The Value of 7 on 7

Rod Johnson, statewide football editor for Virginia Preps.com recently shared his thoughts on the value of 7 on 7. Here is what he had to say.

The end of summer is here (for football players) as training camps open up next week for squads from one corner of the state to the other. With the end of summer comes the end of the 7 x 7 passing leagues and tournaments.

A few years back, the publishers, editors and staff at VirginiaPreps.com made the decision to start covering the events throughout the summer and to attend as many events as we could despite common objections / questions like...

Why cover touch football events?
Does it really matter who wins those events?
With no linemen playing and no pads on, is it really football?
Without disagreeing with those sentiments and without answering the objections individually, I will respond by saying that I find value in the events as they help form my opinion about which teams have talent coming together as one and which teams might be struggling to reach their potential.

There are three things that I look at while attending the passing events...

1. Watch the athletes run and compete.
Nothing beats seeing a kid play live and watching how fluidly he moves, he well he competes against kids of the same caliber, how he fights for the ball in the air, how he reacts to the long days in the heat, etc... There really is no substitute for standing on a sideline and watching a kid play to judge his speed, fluidity and competitiveness.

2. Watch teammates interact with each other.
Successful coaches and teams constantly talk about team chemistry and how important it is to their continued success. The tricky thing about team chemistry is that it cannot be measured statistically and there's really no way to put a value on it to compare one team's chemistry against another's. However, it is something that, if you have been around enough teams, can be sensed as you watch the players interact with each other and with other teams. You can get a sense of a team's confidence, their dedication and the seriousness with which they work. For lack of a better term, you get a sense of a team's "personality".

3. Watch the coach's coach.
No single piece of information is more important to gather at a 7 x 7 event then this! Every successful team that I have seen over the past seven years has had a coaching staff with similar characteristics -- organization, setting a fast pace, always pushing for more hard work, preaching excellence, concerned about getting better at a 7 x 7 rather than focusing on winning the event.

Attend an event next summer and watch for the teams who are working drills when there is free time before an event, watch for the teams whose players support each other versus the teams who point fingers at each other, and watch for the teams whose coaching staffs who talk to their players after every play rather than watching from the sideline. Don't worry about who won the event, you'll know who the good teams will be.

Got a question for Rod? E-Mail us at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net and maybe we can start feeding some questions to Rod out of the mailbag. He is always hungry to talk football.

Talking with Dwayne Hamlette (William Campbell Head Coach)

Dwayne Hamlette was an assistant coach under Brad Bradley during Bradley's tenture at William Campbell. It's now Hamlette's ship with Brad Bradley manning the waters at Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke. Recently I spoke with Coach Hamlette, as the season fast approaches. The Generals open their season at home on the 28th of August against Cumberland.

Bob Alvis: For people not familiar with your athletic or coaching background, bring the folks up to date of who Dwayne Hamlette is in the world of his athletic career.

Dwayne Hamlette: I played football in the mid 90s for William Campbell, also played baseball and basketball. This will be my 9th year coaching at William Campbell and first as a head coach.

BA: This is your first head coaching job at the Varsity level. What are you most looking forward to about the challenge and what do you think will be the toughest aspects of your job?

DH: I look forward to the challenge of maintaining the tradition that has been started here. I think the toughest aspect is always not to put too much pressure on myself. I am my biggest critic.

BA: You played for Kevin Saunders, who is now at Gretna. What type of coach was Coach Saunders to play for?

DH: Hard nosed. He coached us hard and we played hard. He is the guy you love to hate but you played hard for him.

BA: Cecil Phillips was also an assistant on that squad. He just competed his first year at Amherst. Tell us some things we may not know about Coach Phillips and what are some things you have learned from him that you hope makes you a good coach?

DH: Coach Phillips is one of those guys you can trust and always lean on. We have often had communication since he coached me at William Campbell and kind of lost communication, when he moved back to the Tidewater area we kept in touch and now since he is at Amherst we talk often. I learned from him to make sure the kids know that you will always be there for them, whether during the time they play for you or even once they leave your program....always keep the door open for them to return.

BA: Many people may not know this but Ben Martin (Appomattox) is your brother in law. How hard is it to seperate football from family, when a family member is another coach in the district?

DH: (Laughing) Usually when Ben and I are together we are discussing football, there is only one week that we are not going to talk but before and after that I will be one of his biggest fans. I think our wives would like us to concentrate on family a little more when we get together (Laughing).

BA: We talked about some great coaches you played for. Well, you coached with a great one in Brad Bradley. What did you learn from Coach Bradley and Coach John Earich (Assistant Head Coach)?

DH: I learned from Coach Bradley, never be out worked. I also learned how to manage not only kids, but a program. Coach Bradley taught me how to deal with on and off the field issues with professionalism. I learned from Coach Earich, how to make sure you get through to kids and also let the kids know that you are in their corner. I learned a ton of football from two good football minds!

BA: Talk about the 7 on 7 tournament a few weeks back at Amherst. How was it to beat Patrick Henry and Amherst on the way to the championship?

DH: We wanted to go to the Amherst Shootout and compete. Our kids did a good job of playing the entire length of games, whether we were down or up. I was really impressed how the kids took coaching on the fly and adapted and played. The defense seemed to be covering every corner of the field. To beat Patrick Henry in the semis was a good feeling, to be able to compete against a guy that you have been in battles with is strange but good. It's always nice to get one up on (Coach) Bradley whether it's Playstation or 7 on 7. The Amherst squad was very althletic and Coach Phillips and his staff had his guys in the right position on day. I'm glad we were able to win the championship and to have our kids understand that yes we can take the momentum into practice, but we still have a lot of learning to do. The fact that we were able to walk away with a 7 on 7 championship has no bearing on our win-loss record this fall.

