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2023: The Early Start · Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards

0:02
Speaker 1: Hey guys, I'm Phil Jones, and welcome to this week's
0:04
Speaker 1: Houston County Bears Coaches Show with head football coach Jeremy Edwards.
0:09
Speaker 1: On this week's show, a programming note about a couple
0:13
Speaker 1: of minutes into the podcast, we encountered an audio issue.
0:19
Speaker 2: But no worries.
0:21
Speaker 1: It was only limited to the first couple of minutes
0:24
Speaker 1: of the podcast, and I'll fill you in real quick
0:27
Speaker 1: on where we had the problems and really what we
0:30
Speaker 1: talked about, and then you'll hear Coach Edwards and myself
0:33
Speaker 1: pick it right back up. So I start things off
0:36
Speaker 1: by asking coach about the Bear season so far. Bears
0:40
Speaker 1: have a bye week this week before they get ready
0:43
Speaker 1: for Thomas County Central next week, and the fact that
0:47
Speaker 1: it's going to be on a Saturday instead of a Friday,
0:51
Speaker 1: and the fact that it is going to be at
0:54
Speaker 1: two o'clock on a Saturday afternoon instead of Friday. So
0:58
Speaker 1: we were talking about, you know, this crazy start time
1:02
Speaker 1: and what coach thought about that, and that's pretty much
1:05
Speaker 1: what we were talking about until you'll hear the podcast
1:09
Speaker 1: pick right back up here as we continue our conversation
1:12
Speaker 1: about the game against Thomas County Central and the fact
1:15
Speaker 1: that it's got this crazy start time of two o'clock.
1:18
Speaker 1: So that's really all you missed. We appreciate you guys listening.
1:21
Speaker 1: Now here's more with Coach Edwards. All right, so we're
1:24
Speaker 1: talking to Jeremy Edward's head coach of the Houston County Bears.
1:27
Speaker 1: So coach, you know talking about this crazy time when
1:31
Speaker 1: we lost you there right at the very end, So
1:33
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about it again. So talking
1:36
Speaker 1: about a two o'clock start, that means obviously wake I
1:39
Speaker 1: guess waking up earlier. And even if it was a
1:42
Speaker 1: school day, you'd still be waking up, but you wouldn't
1:44
Speaker 1: be playing until later that night. So again I think
1:46
Speaker 1: you were saying when we lost you talking about the
1:49
Speaker 1: adjustments that need to be made with your team schedule.
1:51
Speaker 2: Take us back through that if you don't mind.
1:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, I apologize I got cut off, but yeah, we
1:58
Speaker 3: obviously we're going to have to adjust our schedule.
2:00
Speaker 4: We've got some.
2:01
Speaker 3: Time here before the game with being off fall break,
2:05
Speaker 3: so we've got an opportunity to get a head start
2:07
Speaker 3: traded film and.
2:09
Speaker 4: All that good stuff.
2:10
Speaker 3: So you fight the urge to maybe do too much
2:14
Speaker 3: when you have that much time, So you got to
2:16
Speaker 3: make sure you hone in on what you really love
2:18
Speaker 3: and and.
2:19
Speaker 4: Practice just that.
2:20
Speaker 3: But as far as the day of the game, yeah,
2:23
Speaker 3: weon't need to bring them in. You know, we do
2:26
Speaker 3: a game day morning breakfast and devotion, so we'll stay
2:29
Speaker 3: with that as scheduled, and then we'll have kind of
2:32
Speaker 3: a light lunch before we you know, get into our
2:36
Speaker 3: is our game day routine and get over to the
2:38
Speaker 3: stadium and all that stuff. But everything's kind of pushed
2:41
Speaker 3: back a day when it comes to the normal week
2:45
Speaker 3: routine that we go through. We've got some things planned,
2:50
Speaker 3: you know, special for the kids this week, just kind
2:52
Speaker 3: of make it. You know, it's it's kind of a
2:55
Speaker 3: mid season type game. I guess you will if you will,
2:59
Speaker 3: even though we're in I guess game seven now, all right,
3:04
Speaker 3: excuse me.
