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Post by s73 on Oct 28, 2022 10:22:45 GMT -6
Dang man at 6'1 275 you were a fkn monster even in your day (yes I know you are not THAT old just saying) I'm in a lot better shape now than I was then. Much stronger, better cardio. I wish I knew then what I know now. Heck, we never even squatted when I was in HS. My lower body was kinda gooey. I always wondered what would have happened had I been born 20-25 years before I was. Funny you should say that. I played in the 80's, was so so size for that time period as a DE. I was 6'1 about 205 - 10 ish. But man could I squat! 445 lbs...until....I started coaching & realized we were never taught anything. All my squats were quarter squats & I realized our whole teams squats from HS was all BS LOL. |
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Post by carookie on Oct 28, 2022 11:17:41 GMT -6
Came in my freshman year 5'9" 150, decent sized for a 14 year old, started guard and d-end.
Sophomore year everyone grew a bit but me, got moved off the line and started linebacker.
Jr year, everyone grew some more but me (5'9 165 by then) back up outside linebacker.
Senior year, everyone grew some but me (5'9 175). Coach tried to move me back to DB for a few weeks but was too slow. Moved back to LB and was in the rotation; awkwardly enough started one game at nose (due to an injury and me knowing every position still) even though I was listed as DB in the program.
Essentially I came in as a decent sized kid, but have been the same size since I was 14, I was wearing size 12/13 shoes as a 9th grader and still am now. The cool part was, I got to play all over and became a swiss army knife by the end of my time there.
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Post by poundit52 on Oct 28, 2022 11:39:25 GMT -6
2 year starter at Center. I played at a small school (roughly 500 kids), so being 5'8" 190 lbs was fine, especially since I was pretty quick for a lineman (man, I miss that part of my youth). Plus, we ran a Wing-Tish style of offense (lots of Jet Sweeps, Rocket Tosses, and misdirection). Our team made the playoffs both my junior and senior seasons. Got knocked out the first round my junior season and then in the second round for my senior year. We did manage to set the school scoring record my senior year.
We had a great group of guys and solid coaches. What a fun time man.
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Post by blb on Oct 28, 2022 11:46:44 GMT -6
Somewhat related to this topic -
How many great players at any level were also great HCs?
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bbrown2804
Sophomore Member
[F4:BBrown2804]
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Post by bbrown2804 on Oct 28, 2022 12:38:29 GMT -6
Absolutely awful.
To say I was born with zero athletic talent and two left feet is an understatement. Played for two years and just wasn't finding any enjoyment in it but knew that I loved the game. Decided to try out volunteering at my old middle school my senior year of high school and immediately knew I'd found my place.
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Post by The Lunch Pail on Oct 28, 2022 14:21:46 GMT -6
Pretty mediocre
I completely regressed from my sophomore to senior season and lost all of my confidence as a player. I was never going to be more than a JAG anyways, but my playing experience completely shaped who I am today.
Looking back, I was a victim of some pretty subpar coaching. I can say that as I worked with my coaches after graduating. A lot of “frathouse/alphamale” type of crap going on within the staff that I learned after working with them. Telling kids they’re soft, not building relationships with players, getting plastered postgame and during glazier clinics, etc. I was a kid who had a pretty rough life at home and probably needed a more encouraging role model than “tough guys with a whistle.” Scheme & technique took a backseat to toughness & effort. We literally would do nothing but 1v1’s and drive the sled for OL Indy.
