So, Coach, first off, thanks for hanging out with us as we start our tour this year.

Made it to the quarters last year, lost to Cedar Grove.

What were some of the lessons that you carried with you from the 22 season to get you ready for 23?

Well, I mean, I think once you play a team, I think like Cedar Grove and you kind of recognize exactly where they're at.

You know, it certainly makes you realize that, you know, we can get a little better on the line of scrimmage coming out.

I think it's played really hard.

But we just you know, I think a big emphasis for us this year is being just getting better, tougher, just more physical across the board on probably especially the offensive line front.

You know think we have our skill girls were very some of their skill guys their skill guys and I think the the whole difference in the game was was just their defensive front but was just able to really kind of handle the offensive line.

So that's been a big emphasis for us.

It's just creating your guys.

And listen, we're proud of our guys play best job and different and proud of those guys, but the device just shines a light in that area that you've got to get better there.

And it's good to work there because you know it's place like that.

We only get that game kind of get away from us.

And the end it.

We felt like it was a 14 point game to get away from us and we're like, you know, it was right really good that we got hammered because if not, we came back and felt way better about ourselves and maybe not examined ourselves quite as hard.

But that's one place to examine.

Well, with that being said, how is that area looking in practice and give us a spring-summer practice update in general?

Yeah, it's been great.

I mean, our kids have been very committed.

We have a big number again to shoot and around 80 kids just been here all summer long and so they've been very committed.

I've been a great vibe with the kids, you know, very unselfish, very driven to be a great team.

So that's that's been very good.

We've had some you know, we've had some big seven, several sounds to play, and we won one of those, which was I thought was really good for our kids and a big one.

So that was that was really good.

So it's been really well, great participation.

Kids have been here and they've been working and, you know, just really very focused.

I think, you know, I think after last year, after last year's defeat there to grow our guys like, okay, this is the level we're going to play and this is what we're going to get to.

And this is for us to get there.

So let's get that game starts.

A lot of good propelling us through the off season of college to the summer to get ready for the season ahead.

Calvary days in region three triple AA for those that don't know and a lot of folks who do know gravitate toward you guys and towards Savannah Christian in that region.

When you look at your region in your 2023 schedule in general, what do you see?

Well, I think our region is really good.

I mean, Savannah Christian is they are going to have a really good football team this year.

They were good last year as well, but they'll be good again and they will be tough.

Is always someone in the city that's going to be good.

Liberty can always, always be a tough team and it's going to be a tough team.

They always going to be really physical and tough.

So those teams will be tough and physical.

And then somewhere in the city we'll just we'll just have some guys that can play and so you got to be prepared for those guys and get real with those.

But we picked up Charlotte, Charlotte Christian, which is a team, Nashville, Charlotte but they have four or five very, really big time players.

So we had to pick those guys up to replace the game that we lost last year.

So that's going to be a great test for us from the front end, we get a lock on the front end again if any of us get those tough.

So it'll be we'll find out exactly what we're about, exactly where the holes are at, exactly.

But we got to get back to the short and long run.

A fun offseason topic is recruiting.

Are there any guys getting looks and offers on your team?

And then on the flip side of that, who's a player that does deserve an offer, Right?

Well, you know, if a quarterback is committed to Tennessee, big Titans committed to Saquon and we have three three of our sort of our excuse me, our juniors that have gotten, you know, big offers Clemson, Alabama, Georgia type offers.

So we've got three of those guys and then we've got two or three other guys I think are going to pick up some things along the way as well.

And Trevor Strawbridge is together.

He's picked up some stuff that he is.

He's a guy that, you know, someone needs to grab a hold so he can really play defensive back or play some of it as well.

A special teams guy can really run.

So he's a guy, I think that, you know, he's going to pick up some more tracks as we go or some of the guys that both those guys have picked up offers.

But I think they they're probably going to pick up something.

We've had a lot of guys come through here.

And so, you know, we should offer those guys, but we you know, we can they just don't have the the emotions that we're looking for, Jack.

But we should also.

So those guys are guys in one way or the other.

I think you're going to play a little bit bigger level than they've been offered so far.

What the time that you've spent there at Calvary Day, what is it been like to see athletics be the part of the framework there at the school that it that it is and to see it grow and evolve to where it is these days?

I spent really good.

I mean, we got here in 2008 and, you know, our school was changed tremendously.

Yeah, we're we're we're definitely probably the most diverse, you know, one of the bigger private schools in the area down here.

And so our school was changed tremendously.

I think every year I think you get better coaching along the way.

We picked up more and more guys that we're able to pick out that are just proven quality guys.

I mean, got we the Donald Chandler it's all staff with this nowadays you know I know what they see so we got guys like that and I think that's attracted a lot of the families to be you're not just him but just the success we've had and just the word of mouth about the players we've had that we're just attracting a very diverse group of players.

I first got here, there was there was four black kids on our football team.

Now we're probably we're not quite 5050, but we're really close to 5050 and we're still about about 400 kids in the high school.

So you just figured maybe 200 those kids or males and we have 80 kids for football.

So it's just been huge.

And I think that you know, the worry is that disappointed diversity is very accepted and and welcomed.

And then also, you know, just picking up better and better, more staff and better guys along the way.

It's just really helped us to become, you know, a place, I think, where people just feel like that's where they want to be.

And so that's just been great.

And you get all the great places here in the city to build a team.

And it's nice.

You've been Roland Christian's always good country days, always competitive, and so it's a great place right now.

Well, I remember when I first got here, no way.

There was like no one out of the city was getting recruited.

Well, you might have two or three kids inside, and now you're just having dozens of kids there.

Something else.

And and we have our theories on that, but it's not proven.

We have our theories on those things.

But football in general was just getting so much better in the city.

It's so much better amongst a lot of the private schools here as well.

You're entering your 15th season, so love to see the growth Coach.

Great job there.

Our last question for you is our bonus.

Quite the bonus question.

Do you have a funny coaching moment or a funny coaching memory, a gameday tradition or a gameday superstition that you'd like to share?

When we were trying, I was at Toombs County early in my career and we would see the 27 year old 27 years old, as a head coach.

And I was told it, you know, I thought I knew everything.

And I realized soon as I became a head coach, I know anything at all so much or just clueless really.

I just amazingly clueless.

So I was trying everything in the world to to get things going.

And we were really bad the first couple of years there.

Then we got really good for long period times.

But I was practicing this trip for our for pep rally and I think other guys probably done this along the way.

So I'm sure I stole it from some of from, but I took like a a foot long black tail worm and I stuck him on my mouth and holding my mouth in front of the entire student body and told the story.

And I won't go into all the story, but it's about doing whatever it takes.

Right?

And then the very intense reaching in out of my mouth on the ground, on the floor of the gym floor.

He just starts crawling around out there and boys go crazy and they raise their hands and I think we probably still got beat even with the work.