3:05
Speaker 4: And you know, so we got.
3:07
Speaker 3: To kind of recharge, and so this week's giving us
3:09
Speaker 3: a chance to kind of do that and get our
3:11
Speaker 3: kids locked in on a very good opponent.
3:15
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and so let's roll into and talk about the opponent.
3:20
Speaker 1: So Thomas County Central, no doubt that they've been playing well.
3:26
Speaker 1: Now you know, I'm not so sure. Yeah, I think
3:30
Speaker 1: you guys are going to be the toughest team that
3:31
Speaker 1: they have seen yet. Now that's not to take anything
3:34
Speaker 1: away from what they've been able to accomplish, and that's
3:36
Speaker 1: not what I'm saying, but you know, this is probably
3:38
Speaker 1: gonna be you guys are probably be the toughest opponent
3:40
Speaker 1: that they've seen yet. But still talk about coach Rogers
3:44
Speaker 1: team that come in undefeated on the year, and so
3:48
Speaker 1: you've got to definitely respect what he's been able to
3:49
Speaker 1: do there so far at TCC.
3:52
Speaker 3: Absolutely, he's come in and kind of got that program
3:54
Speaker 3: back rolling, you know, this being his second year as well.
4:00
Speaker 4: Lifted it pretty quick and won the region last year.
4:02
Speaker 3: And you know, they're well coached. Uh they've got a
4:05
Speaker 3: really good coaching staff, and you know they've they've played
4:09
Speaker 3: some obviously their rivals there on uh down there on
4:13
Speaker 3: eighty four down in South Georgia. So I mean they've
4:15
Speaker 3: obviously played Bainbridge, Thomasville and k Row, which they're gonna
4:20
Speaker 3: play every year. They're all lower class you know, classification teams,
4:26
Speaker 3: but always a good right, you know, similar to us,
4:29
Speaker 3: good rivalries to have. So they've they've gotten through that
4:32
Speaker 3: gauntlet and uh, they've they've played you know, Veterans and
4:36
Speaker 3: UH and Tift to start off the region play and
4:41
Speaker 3: you know leading up to us, so we uh, you know,
4:44
Speaker 3: they've they've they've handled their business.
4:46
Speaker 4: They're taking nothing away from them.
4:48
Speaker 3: They think they're the top ranked defense, top rank offense
4:51
Speaker 3: now in six A and they've done a.
4:53
Speaker 4: Really good job.
4:54
Speaker 3: And we know we got to get our guys ready
4:56
Speaker 3: to go and start fast. But I tell you what,
4:59
Speaker 3: we're we're looking forward to it.
5:01
Speaker 1: So coach what in particular, uh, you know, what do
5:05
Speaker 1: you see? And I know you've watched film on them,
5:08
Speaker 1: So what do you think are the main challenges in
5:10
Speaker 1: stopping Thomas County Central?
5:12
Speaker 3: Well, offensively, you know they coach Rodgers does a really
5:17
Speaker 3: good job.
5:18
Speaker 4: He has everywhere he's been, and very creative and things
5:22
Speaker 4: that he does.
5:22
Speaker 3: And you know right now this year they're looking, uh
5:26
Speaker 3: you know, like their heavy run team.
5:28
Speaker 4: Now they can throw the ball. They they've got a.
5:30
Speaker 3: Young quarterback that he's done a good job developing, and
5:34
Speaker 3: they've got a big, giant tight end that's a matchup
5:36
Speaker 3: issue who's very good and and and the running back
5:41
Speaker 3: that returned from last year's team is a very good runner.
5:44
Speaker 3: So they do a great job of in the run
5:47
Speaker 3: game and and staying balanced to in the past game
5:50
Speaker 3: with the uh, you know, run pass option stuff that
5:53
Speaker 3: he does.
5:54
Speaker 4: And you know.