My playing experience taught me the power of loving your players
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Post by tog on Oct 28, 2022 20:31:35 GMT -6
ummm, we need to hear the story.... When Pre-Season practice started I was third or fourth string C-LBer. One day before our evening practice (we had Three-A-Days then) I had badgered our HC enough to where he came out to watch me kick a little. I had some footballs, set the tee up, kicked the balls, then ran down to where they were and threw some of them back toward the tee. Rinse, repeat. Next morning after Calisthenics I headed down to Line coach for Individual when HC yelled at me, "Hey, Bendix -- don't you look at the board (we had one of those big wooden boards that coaches hung discs with our names on as depth chart)? You're a QB now!" Apparently he liked how I threw the balls back after kicking them the night before. That's how I went from snapping the ball-blocking for QB to taking snaps and being one. Classic |
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Post by coachd5085 on Oct 28, 2022 21:26:25 GMT -6
Without giving away identities...I have a gold jacket from Canton. bought it at at the JC penny.  I was a fairly good player for an absolutely terrible program- which means I was not a good football player. |
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Post by fantom on Oct 30, 2022 14:01:44 GMT -6
Without giving away identities...I have a gold jacket from Canton. bought it at at the JC penny. I was a fairly good player for an absolutely terrible program- which means I was not a good football player. Me too. I was a backup but would have been a multi-year starter if my small HS hadn't consolidated before my junior year, taking us from a below average small school team to a really good big school with a lot better players. I mentioned that i started this poll after looking through the "Not coaching this year" thread. That was the thread from a while back where a young coach said that he'd never played because he thought that he'd never see the field. That was not well received and later the thread was revived with posts asking why we were so harsh. I think the poll explains why. Less than a third of us could be considered outstanding players, earning All District or All State honors. Twenty percent of us were career backups. In other words most of us were average to below average players but we kept playing. We were gym rats who loved football more than it loved us back. Telling a bunch of guys like that that you didn't play because you weren't good enough but now you're a coach wasn't going to go down very well. He was treated harshly, maybe too harshly but you need to be able to read the room. |
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Post by nicku on Oct 30, 2022 15:06:15 GMT -6
7th grade: broke my arm the day before practice, missed the whole season.
8th grade: went out for QB, played on the B-team
9th grade: split reps at QB with another kid on the 9th grade B-team
10th grade: split reps at QB with the same kid on the JV B-team
11th grade: started at QB...on the JV...B-team. I proudly tell my kids now I was the first 30/30 guy...30 TDs, 30 INTs
12th grade: 3rd string QB on Varsity...probably 4th as the freshman QB at the time was a freak that played in the Big 12 and now is a Major League Baseball player. I was a coaches pet, signaled in plays and formation and wore a headset...certainly what pushed me toward coaching.
I am in my 6th year coaching, and we have yet to have a varsity QB at either place that I would have ever played over.
I think that's what's fun about coaching at the HS level. You have guys like me, then there's a guy on our staff that was an all MWC defensive end at TCU, a guy that was first team all Big 8 at safety, and a dude that was a 3 sport all-stater and played pro baseball...and we all carry the same weight.
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Post by coachd5085 on Oct 30, 2022 16:46:30 GMT -6
Without giving away identities...I have a gold jacket from Canton. bought it at at the JC penny. I was a fairly good player for an absolutely terrible program- which means I was not a good football player. Me too. I was a backup but would have been a multi-year starter if my small HS hadn't consolidated before my junior year, taking us from a below average small school team to a really good big school with a lot better players. I mentioned that i started this poll after looking through the "Not coaching this year" thread. That was the thread from a while back where a young coach said that he'd never played because he thought that he'd never see the field. That was not well received and later the thread was revived with posts asking why we were so harsh. I think the poll explains why. Less than a third of us could be considered outstanding players, earning All District or All State honors. Twenty percent of us were career backups. In other words most of us were average to below average players but we kept playing. We were gym rats who loved football more than it loved us back. Telling a bunch of guys like that that you didn't play because you weren't good enough but now you're a coach wasn't going to go down very well. He was treated harshly, maybe too harshly but you need to be able to read the room. I would be interested in seeing how many coaches here would have wanted to coach themselves. I would not have. Or more accurately, how many think they would have success coaching themselves. |
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Post by spos21ram on Nov 1, 2022 20:33:36 GMT -6
2 year starter in HS. 4 year starter at a D3 college.
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Post by mrjvi on Nov 2, 2022 11:05:48 GMT -6
I was OK in HS. Had a valuable skill though-long snapping. Walked on at Utah State and made the team with that skill. Stayed a couple years then Transferred to Cortland to pursue PE teaching. One huge advantage at USU was that being just the long snapper and maybe the 3rd center, I snapped to the QB's (both who played pro)who were doing their QB work and had a great opportunity to observe all of our coaches. Learned a lot that was very useful in my future coaching. Also one of our players played for Coach Shepard in HS who had just started the BFS program so got very familiar with his program-many principles that I use a lot still.
