PREP FOOTBALL: Warriors get 'early' message from Oates

By Justin Hayes
Published in Sports on August 2, 2017 7:13 AM

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Live and loud.

That phrase was very much the mood and meter of the Eastern Wayne High football team on Tuesday morning, as it functioned with peak-level energy and task-specific commentary during its rangy, two-hour defensive drill session on the school's south practice field.

Not that it began that way, however.

Shortly after 8 a.m., as chorused stretch-counts yielded to a series of position drills, second-year head coach Leander Oates identified a teaching moment -- centered around a youngster's effort he considered lax -- and decided to maximize its presentation value.

"Why are you wasting my time?" he asked. "We aren't even going full speed... can you give me a point? That's what happens when you don't come and produce over the summer -- I'm not going to waste my time like this."

Ahem.

Seconds later, as the dust settled around his one-way, Remember the Titans soliloquy, the group's disposition calibrated and settled into the form that would define the remainder of the workout.

Clean. Energetic. Running with abandon through every drill.

And yes, communicative.

"It comes from having a big senior class," Oates said with a wry smile. "We have leaders in areas, instead of in one set... different groupings."

And the grouping that defined the most spirited rally cry of the morning -- by a wide margin -- was located at midfield, amongst members of the blue-and-gold secondary.

With endless enthusiasm, they pressed mock receivers and dropped into coverage. To a man, they put in quality reps and on a whistle, transitioned seamlessly into route-jumping concepts.

At long last, there was a tip drill, which gave the appearance of being the last one contested in the known world.

Suffice to say, the action was lively.

"If you're out here for football, you have to have some type of passion," Oates said of his troupe's demeanor. "You're going to get hit. You're going to get challenged... it's about building."

And fortunately, at New Hope, it doesn't appear these Warriors will need a bunch of time formulate a proper response.