5:56
Speaker 3: So they've they've done a really good job there defensively, Uh,
5:59
Speaker 3: their de it's coordinator does a tremendous job of mixing
6:02
Speaker 3: things up and presenting a bunch of different looks to
6:06
Speaker 3: try to cause confusion. And you know, they they've got
6:10
Speaker 3: a good scheme and they've got good players. They've got
6:13
Speaker 3: a couple Division one guys that are playing on their
6:16
Speaker 3: defense and you know, so we've got we've got a
6:21
Speaker 3: big task ahead of us, but you know we we've
6:24
Speaker 3: gone to work to get our kids ready for during
6:27
Speaker 3: this bye week and we're going to continue preparation throughout
6:31
Speaker 3: this week and then into.
6:32
Speaker 4: Next week, you know, getting ready for these guys.
6:36
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
6:36
Speaker 1: We are talking with Jeremy Edwards, head coach of the
6:39
Speaker 1: Houston County Bears, as he will get his Bears ready
6:43
Speaker 1: for their next region matchup. The Bears so far have
6:49
Speaker 1: played two region matchups with of course Lee County and
6:53
Speaker 1: North Side and one of Robbins and now they get
6:55
Speaker 1: ready for Thomas County Central. As we are here in
6:57
Speaker 1: the throes of reagion play Region one and six A.
7:02
Speaker 1: So talk about your team so far, you know, again
7:05
Speaker 1: one in one in the region. I mean the league
7:08
Speaker 1: count of game could have gone either way. It was
7:09
Speaker 1: Tedford Tad. It was almost one of them things where last,
7:11
Speaker 1: you know, last team with the ball kind of gets it.
7:13
Speaker 1: I know you guys had it, you know, deep in
7:15
Speaker 1: your territorry. But but you know, still it was a
7:17
Speaker 1: great game anybody's game. You guys came out last game,
7:20
Speaker 1: played really well against your crosstown opponent, north Side. What
7:24
Speaker 1: do you think, what do you feel your team is
7:26
Speaker 1: right now? Coach, you know, as you get ready for
7:28
Speaker 1: this third region matchup.
7:32
Speaker 3: Well, we learned some things about our team last week.
7:35
Speaker 3: You know, we went over to the MAC and played
7:37
Speaker 3: north Side, who you know, they've they've they've dealt with
7:42
Speaker 3: some guys that that you know, some disciplinary things with
7:46
Speaker 3: some of their guys, and so they had they were
7:48
Speaker 3: missing some pieces. But I'll tell you what, those kids
7:51
Speaker 3: played hard over there at north Side, and you know,
7:55
Speaker 3: I don't want to say it was a sort of
7:58
Speaker 3: a hangover, but we didn't come out in the first
8:02
Speaker 3: half real sharp, you know, you know, they were doing
8:06
Speaker 3: some different things offensively and defensively, so you know, leading
8:11
Speaker 3: in going into halftime, it was fourteen fourteen, and you know, fortunately,
8:16
Speaker 3: you know, you get the half, you make adjustments, and
8:19
Speaker 3: you know that's why, that's why you know, you're a
8:21
Speaker 3: coach and you need to be able to make adjustments,
8:24
Speaker 3: and we did on both sides of the ball and
8:27
Speaker 3: kind of locked in on what we needed to do
8:29
Speaker 3: and score twenty one points in the in the third
8:33
Speaker 3: to kind of put it a little out of reach,
8:37
Speaker 3: you know, so.
8:37
Speaker 4: It but we learned.
8:38
Speaker 3: You know, we've got to learn we've got to play fast,
8:40
Speaker 3: We've got to start fast, and you know, like I said,
8:44
Speaker 3: we did have.
8:44
Speaker 4: To adjust on both sides.
8:46
Speaker 3: And I think that was a great job by our
8:49
Speaker 3: coaching staff.
8:50
Speaker 4: Doing that at halftime and getting our kids to you.
8:53
Speaker 3: Know, remain calm and just you know, treat the second
8:56
Speaker 3: half like a brand new game.
