for it's going to start counting the butterflies. You just
28:08
Speaker 1: got to get everything worked in that first couple of
28:10
Speaker 1: drives to get settled down and then your team delivers
28:15
Speaker 1: from there.
28:16
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and whether it's offense or defense or special teams. Man, Like,
28:22
Speaker 2: it's everyone's like getting used to it because you don't
28:25
Speaker 2: get a live game before week one, and all of
28:27
Speaker 2: a sudden, it's like, holy cow, we're about to kick
28:29
Speaker 2: off and do a live kickoff for the first time.
28:31
Speaker 2: So you know, it's exciting, it's fun time of year,
28:35
Speaker 2: and you get to correct those mistakes and get better.
28:37
Speaker 1: Absolutely, coach, I know we're getting closer on time, but
28:41
Speaker 1: kind of give you the last word before we wrap
28:43
Speaker 1: things up. Any final thoughts going into Friday night.
28:46
Speaker 2: No, you know, excited to get the home crowd out,
28:50
Speaker 2: celebrate our seniors. Like we said, Excited for another exciting
28:54
Speaker 2: high school football game. You know, I think I've talked
28:56
Speaker 2: about them a lot, but Austin Colby runs a great program.
29:00
Speaker 2: You know, Kolbe family has done amazing job, and they're
29:04
Speaker 2: going to be ready to roll on offense, defensive, special teams,
29:06
Speaker 2: and should be a great high school football game. Man,
29:11
Speaker 2: it's a good good game for us to see because
29:14
Speaker 2: it's gonna be tough, it's gonna be physical. It's going
29:16
Speaker 2: to test us physically and mentally. But I like that
29:21
Speaker 2: matchup at the start of the start of the year
29:24
Speaker 2: because it's different styles and you know, long bus ride
29:29
Speaker 2: for them. You know, we made it last year and
29:31
Speaker 2: we're excited to see those guys week one and play
29:34
Speaker 2: a football game for real.
29:35
Speaker 1: Absolutely, coach, well, good luck just coming Friday night against
29:41
Speaker 1: Western home seven o'clock kickoff. But to our listeners to
29:46
Speaker 1: the fans, you want to get there a little early
29:48
Speaker 1: to celebrate Senior Night in the physic festivals, that kind
29:53
Speaker 1: of celebration that goes on with them seventeen seniors. I
29:56
Speaker 1: believe you said, coach, that's going to be a team
29:59
Speaker 1: up nineteen. I'm s all right, nineteen to be honored
30:02
Speaker 1: in terms of that. But be ready for our seven
30:05
Speaker 1: o'clock kickoff against Western at home this coming Friday night.
30:10
Speaker 1: You know, coach, we wish you nothing but the very
30:12
Speaker 1: best and above all, stay healthy out there and we
30:16
Speaker 1: hope you can get a good week of practice
30:18
Speaker 2: In Absolutely, thank you for having us and go Bravece