The Season Begins

Football Season. Two words that fill me with dread and excitement. 6 A.M. August 10, 2005 was our first practice. It is my 13th year of coaching football and I still cannot get used to the early morning practices. I am a bit of a rarity when it comes to football coaches because I'm a certified night owl.

Expectations:
Last year was a great one for us. During the last four weeks of the regular season we were ranked #1 in class in the state. Three of our former players are playing at division I colleges this year. Yet, for all we have lost we still have a lot coming back. We have the biggest most athletic line ever. We have four very talented running backs. We have three exceptional receivers. And, we have an untried QB - it could be our achilles heel...

Practice Begins:
Practice the first two days has been brutally hot. It is a lot different than when I played. Players just ask to go get a drink and we always say yes. Mandatory watering breaks every fifteen minutes in addition to these voluntary breaks. Once a player gets dehydrated it takes too long for them to come back - we emphasize staying hydrated every day.

Our program runs triples. A morning practice - devoted to offense. A middle practice - devoted to special teams. An evening practice - devoted to defense. Frankly, it is too much time on defense in early practices. It is tough to get much done on the defensive side of the ball until we can wear pads.

Our offensive line looked very good today. We are huge and athletic. There are less than 900 kids in our high school and this is our line RT-250, RG-265, C-225, LG-295, LT-195, TE-225. They are not just big they are very athletic - if we cannot run the ball this year we will never be able to!

We've started getting ready for our first opponent. Last year the first game of the year determined the conference championship. We were 9-0 and they were 8-1. Their coach likes to talk and he has made it no secret he thinks he can outcoach us every day of the week. He better hope so -

We think he is going to run a 4-3. They just got a new d-coordinator and that's the rumor. I just heard their all-star QB is out for the first game because of a drinking violation. I don't know if it's true, but I sure as hell hope not. Last year they were missing a couple of linemen because of drinking and we heard that damn excuse all year!

I think our defense is going to be a beast this year. We run a 4-3 and our front four are awesome. A d-end in our conference just received a scholarship to a Big Ten school. He's a great kid, but I guarantee you our strong end could whip his ass - and he's a junior. If we can keep his nose clean he may play on Sundays someday - he's that good. I have never seen an athlete like him at the high school level. As a sophomore he was the best player on the basketball team and in track threw the shot almost 56' and qualified for state in the discus. What a stud! He's only stronger and faster this year.

One of the things that gave us a big advantage last year was we platooned our linemen. We have a couple of guys this year who are so good I don't know if we can afford to take them off the field. We'll see how it develops.

I'll try to make my future posts less rambling. Be patient I'm new at this blogging stuff.