BA: You kept most of the staff intact from last year's team. Talk about your staff and who is on the staff. How important was it to you to keep the staff intact?

DH: With any coaching change you want to try and keep some normalecy if you are able to. We were able to keep our defensive coordinator in John Meadows, which I was estactic about. Coaches (Andy) Haga, (Shea) Boyd, (Trevor) Freitas have all been on staff and will assume some different roles this year. A new addition to the staff is Jason Hudnall. I have a dedicated staff that will not only prepare our kids for Friday nights but for life in general.

BA: Another new wrinkle for a first team head coach is dealing with factors off the football field, such as the media, ordering equipment, dealing with parents and so forth and so on. What do you feel may be one of the most challenging aspects off the field?

DH: I really don't see any of those issues as challenges. I look forward to dealing with the media and parents/supporters. I would guess that ordering equipment would be the one thing that I'm not use to, but I am adjusting well.

BA: Final question, I think lots of people consider the Dogwood District wide open with the departures of two state championship winning coaches in (Chris) Thurman and (Brad) Bradley. Do you feel that way? If not, who is the team to beat?

DH: The Dogwood has tons of athletes at every school. Right now everybody is 0-0 and in contention so we will see how everything plays out.

BA: Coach, best of luck this season and thanks for your time.

DH: Thank you. We look forward to seeing all the fans out supporting the Generals this fall.

More interviews and previews with fall high school sports coaches to come. Also, look for the podcast portion of "The Sports Buffet Podcast" to reappear in the next few weeks. If you have a suggestion or comment, e-mail me at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net

High School Football in Virginia: The Class of 2010

I spoke with Virginia Preps.com's Football editor Rod Johnson recently about the overall impression that the Class of 2010 might not be as loaded with talent as Va fans are accustomed to. Here were Rod's thoughts on the topic

In recent years, as Virginia's national reputation has grown as a state producing a number of top notch Division I college prospects on an annual basis, expectations have grown that each year's class will match the previous season's talent output. As recruiting analysts study the Class of 2010, the early word on the street was that the annual crop was not as strong as year's past and certainly not as strong as the insanely deep Class of 2011.

Sometimes, when something is said often enough, the opinion seemingly becomes fact. However, upon closer inspection, maybe the problem with the Class of 2010 isn't that the talent is not on par with previous seasons, it might just be that the talent is not at the 'sexy' positions.

A quick survey of the top fifty prospects in the state (as ranked by VirginiaPreps.com) reveals that there are only three quarterbacks, three wide receivers, and four wide receivers -- a scant 20% of the list. Of those top ten 'sexy' position players, only four rank among the top thirty prospects which is generally near the point where the list drops from BCS prospects to mid-major level talent. Both the total number of offensive skill players and the number ranked among the best in the state are lowering than in years past and much lower than next season's expected rankings.

But, does that mean that this class lacks the depth and talent of seasons gone by?

I say no.

The Class of 2010 is stacked with in-the-trench players like few before them. Nearly half of the top thirty (fourteen!) prospects play on the line of scrimmage and that's not counting the consensus top-ranked player Ego Ferguson who had not transferred into Hargrave at the time our last rankings were completed! Heck, five of the top seven players are hands-down kids including Zack McCray, Mark Shuman, Evan Hailes, Quentin Spain, and Nick Acree and each of them held dozens of BCS offers!

The problem with the in-the-trenches prospects is that the average fan is willing to acknowledge the importance of having studs on the line but few understand what it takes to be a great lineman. Face it, few of us watch the line play during a game and, with no true statistics available to help us compare one guy against the guy next to him, there's no quantifiable way to say that Player A is better than Player B. Most coaches, even at the college and pro level, are hesitant to say which lineman played well in a game until they break down the film to see who missed which blocks or assignments.

It's easy to look at a 6-foot-6, 300-pound prospect who runs a 5.0 forty and attempt to project him as a top player because he is already bigger, stronger and faster than most human beings we encounter in our daily lives. Surely, a guy that size can routinely throw around an average citizen. The problem is, they won't be blocking someone that size, they'll be matching up with the rare players who match them in size, strength and speed. There's a scant few people who can accurately project how well a player will play under those circumstances.

Without handy statistics to point to and without having constant video input of a player's performance (like we get from QB's, RB's and WR's), it's tough to get excited about that big guy who your college signed. Thus, a class replete with big men is less 'sexy', less exciting, and less quantifiable than those loaded with skill players.

But that does not necessarily mean that they are less talented.

The Buffet's Return

The target date has been set. "The Sports Buffet Podcast" has set the target date for the podcast portion of "The Sports Buffet" to relaunch on Monday August 3rd. The features that I mentioned in a previous post on October 24th, 2008 are still the features that you will be hearing on "The Sports Buffet Podcast".

Until then, I will be updating my blogs on a regular basis. I have three blogs, one relating to high school sports, one dealing with the general sports world (non high school sports) and one that just deals with the general world and my thoughts as a whole. Also, if you are a Facebooker, you can type in The Sports Buffet Podcast in the search box in the top right and become a fan of the podcast.

I want thoughts and suggestions from you on what you want to hear! E-Mail me at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net or leave me a message or post on Facebook. If you haven't contacted me and volunteered to help with "The Sports Buffet" whether it be as a reporter or blogger, you can offer your services to me there as well.

Look forward to serving you up some good things on "The Sports Buffet". Stay tuned for more exciting news and updates that will be coming to "The Sports Buffet".