Latest / The Jake Wimberly Podcast / Blake Pennock Discusses His Gulfport Football Team for 2025

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Blake Pennock Discusses His Gulfport Football Team for 2025 · The Jake Wimberly Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wednesday edition of the program. We're out at the m
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  Speaker 1: AC Day two. It is the Big Clinic twenty twenty
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: five Multi Sports Clinic, brought to you by our friends
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  Speaker 1: at ce Spire. Glad to be with you on your
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  Speaker 1: radio right now. Blake Pennock, head football coach Golfport High School.
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  Speaker 1: Is kind of some time. Coach up. You stopped and
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  Speaker 1: say hey, and I snagged you for an interview. How
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  Speaker 1: are you?
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  Speaker 2: Oh man, I'm good, dude. It's a it's a good
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  Speaker 2: time to be here. Obviously getting to see everybody and
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  Speaker 2: doing the whole thing. We just got done listening to
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  Speaker 2: memphisis head coach Silverfield and did a great job. So
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  Speaker 2: you come down radio road kind of right here, you
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  Speaker 2: get you get a chance to it. So it's it's
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  Speaker 2: a good time.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know that's That's what I've been telling everybody
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  Speaker 1: is you know this thing has turned into and you
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  Speaker 1: know what Johnny in the MAC has done with this
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  Speaker 1: is it is a version of SEC Media Days for
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  Speaker 1: high school athletics in the state of Mississippi. If you
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  Speaker 1: don't believe it, try to find a parking spot. You're
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  Speaker 1: not gonna you have to park out here.
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  Speaker 2: On airport road out here, I know, you know Johnny
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  Speaker 2: and then they just they he's just done such an
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  Speaker 2: awesome job with him and everybody, everybody involved and making
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  Speaker 2: this such a big production, something to be proud of
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  Speaker 2: and getting a chance to you know, come down here,
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  Speaker 2: get it, get up here it better, you know, as
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  Speaker 2: a coach, and then also see some see a lot
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  Speaker 2: of people and get some stuff going on. So it's
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  Speaker 2: just kind of a cool kickoff to the to the
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  Speaker 2: sports season coming up here in a couple of weeks.
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  Speaker 1: Now, there's there's no doubt about it. And for those
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  Speaker 1: that again we try to spread the word about this
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  Speaker 1: sevent it it's a meet and greet. It's like you said,
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  Speaker 1: a reunion. I mean you'll see guys you don't and
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  Speaker 1: girls you don't see for the whole year unless you
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  Speaker 1: go to the coast at Ipe in January. It's right
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  Speaker 1: for the other ones. But it's also continue education and
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  Speaker 1: a chance to collaborate.
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  Speaker 2: Right I know. Yeah, you know a lot of a
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  Speaker 2: lot of coaches get an opportunity because we're educators, right,
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  Speaker 2: have to get CEUs and different things. So you get
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  Speaker 2: a chance to do that. Then obviously to share it
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  Speaker 2: in is such a great hotel, you know, great spot here.
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  Speaker 2: They get a chance to play some golf here. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: you know a little bit if you get a shot
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  Speaker 2: at it, And like you said, you want other than
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  Speaker 2: maybe state championships or different things, like if you come
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  Speaker 2: down to the coast in January to see a lot
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  Speaker 2: of guys here that you don't see all the time.
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  Speaker 2: That you know, I see plenty of coaches throughout my
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  Speaker 2: career that I've either coached with or coached against in
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  Speaker 2: different spots, and you know, this is the first time
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  Speaker 2: I've seen them in a while, and so getting to
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  Speaker 2: catch up and have those conversations is always good. It's
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  Speaker 2: good for the soul. Right before you're about to go
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  Speaker 2: on a hundred an hour here in football, football starts.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's let's segue to that golf court, Admirals, Big
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  Speaker 1: things expected you guys this year. Obviously, this is year
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  Speaker 1: I believe two for you are three. See the time
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  Speaker 1: fly so quick, it does, doesn't it. Yeah, you were
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  Speaker 1: at Ocean Springs obviously on a golf court. Now talk
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  Speaker 1: a little bit about your program. I think I did
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  Speaker 1: see something, correct If I'm wrong, You guys are about
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  Speaker 1: to get a new stadium.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. It actually that's fresh on the docket. Man.
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  Speaker 2: We it was Monday at the school board meeting. It's
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  Speaker 2: it's a bunch of conversations that we've had in the
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  Speaker 2: past and finally kind of one of the things got
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  Speaker 2: really kicked up when I took the job was getting
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  Speaker 2: a new stadium, getting on campus. You know, we've been
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  Speaker 2: off campus at Milner Stadium where they host North South
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  Speaker 2: and all that All Star game, and you know, it's
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  Speaker 2: kind of been a long time coming. It's the conversations
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  Speaker 2: they have, but it all of a sudden has gotten
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  Speaker 2: really amped up, and you know, we got a it's
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  Speaker 2: a huge project. The city's involved with it as well,
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  Speaker 2: and kind of a big deal. So we're being on
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  Speaker 2: the ground floor of constructing it, building it, designing it.
