Football coaches rally around recruits
They’re making sure athletes are using downtime wisely
There’s an old African proverb, “Oran a
azu nwa,” that, translated, reminds people it takes a village to raise a child.
It means the best environment for a child is one in which he grows up surrounded by a loving, supportive community. There may have never been a better time than now, during the coronavirus pandemic, to apply the philosophy.
Many local high school coaches are living by that adage, and they are hoping it will go a long way in making sure their football players are keeping up their grade point averages to help them graduate on time and earn college scholarships.
“The thing that we have learned is the more eyes on our kids, the better,” Edgewater football coach Cameron Duke said. “They have mentors in the community who can continue to check in on them.
“You just try to do the virtual monitoring the best you can. … Sure, we have [players] that we have to stay on top of, but we also have a bunch of others that are going above and beyond.”
What should work to the advantage of every athlete is if the NCAA, as expected, makes a temporary change to current rules that disallow “distance learning” or online classes to be part of a high school transcript.
Every student in the country is faced with online learning during the pandemic, so the NCAA has little choice but to allow the course work. The organization has already made numerous other adjustments to support athletes, including waiving SAT requirements for seniors working to qualify for college.
It would be easy to fall behind during the pandemic if students were to go unchecked. Football coaches know this far
too well, and so most high schools have a method in place to keep that from happening.
Orlando Jones coach Elijah Williams even goes so far as to say the change to virtual schooling is an opportunity players should be taking advantage of right now. Grade-point averages should be rising for all players, Williams said. Many other coaches agree.
“There are really no excuses for a student to not make A’s or B’s in these online classes right now,” Williams said. “I think they know what they need to do, but when they’re stuck at home, they get sidetracked and they need reinforcement. We do what we can do.
“But they have no excuse. They need to take advantage of this time. They need to use it as a positive right now, to catch up.”
The way Williams sees it, this is a chance for players to either give themselves better scholarship opportunities through strong academic performance or a chance for those players who have fallen behind academically to suddenly catch up.
Williams doesn’t have to make this point alone, reiterating the African proverb about a supportive village.
“That’s what I like so much about the Jones community. It takes a village to raise a kid and we’ve had to go to houses for numerous situations that are going on just to help the parents,” Williams said. “It really just makes us stronger and draws us all closer together.
“It’s a whole new experience now, having a teenager at home
24⁄7. Parents aren’t used to that. There are a whole lot of attitudes and a lot of stuff that goes on. I’m just happy to be able to go and assist some of our families.”
Williams also said he’s not worried too much about the time missed practicing. His players need to make the most of their academic opportunities through the virtual world.
“We have parents or fans or whoever, calling me and saying, ‘This school is doing this, or this school is having workouts,’ or whatever it is. I’m not worried about that right now,” Williams said. “I’m interested in our kids passing their classes and doing what they are supposed to be doing.’
“So we contact the kids to stay on them. I have the teachers emailing me when someone is not doing their work. … We tell the kids to work out and do what they need to do, but our main focal point is our students need to make As and Bs, not Cs and Ds.”
Through a network of coaches, counselors, teachers and even peer groups, Edgewater’s football players have been given a structured, supportive system within which they can thrive during the current school shutdown.
Players have a detailed road map to follow in order to keep their eligibility status, and more important, stay the course in hitting the necessary targets aimed at playing college football.
If they stray from the path outlined on the map, they’ll have plenty of support in making sure they get back on course.
“It’s a combination of everyone really working together,” Duke said. “That’s one area where we’ve done a really good job — administrators, teachers, coaches — in making sure that everybody not only gets their schoolwork done, but we’re also making sure that everything at home is OK.
“Teachers will email myself or other assistant coaches and guidance counselors and we talk day in and day out … even our principal is involved. What’s really been cool too is that every teacher at Edgewater has an Eagle Child, a football player, and they help monitor grades and build a relationship with that student athlete, so that’s been a big help.”
Orlando Dr. Phillips coach Rodney Wells agrees not only that it’s important to keep tabs on students, but this is also an opportunity for football players to beef up their GPAs.
Players, however, still play a big role in their success.
“There is a tremendous onus on them,” Wells said of his players. “If you are not self-motivated or not a self-starter, if you need to be pushed, it’s going to be some very difficult times because we’re talking three or four months, and that’s why being on your own and not having coaches or not having a team can be difficult.
We live in a schedule-oriented society and when we lose that routine in our daily lives, everything gets uprooted. Teens often don’t know how to handle that new freedom. As a result, coaches believe it’s ultra important players keep on task since an academic lapse could derail their college football dreams.
Wells is concerned the longer his players have to remain disciplined while working from home, the harder it will be to stay on track.
“Right now, it’s probably not such a big impact, but once we get through summer, we’ll know more. It’s a little early to tell right now,” Wells said. “But most football players do not do well in online classes. I was that way with my college online class. We like to be hands-on and see the teacher and ask questions.
“So it’s not ideal for most players, but we try to stay in constant contact. We call them, we text them, we do Zoom meetings. I have my assistant coaches who all have a position group they are responsible in checking in at least once a week and then each group also has a player designated as group leader. Through all of that we’re hoping we can manage this for the next few months.”
Just like former Ocoee star Dexter Rentz Jr. told some players during a camp prior to his death. Schools can only give so many scholarships each year, and if it comes down to two players of equal football skill levels, a school will take the player on track to qualify academically.
So during this coronavirus shutdown, players can either make themselves more attractive recruits with better academic standing or they can fumble away their opportunities. Those who fumble leave the door open for someone else to jump on the ball, and there are plenty more waiting for their chance.