by Jason Strunk
Lubbock High School Head Football Coach
Follow @WestTXCoach
Great scrimmage!
What an awesome way to wrap up the first two weeks of spring ball. We went full tilt, saw some playmakers emerge and came away injury free. For me, that was the best possible outcome of the our first scrimmage.
Our QB’s, Dae Dae Morgan and Martin Pedroza did some good things. On the whole, they completed close to 80% of their passes. That is a good sign. Our running backs looked good hitting the holes. Alijah Garcia, Ty Doss, Keyshawn Collins and KiKi Townsend showed some good things.
Up front, our OL looked as solid as they have ever looked. I’m not afraid to say this is the best OL we have had here. That is a direct result of the work Neal Tull put in. I’m really pleased!
On the other side of the ball, the defense brought some physicality and got to the ball really well. LB’s Sean Fiveash and Colby Anderson really impressed the staff with their physical play. That was fun to watch.
On the DL, Ryan Tarango has a sold day. At one point he tracked down Collins from behind on an outside zone. That isn’t a tiny feat; we expect Collins to be one of the fastest players in the district.
I would say, overall, this is the furthest along the defense has been here at this point. DC Nate Jephcott has really done a nice job installing our new defense. It is a lot of fun to watch! I’m proud of the work he and his defensive guys have put in!
On the kicking side of things, Logan Huber and the kicker, known as just JACKSON, looked good during our live PAT period. This will be four straight years that our kickers will give us a solid advantage going into games.
Good work across the board by our guys! Fun day for the Westerners!
CULTURE CHANGE
It takes time, but when the culture change happens, it is fun to see.
Yesterday, after workouts were over and the kids were free to go, I watched about 25 players walk out into the field and workout on their own. They set up pat-and-go. They ran 7on7. I was in the weight room working out and I almost passed out watching from the windows. It blew me away!
The culture change is taking root. That may have been the happiest moment of time here thus far. What a sight!
ADVICE
As a coach, you need to preach chemistry amongst the team and the coaching staff. If you do not have this, you have nothing. Make it a point to build chemistry.
The work environment must be positive and upbeat. You cannot have guys coming in miserable. You will never get to where you want to go! It has to be a priority.
Without chemistry, you may as well just resign and go teach pottery classes at local community college.
Work on the chemistry!
RANDOMNESS
–Matt Kleinle, my good friend who is the head wrestling coach at Stroudsburg HS in Pennsylvania, is a mad Twitter trash talker. He burned me on Twitter yesterday. Rematch is coming in July.
–Corky Blake is my favorite sports writer of all time. Outstanding guy and a gem back in the Lehigh Valley.
-Neal Tull wears socks with his sandals.
–Nate Gensler, my LB coach, is bald. He is getting hair implants next week.
-Has Twitter grown-up or just lost its sense of humor?
-I think I am friends with someone harboring a scofflaw!! What do I do???
-Soup isn’t a meal.
–Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa provided a lot of excitement back in the day. Argue all you want, but they did. I’m glad I got to watch it.
-So people whine about players using PED’s and getting into the Hall of Fame. However, those same whiners applaud their teams for having known major drug offense players (cocaine etc.). inducted into in their Ring of Honor? What gives?
-A bunch of street toughs stole my armoire.
That’s it. FIO.
