Latest / Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards / 2023: Missed Opportunities

Transcript

2023: Missed Opportunities · Houston County Football Coach's Show Jeremy Edwards

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All guys welcome into what unfortunately will be our last
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: conversation of the year with Houston County head football coach
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Jeremy Edwards. We have thoroughly enjoyed though, each and every
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: week of talking to the head coach of the Hoko Bears.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: He has done a splendid job with his football team,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: not just this year but since taking over. And uh again,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: nothing but praise and much respect for coach Jeremy Edwards.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: And so let's bring him in now and talk to
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: him about the playoffs, the season and everything else is
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: going on on this Thanksgiving week. Coach Jeremy Edwards, thank
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: you so much for doing this.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Brother, Yes, sir, absolutely, Phil wouldn't miss it.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: So coach, of course you heard the introduction there. Always
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: hate these these conversations because we've enjoyed a whole year
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: of talking with you every week and always talking about
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: next week's upon it. But unfortunately we're not able to
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: do that except talking about next year because you guys
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: unfortunately lost up at College Park to Woodward Academy. Coach,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: is tough loss. Talk about the game if you had
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: for us.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, anytime that you you're not the last.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: Team standing, you know, you're you're you.
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: Know, obviously it's not a great feeling, but you know,
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: there is only one team that can can stand.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: On that stage or hold that trophy, and.
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: You know that, and so I think that you got
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: to keep things in perspective. Obviously that's the goal is
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: to try and win the state championship.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: But I'm so proud of our team.
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: I'm proud of our program, our coaching staff, our community
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: and just the way that they support these kids and
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: the time that these kids have put in for our
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: program is uh is just phenomenal. And I'm I'm truly
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: gonna miss the thirty seven seniors that we had. We
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: built a great bond over the last couple of years
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: and they're great kids and I know they'll go on
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: to be you know, great husbands and fathers one day
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: and from being a part of our program, and that,
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: to me, that's a win. But you know, Friday night
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: didn't go our way. We had a lot of missed opportunities,
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: had a couple drops in the end zone, misfired on
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: a couple just you know, just didn't go our way.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: It didn't wasn't a good night to have things not
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: go our way.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: And against a very good football team and Woodward Academy
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: that's really balanced and solid on both sides of the ball,
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: but really really good defensively and what they do, and
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: they got after us a little bit and we just
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: didn't capitalize on our opportunity.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: So twenty seven to seven the final score there against
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: a Woodward Academy. They're in College Park right there in
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: the shadow of uh the Atlanta Airport. Certainly always a
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: busy time up there with the planes flying overhead. But uh,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: it was a busy time you guys had there on
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: the field, coach. I mean, you guys are known for
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: obviously putting up points. Your offense, so one of the
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: top offenses, you know. Once again and ever since you've
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: been there, Uh, kind of talk about what you think
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: they did, the things that they did that may have
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: confused you a little bit, or what was it that
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: costs the low points output exactly, And I'm sure there
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: may be more than one reason.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, nothing they do is really uh, you know, confusing.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: They just have really good players and so do we,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: you know, so.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: But they've got uh, they've got a couple of guys
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: in the secondary.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Jerome Bettis's son is very good.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: Uh, he cancels out a lot of things at the
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: safety position.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: If a run breaks, he's gonna get him on the ground.
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: And then the j Hurd kid that's going that just recently,
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: I think decommitted from Florida State. He's an excellent player too.
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: So you've got those two guys. Rodney Harrison's son plays
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: at the corner, one of the corners.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: He's very good.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: And then in the box, they've got a couple of
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: guys that just posed big matchup issues for us. And
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: you know, we've dealt with some injuries and things throughout
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: the year, and some of those bad matchups were caused
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: by having to play some guys that maybe weren't ready
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: to play yet. But we had no choice. And I
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: don't want it to sound like we're making any kind.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Of excuses for why we lost or anything like that,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: or why we didn't.
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: But we drove down the first drive, you know, got
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: all the way down inside the ten and threw a
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: ball hit off our kids face masks, flew up in
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: the air, didn't catch it open. And then the next
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: play overshot a guy that was opening the end zone.
