Interesting Read About QB's

With the information coming out this next week about our off season QB program I thought it would be appropriate to post this article. I got to know Butch when I coached at Santa Clara as we where is the same league but different divisions.  He is a great coach and we have alot of similarity.  He is the only other head football coach I know who teaches AP mathematics and we have similar dispositions.  He also gave me some of the best football coaching advice when he said "Be positive after a loss and knock them down a peg when they win."  By no means would I say we are friends but I respect him as much as any coach I have met.  I was fortunate to play his Los Gatos teams once in the playoffs in a game for the ages .

To the article I think the three important points made in the article are this.  First QB can be developed.  Los Gatos has done a good job of showing that.  2nd in order to develop a great QB you need to work mechanics as coaches QB's do with Roger Theder and 3rd you need to work reads and football knowledge as Coach Cattolico does with his QB's.  Developing QB's is a two prong process with mechanics in the early spring February, March, April followed by reads and live action such as 7 on 7 in May, June, July.  Finally you add August and pads and learn how to do with a rush and you have a good QB. 

As we lay out our QB Development program this coming week I think you will see this process on display.

What We Are Trying To Improve in Off Season Training

The importance of off season programs is to build a better student athlete.  In our sport we are trying to improve our players as athletes so they can perform at the highest level on the football field.  Below are the attributes we are trying to improve to improve our athletes.  Again our focus to create players that move on the football field and finish with a explosive movement, not necessarily the strongest.

Functional Strength, Power, and Explosiveness

Functional Movement in Every Direction and the ability to Start Stop Start

First Step Quickness

10, 20 and 40 yard Speed

Core Strength

Balance

Flexibility

Mental Toughness

Program Pillars

Program Pillars are our players right now who are making great strides in their off season commitment and our make big improvements of themselves.  By improving themselves they are improving the team. In my experience players who have dedicated themselves to be the very best they could be in the off season have gotten the most out our sport.  Also when we have a great commitment to one another during the off season you see a team that fights for victories during the season.

I wanted to start by recognizing our winter sports stars who have done a tremendous job of still finding time to improve themselves this off season.  Nathan Sauseda, Roderick Arms, Josh Thompson have rarely missed a day despite playing soccer.  Meanwhile Taylor Ferguson, Andrew Smith, and Donnell Vercher have been very consistent while participating in Varsity Wrestling and Basketball.

Meanwhile a very solid group players lead by Boo Massey, Josh Meleski, Joseph Coeresy, Bobby Grijavla, Joey Kaiser, Josh Savage, and Paul Solzano have not missed a day.  Also an extremely consistent group of guys of Issac Burton, Nate Newman, Nick Salomonson, Jordan Magerian, Matt Miyake, Joe Vargas, Brandon Akulian, Josh Stoeckle, Josh Cox, Scott McClellan, Gil Ornelas, Louie Huerta and  Brett Smith.   Also Daniel Eldridge who got a late start has been very consistent since his start and is improving quickly.  We are also excited that our two new member Yoon Conner and Tyson Parks have been very dedicated since their arrival and look forward to them making the next list of Program Pillars.

Improving Our Verticals

Yesterday we tested our vertical jumps to check for growth even though we have only been lifting and training for 5 weeks since the Christmas break.  Now is not an ideal time to test considering we have only worked lightly on our plyometrics and our focus right now has been on core and building strength.  Even our weight program has yet to hit the real strength building phase as we have focused on high repetitions to build muscle and flexibility.  In the coming weeks our focus will shift to a strength building phase which will increase strength and thus vertical jump.  Also in the coming months we will improve enough on our plyometrics to incorporate more advanced exercises that will have a bigger impact on vertical jump.  Still we felt it was important to show our guys that they are making measurable gains thanks to the time they are committing this off season.

As I have stated many times before I truly believe that the vertical jump is the best measure of someones explosiveness.  This a great football attribute because its a functional measurement.  My best programs have always had a bunch of guys who could jump and run.  Last year as a program we did not have a single person vert over 25 inch.  My best teams have always had around 10 guys vert 30+.  Testing yesterday led to 3 guys breaking the 30 inch barrier.  Two of those 3 to break the 30 inch barrier are new to our program.  But are able to preform at a high level because they have been part of dedicated weight room and training programs that they participated in before joining our program.  It is a testament to what I have been stressing about the importance of a strong off season program.  Tyson Parks led the way easily going past the 30 inch vertical mark followed closely Donnell Vercher and Yoon Conner who each reached the 30 inch mark.  Donnell has been training as much as he can while playing basketball and using the combination of both Donnell was able to raise his vertical 5 inches to 30.

