I know I promised this over a month ago but have been extremely busy with spring practice and getting finished up with the school year. I attended the GT coaches’ clinic on April 15th and boy am I glad that I did. Since it has been such a long time I do not remember school names, but there were probably 40 or so schools represented, some names I recognized while others I did not, but I have never kept up with GA HS football so please don't hold this against me.
The day started with all the HS coaches meeting in the conference room at the stadium where there were a few dozen computers set up for players to use. There were a handful of players with their jerseys on in the computer room while we were waiting for the days activities to begin. Around 2pm or so an older gentleman came in to get us and took us first to the locker room and let me say, HOLY CRAP! that thing is awesome! From there we walked under the away stands down to the locker room where the S&C coach showed us around, showed us different equipment they use and such. We then went to the far side of the weight room where he showed us a PPT presentation on what their normal off-season workout regimen consisted of. I'll have to say, Chris Reis is bigger in person that he ever appears on TV because almost every slide was of Chris doing the exercise. The presentation in the weight room lasted about 45 minutes or so, then the S&C coach answered questions before leading us down the home sideline and on out to the practice fields. The only players in the weight room at the time were the men’s and women’s basketball teams. The only players I recognized were Dickey and Smith, man these beasts make me feel like a little kid when standing next to them.
Once out on the practice fields, we beat most of the players and coaches out there, we stood around waiting on practice to start. While standing there with a co-worker Coach Gailey walks up to talk to us. He walks up, sticks out his hand, and introduces himself. First impression was great, he was very personable, outgoing, and made sure that we were being taken care of. He stood there every bit of five minutes talking to us one on one being very personable the entire time. By the time he walked off all of the players were out on the field ready to begin stretching. The S&C coach, sorry but I have forgotten his name, led the team through calisthenics prior to practice starting. Once practice officially started the visiting HS coaches were invited out onto the fields and told it was OK for us to go with the group we were most interested in learning from. I walked over with the o-line and coach D for the entire individual period. Once individuals broke we rejoined the rest of the team over on the main fields for the remainder of practice. There’s no need for me to re-hash practice tidbits as all of that has been gone through before.
Once practice was over we were escorted to the stadium where we were taken to the letter winner’s club lounge for meal and drinks. During the meal they were showing the Auburn game as well as the Miami games from last year on the televisions in the lounge and the Miami game on the jumbo-tron in the stadium. This is when the BS sessions started, groups of mostly more seasoned than I HS coaches all sitting around after a day of football, now mostly sipping on Bud-Light the stories started. After probably an hour of meal and chit chat the entire GT staff joined us in the lounge where Coach Gailey spoke and introduced his staff. After his speech and introductions the position coaches were dismissed and took with them the HS coaches for film and Q/A sessions. At this time is when I left but Coach Gailey kept re-iterating the fact that he and his staff would stick around as long as we were there and to not worry about the time.
This was my first visit to Tech not in a recruit role or in a fan role. I must say that I was seriously wowed by the way the red carpet was rolled out for us. This was in no way a money making day for GT as the registration fee was only $10 and from what I ate and how I saw others eating probably did not even cover the cost of the meal and drinks. I felt honored to be there on this early April day and look forward to going back for many more years. The highlight of the day for me was two-fold. First being I got to meet and talk to Coach Gailey, the second being I got to reunite with one of my former HS coaches in Coach Jeep Hunter. Coach Hunter was my HS defensive coordinator for my first three years in HS before leaving us to join the college ranks. Guys, he has not changed and I feel he is going to turn out to be a great hire! Feel free Stateline or anyone else to fire questions if you have any.
The day started with all the HS coaches meeting in the conference room at the stadium where there were a few dozen computers set up for players to use. There were a handful of players with their jerseys on in the computer room while we were waiting for the days activities to begin. Around 2pm or so an older gentleman came in to get us and took us first to the locker room and let me say, HOLY CRAP! that thing is awesome! From there we walked under the away stands down to the locker room where the S&C coach showed us around, showed us different equipment they use and such. We then went to the far side of the weight room where he showed us a PPT presentation on what their normal off-season workout regimen consisted of. I'll have to say, Chris Reis is bigger in person that he ever appears on TV because almost every slide was of Chris doing the exercise. The presentation in the weight room lasted about 45 minutes or so, then the S&C coach answered questions before leading us down the home sideline and on out to the practice fields. The only players in the weight room at the time were the men’s and women’s basketball teams. The only players I recognized were Dickey and Smith, man these beasts make me feel like a little kid when standing next to them.
Once out on the practice fields, we beat most of the players and coaches out there, we stood around waiting on practice to start. While standing there with a co-worker Coach Gailey walks up to talk to us. He walks up, sticks out his hand, and introduces himself. First impression was great, he was very personable, outgoing, and made sure that we were being taken care of. He stood there every bit of five minutes talking to us one on one being very personable the entire time. By the time he walked off all of the players were out on the field ready to begin stretching. The S&C coach, sorry but I have forgotten his name, led the team through calisthenics prior to practice starting. Once practice officially started the visiting HS coaches were invited out onto the fields and told it was OK for us to go with the group we were most interested in learning from. I walked over with the o-line and coach D for the entire individual period. Once individuals broke we rejoined the rest of the team over on the main fields for the remainder of practice. There’s no need for me to re-hash practice tidbits as all of that has been gone through before.
Once practice was over we were escorted to the stadium where we were taken to the letter winner’s club lounge for meal and drinks. During the meal they were showing the Auburn game as well as the Miami games from last year on the televisions in the lounge and the Miami game on the jumbo-tron in the stadium. This is when the BS sessions started, groups of mostly more seasoned than I HS coaches all sitting around after a day of football, now mostly sipping on Bud-Light the stories started. After probably an hour of meal and chit chat the entire GT staff joined us in the lounge where Coach Gailey spoke and introduced his staff. After his speech and introductions the position coaches were dismissed and took with them the HS coaches for film and Q/A sessions. At this time is when I left but Coach Gailey kept re-iterating the fact that he and his staff would stick around as long as we were there and to not worry about the time.
This was my first visit to Tech not in a recruit role or in a fan role. I must say that I was seriously wowed by the way the red carpet was rolled out for us. This was in no way a money making day for GT as the registration fee was only $10 and from what I ate and how I saw others eating probably did not even cover the cost of the meal and drinks. I felt honored to be there on this early April day and look forward to going back for many more years. The highlight of the day for me was two-fold. First being I got to meet and talk to Coach Gailey, the second being I got to reunite with one of my former HS coaches in Coach Jeep Hunter. Coach Hunter was my HS defensive coordinator for my first three years in HS before leaving us to join the college ranks. Guys, he has not changed and I feel he is going to turn out to be a great hire! Feel free Stateline or anyone else to fire questions if you have any.