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  Speaker 2: The whole thing is going to be a really neat
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  Speaker 2: deal for us.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, so was there. Have you got a time line?
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  Speaker 1: You know, you expect to be in there at twenty.
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  Speaker 2: Six We're gonna be. We're gonna expect to be. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they still gotta do some surveying and all that stuff,
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  Speaker 2: and uh, you know, we're gonna probably break down only
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  Speaker 2: to the end of October beginning of November, and then
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  Speaker 2: we should be in that thing because we already have
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  Speaker 2: a practice field that's fully turfed and everything else that
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  Speaker 2: are around that, and so without there just entrance, parking spaces,
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  Speaker 2: the bleachers and all that stuff should be in it
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  Speaker 2: at the beginning of twenty sixth season.
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  Speaker 1: Very nice visiting with Blake Panicky's thet football coach of
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  Speaker 1: the Goldport Admirals. Of course they are in four seven A.
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  Speaker 1: So talk a little bit about your team this year.
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  Speaker 1: You know, expectations I think are pretty darn high. I
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  Speaker 1: know you've got a pretty dark, good quarterback down there,
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  Speaker 1: you feel good about. We know how you like to
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  Speaker 1: play ball. It's gonna be like a lot of coaches
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  Speaker 1: now sideline of sideline, h you guys. You know I
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  Speaker 1: recently had a very very big offensive front. It's kind
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  Speaker 1: of a little bit about your team.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's you know, year three, year three
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  Speaker 2: going into golf Purt. You know, the big thing was
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  Speaker 2: a culture change right when I first got there. This
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  Speaker 2: is different and we had a lot of seniors my
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  Speaker 2: first year. Then last year we're kind of young and
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  Speaker 2: so just kind of really basic getting in that going
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  Speaker 2: and I thought we made strides in the culture aspect
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  Speaker 2: of it, just having some guys really step up and
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  Speaker 2: make plays. Just but when you get to the next
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  Speaker 2: level of it, to get on get over the hump.
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  Speaker 2: We were close there. We dropped a heart breaker to
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  Speaker 2: Pedal in the in the first round of the playoffs,
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  Speaker 2: and I think this year a lot of those guys
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  Speaker 2: coming back on the defensive side of the football. I
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  Speaker 2: think we have a lot of depth. There's not a
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  Speaker 2: ton of superstars. We got a couple of guys with
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  Speaker 2: some you know, major Division one offers type things. But
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  Speaker 2: I'm really happy and excited about the depth that we have.
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  Speaker 2: I feel really confident, Like defensively right now, we're able
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  Speaker 2: to rotate about twenty two to twenty five guys in there,
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  Speaker 2: and I feel great about our quarterback. You know, Parker
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  Speaker 2: Nettles is a guy that not many people are gonna
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  Speaker 2: know about. He came from Louisiana, transferred into Mississippi. Dad
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  Speaker 2: has worked it works for the district, and you know
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  Speaker 2: he's gonna really he did a great job at the
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  Speaker 2: six o one Elite thing. It's kind of caught some
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  Speaker 2: people's attention and stuff. He's committed East Mississippi he's he's
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  Speaker 2: gonna really, I think, do some great things for us.
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  Speaker 1: You reference that depth, and you know, we love all
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  Speaker 1: OFSSIPI high school fotball, and you've coached every level. I've
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  Speaker 1: been able to cover every level for almost twenty years.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things I know about seven A football
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  Speaker 1: and six A is the start in twenty two is
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  Speaker 1: kind of like the SEC. Everybody's got a player, two
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  Speaker 1: players three. It is that depth you reference. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: especially when you get deep into a season, you have
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  Speaker 1: a back got down, you have a defensive back go down.
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  Speaker 1: Just to have that extra guy or two on that
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  Speaker 1: on that roster.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt. I mean, especially when you're gonna play
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  Speaker 2: for fourteen weeks in a row. You're gonna have bumps
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  Speaker 2: and bruises, You're gonna have nicks. Guys, they are not
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  Speaker 2: gonna be at full speed. And then you know special teams.
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  Speaker 2: I think a lot of times is where that shows
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  Speaker 2: up the most. If you don't have a kicker that's
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  Speaker 2: gonna put it in the end zone and that type
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  Speaker 2: of thing, and just if you're can able to rotate
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  Speaker 2: our depth. You know, speaking of we're talking about seven A.