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: And so that would have been huge for us to
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: be able to go up seven and nothing right off
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: the bat off the first drive, and really I felt
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: like we moved the ball so good that first drive that.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: It was gonna be h We were going to you know, be.
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: Able to handle some of those matchup issues that we
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: were concerned about.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: But you know, credit Woodward.
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: They did make some adjustments and did some things that
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: caused some confusion for some of our young guys, and
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: and they just got the better of us. And then
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: obviously we went forward on a fourth and one on
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: our own thirty seven.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: I felt really good about the play call.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: And I missed assignment, which obviously I got to do
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: a better job because that shouldn't happen, you know, shouldn't
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: have a missed assignment in that crucial part of the game,
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: something we had practiced all week, and for whatever reason,
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: we didn't do what we were supposed to do, and
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: kid made a play and they got a short field
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: and got a score kicked off to us. We got
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: a personal foul, which I kind of scratched my head
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: on that one, but backs us up and to about
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: the ten yard line and then we go, you know,
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: have to punt and give them the ball at about
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: midfield and they three plays later they score, you know,
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: and at that point they went up seventeen to nothing.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: So we got a quick.
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: Score on the next drive before half cut it to
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: seventeen to seven. In the second half, it was just
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: kind of back and forth. It was kind of a
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: defensive struggle or an offensive struggle, I guess, for both,
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: but not a whole lot of points. And you know,
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: we just had towards the end of the game, had
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: another couple opportunities that we misfired on and then dropped
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: the ball in the end zone.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: And so with all that.
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: Being said, you know, you got to make plays at
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: this time of the year, and we didn't make the plays,
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: and they did and they get the advance and our
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: season's over. So you know, but I am very proud,
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: like I said, of this team, of this program, and
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: these players specifically, and these seniors for all they've done.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: And you know, we're not a finished product. We've still
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: got a lot of work.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: To do, and obviously we're going to have to replace
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: a lot of guys.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: But I feel like we got a phenomenal coaching staff
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: and phenomenal support community that are going to back us
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: and we're just going to continue to keep chopping wood,
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: keep trying to get better and try to fix some
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: of the things that the deficiencies and move forward. And
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: you know, a lot of things to be thankful for,
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: like you said, so we're blessed and.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: We'll just keep on going. And and here's what it is.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Talking to Houston County head football coach Jeremy Edwards. That
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: was your second year, right, yes, sir, just wrapping up
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: his second season. And for those Houston County Bear football
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: fans that are listening, and I know there's several of
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: you are. You know, you got a coach here that
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: took over a program four and seven the year before
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: he got there, and now here he is in back
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: to back seasons over the last two years, nineteen and
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: six in the regular season ten wins, nine wins and
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: three region wins in each of the last two seasons.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: So and I believe that get puts him at six
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: and four. I believe region mark. So coach, you definitely,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: speaking of Mark, you definitely have left your mark on
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: this program. But there's still a lot of things to do.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: I know a lot of things you want to get done,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: and of course, but you have taken, say the steps
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: towards making this program a legitimate contender year in and
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: year out.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: I feel like we have, you know, again, we had
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: we inherited a team that you know, like you said,
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: we're coming off of a playoff loss first round and
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: went four and seven, and then you know, we just
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: uh got to work right away and trying to you know,
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: build a culture of winning and just belief and uh confidence,
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: and you know, I feel like that we've accomplished some things.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: There's nothing to be obviously ashamed of right now, but
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: you know, we want to try to take that next step.
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: You know, we've uh two years in a row, we've
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: we've beat every team in our county, which you know,
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: there's a lot of good football in this county in
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: Houston County and so county champs back to back years.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: This year actually won every game on all three levels,
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: which was a huge accomplishment. But we want to stretch
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: that out to Reagion championships, state championships, and so in
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: order to do that, we're gonna keep going to go
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: back to work. When we get back from the break,
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: we'll get back to work immediately try to get bigger faster, stronger,
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: just like everybody else, and build a new team.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: And and that's the challenge of being a coach.