8:57
Speaker 4: And so I was proud of that. But I started,
9:00
Speaker 4: we think that we need to start faster going into
9:02
Speaker 4: this next week. For sure.
9:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, because you kind of get that feeling that
9:07
Speaker 1: this may be, you know, kind of a track meet
9:10
Speaker 1: of a football game just with all the athletes on
9:13
Speaker 1: the field, would you agree with that.
9:15
Speaker 4: Well, I hope not, but you know, I know the
9:17
Speaker 4: fans like to watch that.
9:18
Speaker 3: So we'll, you know, whatever whatever it takes to you know,
9:24
Speaker 3: be plus one on them.
9:26
Speaker 4: That's all I really care at this point. So you know,
9:29
Speaker 4: we we just need to.
9:31
Speaker 3: Make sure we're focused this week on our assignments and
9:35
Speaker 3: fundamentals and making sure that we every time that they move,
9:40
Speaker 3: we know where they're moving and and you know, I
9:43
Speaker 3: think things will take care of itself. Like I said,
9:45
Speaker 3: it's it's a bonus that we're at home. Last year
9:48
Speaker 3: we had to make that trip all the way down there.
9:49
Speaker 3: It wasn't a whole lot of fun. So it's gonna be,
9:53
Speaker 3: uh gonna be a you know, a good atmosphere for
9:57
Speaker 3: high school football, a different atmosphere being during the day,
10:00
Speaker 3: like we discussed. But we're excited about it and looking
10:05
Speaker 3: forward to the challenge.
10:06
Speaker 1: Talk about the the this off week that you get.
10:10
Speaker 1: You know, you guys have got two region games under
10:12
Speaker 1: your belt. Now you're getting this off week and then
10:14
Speaker 1: you get before you get ready for Thomas County Central.
10:16
Speaker 1: I mean, I know you have to take them when
10:19
Speaker 1: they come, but you know, as far as taking advantage
10:22
Speaker 1: of what you have been dealt. This to me appears
10:25
Speaker 1: to be a pretty good time to have a week off,
10:28
Speaker 1: especially to have extra time to prepare for a team
10:31
Speaker 1: like Thomas County Central.
10:32
Speaker 2: Plus you got two region games under your belt.
10:34
Speaker 1: I guess it's kind of is the break before you know,
10:37
Speaker 1: you head into the region to the rest of the
10:39
Speaker 1: region schedule and beyond which you guys of course are
10:42
Speaker 1: planning to play you know, well beyond, but talk about that.
10:45
Speaker 1: As far as the timing of this goes, Yeah, I
10:47
Speaker 1: love it.
10:48
Speaker 3: Actually, you know, we've we've come off three straight games
10:53
Speaker 3: of you know, really tough opponents and you know, two
10:56
Speaker 3: in county rivals in Lee County. So we started with
10:59
Speaker 3: one of Robbins, you know, we had a buye and
11:02
Speaker 3: before we went to Warner Robbins played them Lee County
11:04
Speaker 3: at the north side.
11:05
Speaker 4: Those were all you.
11:07
Speaker 3: Know, tough games, uh, physical games, and so we needed
11:11
Speaker 3: to kind of rest up. And so this this week
11:15
Speaker 3: is also our fall break from a school system standpoint.
11:18
Speaker 3: The entire region is off this week, so you know,
11:22
Speaker 3: everybody gets a chance to kind of recharge and get
11:25
Speaker 3: ready to go and kind of heal up, if you will.
11:29
Speaker 4: So it's it's good. You know, obviously, you know the
11:33
Speaker 4: fairs in town here and Perry, which is big.
11:36
Speaker 3: So we give our kids a couple of days off
11:38
Speaker 3: and coaches some days off, so we didn't bring them
11:41
Speaker 3: in Sunday.
11:42
Speaker 4: We took Monday off.
11:43
Speaker 3: We'll practice, we practice today, so Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and
11:47
Speaker 3: then well we'll give them a couple more days off
11:50
Speaker 3: before we bring them back in Sunday to kind.
11:52
Speaker 4: Of get into the the you.