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  Speaker 2: We played Brandon and they didn't have any superstars on
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  Speaker 2: the defensive front, but they're able to rotate ten guys
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  Speaker 2: in there just to constantly stay fresh, and we're trying
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  Speaker 2: to tempo them and it's not bothering them even a lot.
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  Speaker 2: And so I think, if you know, being able to
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  Speaker 2: find that quality, depth pieces and things like that of
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  Speaker 2: guys that you feel like and can get you out
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  Speaker 2: of a ball game is worth this weight gold in
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  Speaker 2: seven A football talk a.
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  Speaker 1: Little bit about. You know, you go back to the
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  Speaker 1: to the stadium, new stadium. We see what's going on
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  Speaker 1: in college football, which is basically a mini and I
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  Speaker 1: call it many NFL, right, I mean, you look at
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  Speaker 1: what the Southeastern Conference is doing, the money that's going
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  Speaker 1: in and starveling Oxford and around Tuscaloos and everywhere else.
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  Speaker 1: High school football is kind of an arms race now too.
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  Speaker 1: I mean when you look at and it's all you know,
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  Speaker 1: it's weird. Everything kind of trickles last to Mississippi, but
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  Speaker 1: you've got to Texas and they've got those massive stadiums.
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  Speaker 1: But now everybody's wanting a stadium, everybody's wanting a turf field.
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  Speaker 1: But it is a true high school football arms race now.
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  Speaker 2: It really is, you know, And and I think along
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  Speaker 2: I always kind of go back to where when when
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  Speaker 2: the state of Mississippi got into the six classifications, it
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  Speaker 2: was kind of like a almost an epiphany. Everybody started realizing,
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  Speaker 2: you know, man, football athletics in general is kind of
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  Speaker 2: a big front door for your high school. And I
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  Speaker 2: think you really started to see those six A six
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  Speaker 2: A schools really start to separate when making it a
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  Speaker 2: business of production. You know, you got guys with fireworks,
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  Speaker 2: you know, nowt at the stadium and everything. Now people
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  Speaker 2: got the led lights and then the light shows and whatnot.
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  Speaker 2: We're talking about this deal where because we're not going
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  Speaker 2: to be able to shoot all fireworks at our new stadium,
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  Speaker 2: we may end up starting a drom show.
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  Speaker 1: You know.
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  Speaker 2: It's all of a sudden becoming those types of things
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  Speaker 2: to where it's a big production. And I think the more,
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  Speaker 2: you know, people are starting to use students as you know,
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  Speaker 2: social media type stuff and production aspects of their of
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  Speaker 2: their live streams and different things just to make the
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  Speaker 2: thing more as live streams get better, more entertaining to
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  Speaker 2: come to the game and stuff, and so it's it's
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  Speaker 2: a really cool thing. It's great for high school football
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  Speaker 2: and uh high school athletics in general. The more people
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  Speaker 2: you can get involved with those types of types of productions.
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  Speaker 1: One more question will get you on your way. I
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  Speaker 1: know you're trying to get out of here. Seven eight football.
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  Speaker 1: I say it every year it gets better. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: all classifications are great, but seven eight football, when you
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  Speaker 1: go to two polo at the top of the stage,
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  Speaker 1: you guys at the bottom, everybody in between the league
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  Speaker 1: stack this year.
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  Speaker 2: Ain't no doubt. It's it's tough. I mean it's it's
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  Speaker 2: it's such great coaches. You know, that's the biggest thing.
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  Speaker 2: And then obviously I think what's what's really made it
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  Speaker 2: the take. The next step is off season development. I
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  Speaker 2: think a lot of people are investing in obviously in
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  Speaker 2: their weight rooms, but you know now they're talking about
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  Speaker 2: the data stuff and we're we're a big catapult component
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  Speaker 2: in our in our the company catapult from our ENNGL
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  Speaker 2: port and the amount of things that it helps us
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  Speaker 2: decide to do in our training aspect of how we're
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  Speaker 2: able to monitor our kids. Really investing in nutrition as
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  Speaker 2: far as your protein intake and calories and such like that.
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  Speaker 2: I think you're starting to see guys really take the
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  Speaker 2: next step. And then I mean just in instances like
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  Speaker 2: this right now where the coaches are developing their own
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  Speaker 2: schemes and doing a better job, I mean it's you
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  Speaker 2: bet you better be good in all phases of schematics.
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  Speaker 2: You better have players, and then you also better be
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  Speaker 2: sharp schematically to be able to take go through the
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: go through the role. Coach.
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  Speaker 1: Appreciate you as always, look best to luck this year.
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  Speaker 1: We'll get down and see you before the season starts.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you for time today. Absolutely, man, I
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  Speaker 1: appreciate you guys. It's been awesome being here. Absolutely, Blake Pennock,
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  Speaker 1: head football coach, gopor in high school. We've got to
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: take a time out back with a wanna bit