Donnell wasnt the largest gain though.  That belongs to the Boo Massey who has easily been the hardest working guy in our off season training.  Boo increased his vertical from a measly 20 inches to 26.  A gain of 6 inches is phenomenal in the short time period.  With his continued hard work Boo will surpass the 30 inch mark which I consider to be a great indicator of having the ability to have success on the field.   Boo was not the only player to make a big jump.  Josh Meleski increased from a 22 to a 26 inch vertical and Bobby Grijalva increased to a 26 inch vertical also followed closely by a 25 out of Devin Cox.  Out of our lineman Matt Miyake and Joe Coersey came in at 24 inch vertical jumps.

In the coming months I look forward to our student athletes to continue improving these vertical leaps and improving as athletes to be the best football player they can be.

Also below I proved the link of vertical jump for the NFL combine for last season by position.  Not that we are there or should be there but to give you an idea of the power and explosion that is measured by the vertical jump.


http://www.nfl.com/combine/top-performers#tp-tab-set-1:tp-grid-container-vertical-jump

Spring Sports

With spring sports starting officially this week good luck to all of our guys participating in volleyball, track, baseball and swimming/diving.

Combines and Why

Spring is combine season and is a important process for Juniors that desire to go play beyond high school.  Combines test forty time, shuttle run time, bench reps at 185 pounds, and vertical jump. Some combines test the pro agility drill and broad jump but those are not universal tests.  Combines attach measureables that colleges have deemed important to student athletes.  In my experience there is validation to many of the measureables.  Being fast doesnt make you a great football player but speed helps you be productive on the field.

Since these attributes are typical of good players these attributes will increase through our off season program during zero period.  For example we have players who have added 4, 5, 6 inches to there vertical in the short time we have been working.  I guarantee that guys have improved their forty and will be able to bench more due to our program at this point.  Currently we our building the blocks for the shuttle run by working on our change of direction and we will learn and test this in the next month. We will continue to train and improve throughout the spring.

Here is a link for testing protocol, a link to the NFL networks combine explanation and a couple of combine videos.



If you are interested in registering for a combine there is information below.  I would suggest signing up for one of the Nike Combines in the Bay Area or LA area.  Also have your son contact me so we can go more into depth about what to expect and what they can focus their time on the most to make it the best combine experience as possible.

http://www.nikefootballcombineregistration.com/
http://www.nationalcompetitioncamps.com/
http://www.nats.us/combine_schedule/schedule_report.php?pagesize=-1

Hop and Stop Stop and Hop

Jeremy Boone Speed Coach for the Carolina Panthers does a great job of explaining the properties of change of direction.  I was became aware of Coach Boone by the Carolina Panthers community rep and the Dorman High School football coach when we traveled to New Orleans for a passing tournament two years ago.  Below is a link to a project that coach Boone is doing on athletes to reduce ACL injuries and increase the ability to change direction.  In our sport of football speed is important but change of direction is vital.

http://www.athletebydesign.com/Research/HopStop/tabid/217/Default.aspx

I think the important focus here is on the deceleration.  Being able to decelerate allows athletes to cut faster and protect themselves from unnecessary injury.  The idea behind this is if we teach the body how to decelerate faster we can move faster.  The stop hop is something we have incorporated into our daily routine.
Here on three more articles on the change of direction.  Take a close look at the pictures in both they show the process of changing direction.

Link 1


Link 2

Link 3

Lastly here are some videos of some of the exercises

Pride Points

As we run our off season program I think it is important to have an incentive other than an intrinsic one.  Obviously a student athlete who participates in our off season program is going to make gains as an athlete in speed, strength, quickness, and explosiveness.  Also in my experience the guys who have been But I also think it is important to give a reward to our players who are putting in the time and energy to the program. So we have pride points that are earned for DOING THE RIGHT THING.  Such things as attending workouts, playing other sports, getting good grades, and in a rare instance something so positive in terms of effort or service I deem it necessary to reward.  Each of these things are given a pride point value.  For the these values our players are rewarded with the first offering of gear, pick of a jersey number, food, a Championship Commitment T Shirt, an opportunity to be a captain, etc.  Pride points are to us what Winners Circle is to wrestling. 

Monday I will post attendance and pride points in the locker room for our upcoming varsity players.  Monday we will begin to keep pride points for freshman with a bonus for those freshman who have already been participating after school.

Also this weekend look for our first edition of our Program Pillars.  These are student athletes making a great commitment to our program, "DO THE RIGHT THING" and will be guys to look to this upcoming season.

Our Athletes In Winter Sports

We wanted to recognize our student athletes that are currently participating in Winter Sports. I feel the multi sport athlete is a very important to high school athletics.  This is a student athletes last opportunity to participate in multiple sports.  Also the value of competing in tense situations carries over from sport to sport.