11:54
Speaker 3: Know, normal weekly game plan routine. But obviously that's pushed
11:59
Speaker 3: back a day is well because of the Saturday kickoffs.
12:03
Speaker 3: So you know, I think it's I think it's good.
12:06
Speaker 3: I think it comes at a perfect time. I like
12:09
Speaker 3: how our region and how our you know.
12:12
Speaker 4: Schools set up the schedule.
12:14
Speaker 3: This was all done before I took the job, so
12:16
Speaker 3: that was kind of nice and I kind of like
12:18
Speaker 3: how it's worked out.
12:19
Speaker 4: Yeah.
12:20
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Like I said, you have played the hound, you deft,
12:22
Speaker 1: and necessarily you've played it well six and one the
12:25
Speaker 1: Houston County Bears one in one in region play. So
12:30
Speaker 1: as we won this up, so I'm going to ask you,
12:34
Speaker 1: and I asked coaches this from time to time once
12:37
Speaker 1: they've gone through a pretty steady stretch of their season.
12:41
Speaker 1: So if I had to ask you, teacher, give me
12:45
Speaker 1: a report card grade on your on your pupil, which
12:47
Speaker 1: is your team, what would you what would the report
12:51
Speaker 1: card grade be overall for your entire team?
12:56
Speaker 4: Oh, jeez, Phil, that's a loaded question.
12:58
Speaker 1: Uh shoot plus B plus.
13:03
Speaker 4: We're not we're We're we're a work in progress. You know,
13:06
Speaker 4: we've got some things we've got to uh, we've got
13:09
Speaker 4: to fix.
13:10
Speaker 3: And that's why you play the game, and you figure
13:13
Speaker 3: out what you're good at and you adjust, and you
13:15
Speaker 3: know it all depends on the opponents.
13:17
Speaker 4: But uh, I guess I would give us about a
13:20
Speaker 4: be right now. You know, we want to stay humble
13:22
Speaker 4: and hungry.
13:23
Speaker 2: Uh.
13:24
Speaker 4: We know we got a good team.
13:25
Speaker 3: We know we've uh played some good teams and you
13:29
Speaker 3: know we've we've we've got some things that we've got
13:32
Speaker 3: to correct and uh, you know, if we can get
13:34
Speaker 3: them corrected, I think that we'll be playing at a.
13:37
Speaker 4: At a higher level.
13:38
Speaker 3: But yeah, I would say that we're We've made a
13:42
Speaker 3: lot of improvements in in the program, and we've made
13:45
Speaker 3: a lot of improvements from last year to this year,
13:47
Speaker 3: and so I like where we're at. I like the
13:50
Speaker 3: attitude of our team. I love I love my coaching staff.
13:54
Speaker 4: I think they do a tremendous job, and I think it.
13:57
Speaker 3: I think that this thing is just kind of getting
13:59
Speaker 3: started over here on Highway ninety six, and I'd like
14:03
Speaker 3: to like to keep some momentum going for sure, starting
14:07
Speaker 3: starting next week.
14:07
Speaker 1: When we played TCC, I was gonna say, there's not
14:10
Speaker 1: a better way to jack up that momentum than with
14:13
Speaker 1: a win over Thomas County Central.
14:16
Speaker 3: Uh.
14:16
Speaker 1: You know that'll get the attention of some folks and certainly,
14:19
Speaker 1: uh not that you guys need any additional credit, but
14:23
Speaker 1: you guys have had a great year, but man, this
14:25
Speaker 1: will certainly uh make things a lot easier for you
14:28
Speaker 1: as you finish up region play.
14:30
Speaker 2: Still two more region games.
