FOOTBALL TAB: In-practice skirmish valuable teaching tool for Golden Falcons

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on August 22, 2014 1:48 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- It was just the third practice in shoulder pads and Jarrett Scott had already had enough.

Charles B. Aycock head coach Steve Brooks had been riding the tight end hard during the first two practices, and the senior finally snapped.

When Brooks saw Scott line up in the wrong position for a play, he threw his visor and notepad to the ground and gave the upperclassman a tongue lashing.

Scott threw his helmet, walked up to Brooks and shoved him. The two threw haymakers as they wrestled each other to the ground. Players and assistant coaches looked on in shocked, before some went in to break it up.

"Y'all just got punked," Brooks shouted in the middle of the circle of players.

The 'fight' was staged.

It was an exercise Brooks thought about that morning after he read the book "Win Forever," which was written by Super Bowl champion coach Pete Carroll. Brooks read how Carroll likes to prank his players to keep the group loose and have a good time.

"I wanted to break up the monotony a little bit," Brooks said. "I had been pretty hard on (Scott) the last couple days and I wanted the kids to know that when I'm coaching it's not personal. I can pull a prank like that and the kids say to themselves 'I like coming to practice every day. Something is always going to be new.

"Coach is going to rip me if I don't do my job, but he still loves me and we're going to have fun.' It was just something we needed."

It certainly broke up the monotony.

Only one coach (first responder Randy Pate) knew it was fake.

And, it was pretty much all anyone talked about for the rest of practice.

Good teaching points came out of the situation.

"Somebody's helmet crashed into the back of my hand," Brooks said. "And I thought 'God almighty I'm getting more beat up in this than I thought.' I literally thought everyone would just stand there in shock, but the great thing was these kids all kind of rallied around each other. It really showed we're coming together."

"And that goes back to the game. You'll have a crazy penalty or something out of the blue happen. Can you get refocused and go to the next play? So yeah it was all in fun, but also it's another teaching moment. Especially with that young group."

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With a young team like CBA has this season, it's important for Brooks to instill those teaching points in a daily practice. Just five starters return off of last year's team that finished 4-8 and lost an opening-round playoff game at Western Alamance.

The Golden Falcons were picked to share last place with Southern Wayne in the 2014 Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A preseason football coaches poll.

Aycock lost its top receiver, Michael Eutsey, and top rusher, Neil Clark. The duo combined for more than 2,700 yards of total offense and 28 touchdowns. Brooks needs to find suitable replacements.

Jimmy Ellis is a strong candidate along with Scott, who is moving from left tackle to tight end. At 6-foot-4, Scott is a big, physical target and potential red-zone threat for returning quarterback TJ Morrow.

"We gotta get him to get better at catching the football," Brooks said of Scott. "But he's a guy who's worked his tail off and if he puts it all together could be a good guy for us."

Morrow, a first-team all-area selection last season, threw for 1,631 yards and ran for another 776 yards. He accounted for 21 total touchdowns. Brooks often praises his on-field performance, but is more proud of what the California transfer has accomplished off of the field.

"He keeps the kids going," Brooks said. "He's the guy putting his arm around Jarrett in the lockerroom after two bad practices going, 'hey we're going to be all right.' He's an extension of me. I'm bad cop he's good cop."

Morrow agrees that he can play the good cop in some situations, but his expectations for the team are no different than his coaches.

"We got a young team that's going to fight," Morrow said. "If we're down I want to see that push to overcome whatever we're facing. We can be dangerous if we do that."

Linemen Josh Jones and Tyree McNair will be staples in the trenches for the Golden Falcons. Linebacker Blake Merrill is expected to help lead the defense.