Basketball
Donnell Vercher
Andrew Smith
Lestee Caesar
Beau Hine
Alston Moore
Jason Black
Conner Myers
CJ Broussard

Soccer
Josh Thompson
Anthony Arcellus
Justin Jue
Roderick Arms
Nathan Sauseda

Wrestling
Taylor Ferguson
Zack Nevills
Ryan Davies
Jesus Castaneda
Dakoda Gordon
Sam Zegarelli
Adrian Salas

If I missed someone I apologize we tried our best to get all the names and I know I missed some freshman.  Please let me know if I missed someone and I will correct it.

2010 Football Season Theme

Do The Right Thing

I have been struggling to find the right message for this off season and the 2010 season.  I had been thinking of Pete Carrols "Win Forever" slogan and message. But I didnt think it quite fit our situation.   Yet today I found my message and stole the theme not from Spike Lee and his movie of the same name but Paul Rhodes the head coach of Iowa State.  Probably the most overachieving team in the NCAA this season. His speech starts at 2:17 into the video.



What is his message? Do the right thing every where all the time. Do in the classroom, do in the game, do in practice, and it will pay off for you.  Not only during your season but in your life.  At the end of the day the thing we want most of all as coaches is for our student athletes to be successful in life.  This is a great example of this. 

The other piece I really grabbed on to was his comment about it being their culture.  All great programs I have been part of as a player or a coach had a culture of hard work.  That is what Clovis high had for many years and has lost.  We are working extremely hard to create a culture of hard work and success right now.  It is definitely improving but no where near where it needs to be. 

So as we move forward into the 2010 off season and season look for this phrase and message.  Look for us to build a culture about doing the right thing.  Hopefully it will be a lesson that our guys carry with them throughout the season and into their lives.

Congratulations To Our Wrestlers

This weekend we had 3 of our wrestlers who play football won tournaments.  Taylor Ferguson, Zack Nevills, and Ryan Davies all won wrestling tournaments this past weekend.  Dakoda Gordon and Adrian Salas also finished 3rd in the tournament.  Great job and congratulations on your accomplishment.

Crab Feed Is Coming

Our annual crab feed is set for March 27th at the Rex Phebus Memorial Building.  This year festivities will start at 5 pm and dinner at 6pm.  This year for the first time there will be dancing following the auctions.  Your support is needed to continue to offer our student athletes the best football program we can provide.  All the money raised from the crab feed goes back into the program.  These is our main fundraiser for the year and is vital to our programs success.

We are out now lining up great auction items.  Tickets are fifty dollars and contact the Booster Club at their website www.cloviscougarfootball.com or Clovis High Athletic Office for Tickets or just send me comment at the bottom of this blog.  Also if you would like to volunteer to help or have a donation for the live auction please contact the booster club via email at cloviscougarfootball@gmail.com 

Thank you your support and I look forward to seeing you at the event and thank you for your support.

Another Story on the new Golden Valley Coach

Another article on the new Golden Valley coach Jake Messina.  Golden Valley is our 1st opponent in 2010.

Note the link is the word article above just click article for the story.

Letter of Intent

Here is a link the our letter of intent

The letter of intent is important for multiple reasons. 

1st it gives us an opportunity to know who is and who isnt coming out.  It also allows us to find all of those not participating in another sport and working if they are planning to play next season. 

2nd the letter of intent allows student commitment and declare they will play football.  This is a powerful thing.  It is important to learn in life when you commit to something you must follow through.  The letter helps our student athletes learn this.

3rd the letter allows me to gather contact information to keep everyone in the loop on the happenings of Cougar football.

4th the letter allows us know how much gear and equipment to order. 

Scholarship Football Student Athletes From CUSD

Below I have compiled a list of as many CUSD scholarship football players out of high school as I can since Zack Follett.  In the breakdown I included the typical combine tests and their results for each of these.  If there was no information for someone such as Brent Bettancourt then I did not list their information The bench is reps at 185 and I think the rest of the tests are well known. 