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: Every year, you're gonna have a new team, new new
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: uh footprint, if you will, and we're just going to
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: uh uh you know, stay positive and continue to work
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: on the things that we're good at and fix the
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: things that we need to fix.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: And that's all you can do.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: But ultimately, like I said, it's it's about trying to
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: impact lives, and hopefully that's been something that we've been
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: able to do. I feel like that, you know, just
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: some of the hugs and the tears after the game
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: is you know, some of the things that are said,
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: uh from our players to myself and our coaches are
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: it's why you coach. And again you wish that those
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: were happy tiers, but only one team's able to to
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: do that, and it just wasn't us this year. And
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: so we'll we'll get back to work, we'll stay positive,
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: and we'll keep loving on these guys and we'll try
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: to get it done next year.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Before we let you go, coach talk about I guess
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: number wise, how many of these guys will be back
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: on how many will move on.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Well, we have thirty seven seniors. Now, I mean, we've.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: Got a lot of guys that played a lot.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: Of snaps for us over the last couple of years,
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: and so I don't have that exact number on me
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: right now.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: We'll return offensive defensively.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: But we we do feel really good about our young
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: young guys, our freshman and sophomore.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: Our freshman class this year was great, had a great season.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: Our sophomore class when they were freshmen went undefeated, and
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: so our JV team did.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: A great job this year.
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: And so we've felt good about the young guys that
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: we just got to get them ready. We got to
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: get them they're not they're young. And we played some
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: sophomores this year. Like I said, we had to replace
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: some guys that had some season ending injuries at some key.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Spots and had to play some sophomores.
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: And you know, I was talking to one of my
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: players yesterday about you know, if you think about it,
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: last year you were playing on the freshman team and
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: this year you were having a block of power five
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: defensive end, and he goes, well, I didn't really think
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: about it like that.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: So I don't know.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: I don't know if I made him Bill battle or
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: or good or worse with that, but he those are
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: some things you got to keep in perspective. And so
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: you know, those are valuable snaps at a young age
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: for some of these young guys that when they now
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: become juniors next year, they'll, uh, they'll be able to
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: learn from some of the mistakes they made and the
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: moment won't be too big for him.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Of course, Aj Hill, the quarterback guy that makes
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: it go now, he is scheduled to return next year, right.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Yep, yep.
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: Aj'll be a senior, so he'll he'll be back for
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: a senior year and uh, you know he'll be uh, he'll.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Have some new new guys to throw two.
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: Some young guys will have to step up, and we
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: return one of our running back for return three offensive linemen.
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: So you know, the cupboard isn't bear by any means.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: But we'll have to get to work to try to
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: to create this new team for the for the next season.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: And and that's the challenge and the fun part of
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: being a coach. And so we'll get back to work
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: on that and it'll it'll be another fun year for
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: Hoco Bear Football.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Coach Edwards thank you so much for joining us each
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: and every week. We do appreciate it. You know, our
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: day started with you talking ho Co Bears football and
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: I always look forward to that and I will look
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: for it to it next year again, as hopefully you'll
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: be willing to come back with us and bring Bear
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: fans up to speed every week. I know a lot
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: of the folks out there really enjoyed your conversation with
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: myself each and every week, coach, so we hope you'll
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: have us back.
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, Phil, I appreciate you, man, I appreciate your friendship
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: and all the time things.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: That you say, and I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Same to you, coach. Talk to you later. Body. All right, man,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: all right, bye bye, there is It's Jeremy Edwards, head
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: coach of the Hoko Bears. Season comes to an end.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: But guys, again, the process really under Coach Edwards is
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: just starting. And that's the way really, you guys need
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: to look at things, and I know you will as
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: the Bears have yet another successful season under coach Jeremy Edwards.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: They'll come back next year. Try to take it a
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: couple of steps further, as coach said, and we'll be
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: along on the show with him each and every week,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: right here at ITG Next. Hope you'll join us then.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: In the meantime, have a great Thanksgiving, have a great
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: off season, and we'll talk to you next year right
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: here at ITG Next