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Post by blb on Nov 2, 2022 11:33:36 GMT -6
If you look at lists of all-time winningest NFL and CFB coaches you will find very few who would be considered having been great players.
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Post by Defcord on Nov 2, 2022 11:39:23 GMT -6
If you look at lists of all-time winningest NFL and CFB coaches you will find very few who would be considered having been great players. That list is so small that I would be curious if there's a whole lot of any one particular type of player on that list. |
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Post by cqmiller on Nov 2, 2022 14:01:40 GMT -6
I think a common thing I notice in the coaching ranks is that guys who LOVE the sport, and needed to use the brain to overcome their physical limitations (played better than their physical talent would predict) tend to be the ones who seem to do better coaching.
Obviously there are exceptions to that, but I have argued for years that Michael Jordan would NOT make a good coach...
Player - "coach, what should I do if ___________________?"
Coach Jordan - "I'd just jump over him and dunk it"
Player - "I can't do that"
Coach Jordan - "..."
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Post by blb on Nov 2, 2022 14:14:10 GMT -6
I think a common thing I notice in the coaching ranks is that guys who LOVE the sport, and needed to use the brain to overcome their physical limitations (played better than their physical talent would predict) tend to be the ones who seem to do better coaching. Obviously there are exceptions to that, but I have argued for years that Michael Jordan would NOT make a good coach... Player - "coach, what should I do if ___________________?" Coach Jordan - "I'd just jump over him and dunk it" Player - "I can't do that" Coach Jordan - "..." Magic Johnson lasted 16 games (5-11) as coach of Lakers. Naturally talented players have a tough time teaching those less so how to do what they did, and lack patience when they can't. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2022 16:25:52 GMT -6
I’m 42 years old and out of shape… but I would be a much better player *now* than I ever was in HS.
I never won any awards then, either.
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Post by larrymoe on Nov 2, 2022 16:40:05 GMT -6
I think a common thing I notice in the coaching ranks is that guys who LOVE the sport, and needed to use the brain to overcome their physical limitations (played better than their physical talent would predict) tend to be the ones who seem to do better coaching. Obviously there are exceptions to that, but I have argued for years that Michael Jordan would NOT make a good coach... Player - "coach, what should I do if ___________________?" Coach Jordan - "I'd just jump over him and dunk it" Player - "I can't do that" Coach Jordan - "..." I think there's a lot of really great players that would make fantastic coaches, but with the money they make now, why do it? That's a lot of hassle for peanuts. |
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Post by dblwngr on Nov 2, 2022 16:43:19 GMT -6
On offense I was an undersized 175 lb olineman in a run and shoot system that hucked it around 90% of the time.....yeah....lots of fun, everyone knew they could just pin the ears back and tee-off on us all night.
Probably part of the reason I became a coach, I wasn't going to punish anyone physically, so I better use the technique's my coaches gave me!
On defense I was and all conference MLB, much easier for me, "go get the guy with the football."