Name	Position	Height	Weight	Forty	Shuttle	Bench	Vert	GPA	College	High Sch
Zack Follett	LB	6'2"	228	4.59	4.44	22	31		Cal	Clovis
Chris Lewis	DL	6'2"	237	4.62	4.66	27	34		Fresno St	West
Tracy Slocum	RB	5'10"	195	4.5	4.19	21	34	2.8	Cal	East
Taylor Smith	OL/DL	6'3"	224	4.84	4.62	23	31	3	Fresno St	Buchanan
Beau Sweeny	QB	6'1"	195	4.65	4.51	12	28		Cal	West
Lars Bramer	OL	6'5"	255	5.01	4.82	22	24	3.65	Fresno State	Buchanan
Travis Brown	LB	6'1"	220	4.61	4.41	22	na	na	Fresno State	West
Nathan Fellnar	DB	6'0"	200	4.57	4.21	na	na	3.8	Washington	West
Jeff Tuel	QB	6'2"	188	4.63	4.31	13	31	3.42	Wash St	West

 Mark Lampford RB/DB     6'1"      181     4.57    4.19      20      34     na        Nevada    Buchanan


 

In addition to the information posted Tracy Slocum was reported as squatting 485 pounds.

I also then made a list from schools Clovis played the last couple of seasons.

Name	Position	Height	Weight	Forty	Shuttle	Bench	Vertical	College
Michael Clay	LB	5'11"	205	4.65	4.42	17	30	Oregon	Bellarmine
Austin Carta Samuels	QB	6'1"	207	4.63	4.13	12	30	Wyoming	Bellarmine
Kevin Danser	OL	6'6"	295	5.1	4.82	24	24	Stanford	Bellarmine
Usua Amanan	RB/DB	5'9"	174	4.46	4.21	12	37	Stanford	Bellarmine
Nick Tenaeoff	RB/LB	6'2"	205	4.61	4.42	24	34	San Diego St	Atascadero
Nicco Motta	DL	6'3"	265	5.01	na	na	na	Sanger	Fresno St

Then I took Palmas scholarship guys over the last couple years since I felt they were a program that has gotten guys out because of their academics and the teams success.  They have been more of a lower level recruit but have gone because of their academics.

Name	Position	Height	Weight	Forty	Shuttle	Bench	Vertical	GPA	College
Chad Davis	LB	6'0"	193	4.6	4.43	18	30	4	UC Davis
Eric Sobotka	DE	6'2"	215	4.99	4.5	19	32	3.8	UC Davis
Luke Lippincott	RB/Safety	6'2"	210	4.61	4.28	17	34	3.4	Nevada
David Fales	QB	6'2"	190	4.95	4.82	12	28	3.2	Nevada

Lastly I took my former players that have been playing for my programs at Gilroy and Santa Clara doing our off season program over the last 6 year.I didnt take necessarily are best testers but guys who garnered interest from division one football programs.  So for example our best athlete ever at Gilroy was a z receiver Danny Contreras but he was 5'5" so he garnered no interest despite a 4.4 forty, 4.1 shuttle, and a 37 inch vertical.  Also when we first implemented the USC training program at Gilroy Justin Sweeney and Bobby Best both ranked in the top twenty nationally for the Sparq rating.  I believe it was Sparq's 2nd or 3rd year out.

Name	Position	Height	Weight	Forty	Shuttle	Bench	Vert	GPA	College	Squat	School
Justin Sweeny	RB	5'8"	160	4.56	4.37	20	35	2.5		450	Gilroy
Bobby Best	DE	6'4"	245	4.95	4.34	29	31	3.7	Cal Poly	700	Gilroy
Dante Fullard	WR	5'8"	185	4.59	4.31	18	33	2	JC Starter	460	Gilroy
Justice Patterson	RB	5'10"	190	4.58	4.43	14	30	3	JC All State	380	Santa Clara
Travis Reyes	RB	5'9"	165	4.72	4.65	14	34	3.2	JC Starting	440	Gilroy
Peter Guenther	RB	5'10"	165	4.41	4.52	11	32	3.4	Track Schol	390	Gilroy
Natanal Otten	OL/DL	6'3"	275	5.02	4.67	24	29	3.6	Albilene	560	Santa Clara
Russel Lacey	LB	6'2"	205	4.78	4.56	18	32	2.5	JC Starter	480	Santa Clara
Jamie Jensen	QB	6'3"	215	5.01	4.52	11	29	2.5	JC Starting	na	Gilroy

As you look at the data I think the things that stick out is how important grades are and I think how important vertical is.  Without grades you wont get to the next level especially with all of the academic performance ratings on college programs they only take student athletes they know can cut it academically.  Sure forty and shuttle are important they are indications of how well you move but I think vertical jump is the best measure of athleticism.  This is why a program that incorporates core, plyometrics, flexibility, proprioception, and weights is so important. As you look through these lists you see great verticals.  Last season into this season we have had no players on our team test over a 25 inch vertical here in Clovis.  That is why our off season program is so important.  We need to increase our athleticism in order to improve our production on the field. That is our challenge but I am confident that our student athletes that are working hard right now are going to improve through our off season program and there will be a marked difference in their ability on the field..