14:32
Speaker 1: Uh, and safe to say, coach, and one again And
14:35
Speaker 1: I said this earlier, but we'll wind this up. So
14:38
Speaker 1: you know, you played league, You've played now Thomas County Central,
14:42
Speaker 1: And I'm not taking anything away from Tiff County to
14:44
Speaker 1: our veterans, but I mean there's no doubt that right now,
14:48
Speaker 1: you know, the cream of the crop in the region
14:50
Speaker 1: is you guys, Thomas Kenny Central in Lee County. So
14:53
Speaker 1: I guess what I'm trying to say is, you know, uh,
14:55
Speaker 1: you can get these these really tough matchups out of
14:59
Speaker 1: the way and uh and and know that you've got
15:03
Speaker 1: to win those and of course you got to take
15:04
Speaker 1: care of business all the way through the region.
15:06
Speaker 2: But you kind of know what's ahead of you. I
15:08
Speaker 2: guess is what I'm saying.
15:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, we it's it's kind of spread out
15:13
Speaker 3: for us.
15:14
Speaker 4: You know, again, how the schedule, like Thomas County Central.
15:17
Speaker 3: Got to play us and then they got to play
15:19
Speaker 3: Lead the back to back weeks. That's tough, you know,
15:25
Speaker 3: And so you know how it is. You got to
15:27
Speaker 3: get your kids up for big games. And can you
15:29
Speaker 3: get them up for a big game week after week?
15:33
Speaker 3: You know, like I said, we we played that that
15:36
Speaker 3: massive game with Lee County and it was on TV
15:38
Speaker 3: and all that good stuff, and you know.
15:40
Speaker 4: It was a heck of a game and a physical game.
15:42
Speaker 4: And we we.
15:44
Speaker 3: The next week against last week against North Side, you know,
15:47
Speaker 3: we came out a little flat.
15:48
Speaker 4: So that's natural.
15:51
Speaker 3: You try to fight against it, but you know, you
15:55
Speaker 3: just got to try and motivate your team and keep
15:58
Speaker 3: them locked in. And you know, but you're dealing with
16:01
Speaker 3: You know, high school kids, fifteen to eighteen year old kids,
16:05
Speaker 3: and you know they got a lot going on.
16:07
Speaker 4: Besides just football, So you just got to.
16:09
Speaker 3: Make sure you advantage that correctly and you try to
16:13
Speaker 3: motivate and most of all, you try to love on
16:16
Speaker 3: them and so that they know that no matter what
16:19
Speaker 3: happens on Friday night, that we got their back and
16:22
Speaker 3: we love them and that we're we always got their
16:25
Speaker 3: best interest at hand.
16:27
Speaker 1: There you go, everybody, well said, and that's why he
16:31
Speaker 1: is one of the best around. Jeremy Edwards has done
16:34
Speaker 1: a great job there at Alliston County with his players
16:37
Speaker 1: on and off the field, and it shows and going
16:41
Speaker 1: to be a big one. Not Friday, but coming up
16:45
Speaker 1: on Saturday. That will be the twenty first and don't
16:48
Speaker 1: forget that's a two o'clock start.
16:50
Speaker 2: We want to emphasize that.
16:52
Speaker 1: So you guys mark that down and like coach said earlier,
16:56
Speaker 1: no Georgia game, so you have no excuses, get out
16:59
Speaker 1: there and support Bears. Yes, sir, coach, thank you so
17:04
Speaker 1: much for joining us.
17:05
Speaker 4: Thank you, Phil, I appreciate it.
17:07
Speaker 1: Okay, have a great day you too, Bye bye. Three
17:11
Speaker 1: is that's Jeremy Edwards head coach of the Hoko Bears,
17:15
Speaker 1: checking in with us on the Houston County Coaches Show.
17:18
Speaker 1: You guys, be sure to join us next week. We'll
17:20
Speaker 1: talk with coach Edwards again and get some final tune
17:23
Speaker 1: up and final questions about Thomas County Central. So kind
17:28
Speaker 1: of a two for one bonus show you get next
17:31
Speaker 1: week as well, right here on the Houston County Coaches
17:34
Speaker 1: Show with ed coach Jeremy Edwards, and myself, Phil Jones.
17:39
Speaker 1: You're listening to itg next the leader when it comes
17:42
Speaker 1: to high school sports in high school football in Georgia.
17:46
Speaker 1: Talk to you guys next week