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Post by larrymoe on Nov 2, 2022 16:59:02 GMT -6
On offense I was an undersized 175 lb olineman in a run and shoot system that hucked it around 90% of the time.....yeah....lots of fun, everyone knew they could just pin the ears back and tee-off on us all night. Probably part of the reason I became a coach, I wasn't going to punish anyone physically, so I better use the technique's my coaches gave me! On defense I was and all conference MLB, much easier for me, "go get the guy with the football." The old run and shoot. Only played 2 teams ever in college or HS that ran it. They were both horrendous. |
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Post by larrymoe on Nov 2, 2022 17:31:51 GMT -6
I think a common thing I notice in the coaching ranks is that guys who LOVE the sport, and needed to use the brain to overcome their physical limitations (played better than their physical talent would predict) tend to be the ones who seem to do better coaching. Obviously there are exceptions to that, but I have argued for years that Michael Jordan would NOT make a good coach... Player - "coach, what should I do if ___________________?" Coach Jordan - "I'd just jump over him and dunk it" Player - "I can't do that" Coach Jordan - "..." I think there's a lot of really great players that would make fantastic coaches, but with the money they make now, why do it? That's a lot of hassle for peanuts. Especially when you could go to work 2-3 days a week and make a couple million a year as an announcer. |
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Post by dblwngr on Nov 2, 2022 17:38:30 GMT -6
On offense I was an undersized 175 lb olineman in a run and shoot system that hucked it around 90% of the time.....yeah....lots of fun, everyone knew they could just pin the ears back and tee-off on us all night. Probably part of the reason I became a coach, I wasn't going to punish anyone physically, so I better use the technique's my coaches gave me! On defense I was and all conference MLB, much easier for me, "go get the guy with the football." The old run and shoot. Only played 2 teams ever in college or HS that ran it. They were both horrendous. We were actually pretty good but as an olinman, it would have been nice to hear the word Dive or something from that family in the huddle once and a while. |
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Post by coachklee on Nov 2, 2022 18:05:37 GMT -6
An overrated 4 Tech DL & underrated OT at 6’3” a very strong 195 pounds. Benched 255, Squatted 365 & Deadlifted 400. Never had a timed 40, but I am likely the biggest 2:05 800 meter runner ever. At a Class C team at a school of 300 students I was no more than the 8th best player (9 of us played both ways) as a junior & maybe 5th best player as a senior (8 of us played both ways). Earned 2nd Team All-Conference DL as a Jr & 2nd Team All-Conference OL as a Sr.
I made one play when I was completely UNBLOCKED at the 19:01 mark of the video as a DL & it sparked the turning point of the 1st playoff win in school history. I think everyone including my coaches thought I was a better playing DL than O actually was. Really cool knowing I made a big play that played a small part in an amazingly historic season for a small HS in rural Michigan!
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Post by coachklee on Nov 2, 2022 18:13:03 GMT -6
The old run and shoot. Only played 2 teams ever in college or HS that ran it. They were both horrendous. We were actually pretty good but as an olinman, it would have been nice to hear the word Dive or something from that family in the huddle once and a while. Like anything in “family” of run the damn ball?!? |
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Post by jml on Nov 2, 2022 19:35:07 GMT -6
An overrated 4 Tech DL & underrated OT at 6’3” a very strong 195 pounds. Benched 255, Squatted 365 & Deadlifted 400. Never had a timed 40, but I am likely the biggest 2:05 800 meter runner ever. At a Class C team at a school of 300 students I was no more than the 8th best player (9 of us played both ways) as a junior & maybe 5th best player as a senior (8 of us played both ways). Earned 2nd Team All-Conference DL as a Jr & 2nd Team All-Conference OL as a Sr. I made one play when I was completely UNBLOCKED at the 19:01 mark of the video as a DL & it sparked the turning point of the 1st playoff win in school history. I think everyone including my coaches thought I was a better playing DL than O actually was. Really cool knowing I made a big play that played a small part in an amazingly historic season for a small HS in rural Michigan! My cousin's son is a 3 year starter at running back for Ubly right now. Hoping they go on another run. |
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Post by mariner42 on Nov 2, 2022 21:39:13 GMT -6
Better'n most, but not THAT good.
I think I would've ended up a pretty good D3 ILB at Willamette U but I got hurt 3 weeks into fall camp my freshman year and that was that.
Still think I was a better RB than LB, just needed to figure out how to hold onto the ball better. Easy peasy.
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Post by 33coach on Nov 2, 2022 23:06:48 GMT -6
career 2nd string guy, but a pretty good wrestler.
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Post by knightfan64 on Nov 3, 2022 6:21:35 GMT -6
All district center and 2 year starter even played at D3 level. It’s amazing the more I coach and the further I get from playing career the less good I imagine I was haha🤣🤣🤣🤣. I think this opposite of most small town adults who romanticize their athletic careers
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Post by larrymoe on Nov 3, 2022 6:27:51 GMT -6
I think this opposite of most small town adults who romanticize their athletic careers Agreed. I work with a guy who is a great guy who frequently wonders aloud if he'd only got a shot to play D1 if he'd have made the NFL. He was not a starter on his D3 team. |
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