LAMP - New High School FB Season

[Jon in Pasadena]

Some may recall my LAMP post around this time last summer, about my son's first Football experiences.

Recap: He joined his High School's varsity team as a Junior, having never played football before (but watched a lot, with me!) and went from zero to playing significant snaps by the second half of the season. They had a pretty good season last year, and made the playoffs for the first time in many years.

 

Flash forward to this season, and he's now starting Linebacker and the centerpiece of our DC's scheme.

 

We had our first game this week, and crushed 'em by 6 touchdowns. Shut them out the last 3 quarters.   My little berserker led the team in tackles (10)  and  TFL (2), sacked the QB on a nice blitz, made the "Play of the 1st half" by blowing up a screen pass that would have gone for a huge gain, and generally wreaked havoc and destruction. 

 

It was crazy fun!

Edited August 20, 2023 by Jon in Pasadena

[Your Brown Eye]

1Good stuff! Make sure you push his academics too, if he's got a shot at College ball, he'll need the grades with his athletic talent!

[Jon in Pasadena]

3 minutes ago, Your Brown Eye said:

1Good stuff! Make sure you push his academics too, if he's got a shot at College ball, he'll need the grades with his athletic talent!

 

Great advice, but it's 95% likely he won't ever have the frame to play high-level College ball (honestly even D III would take a miracle) but his grades are solid, so he should have a lot of good options.

[Mr. WEO]

How did your HS find enough parents who would allow their boys to play tackle football??

 

I've been reading here for years that football was "dying"  because kids weren't playing any more.

[Jon in Pasadena]

5 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

How did your HS find enough parents who would allow their boys to play tackle football??

 

I've been reading here for years that football was "dying"  because kids weren't playing any more.

 

Numbers are definitely down overall in California since 2015 when there were over 100,000 kids playing 11-man tackle HS football. Still, according to CIF there were > 84,000 last year in 1025 High Schools across the state.

 

Our school is one of the top performing academic High Schools state-wide, nor really known for athletics per se (although we do have a few names out there in various sports).

 

The last couple years we've been rebuilding the football program here, and have put together an excellent coaching staff, IMHO. The parents as a group are very supportive, donating time, $$ and even the use of their homes for after-parties, etc.  We have a partnership with Children's Hospital of LA to ensure the safest possible environment, training staff, equipment, etc.  We have > 100 kids in the program this year, and the JV squad is also looking strong (undefeated last year, 1-0 so far this year, looking good for the future.)

[Jon in Pasadena]

Just for laughs:

 

Last week we had a comeback win for the ages in our second game.  The opponent had legit NFL-sized players (265lb fullback, 310lb OG, 315lb OT, etc.)

They run that nasty-ass old double wing offense. Boring but effective. They're used to just steamrolling smaller teams like us.  

We were down by 21 pts three different times in the 1st half, but then our D slammed the door, and we came back and outscored them 36-8 in the 2nd half. 

Craziest HS game I've ever watched.

 

My kid had 18 tackles (2 TFL) and after two games he's ranked 2nd in league, 16th in California, and 79th nationally.  I know that can't last, but we are enjoying the heck out of this season as long as we can. What a great sport!  🙂 

 

 

[Buffalo716]

8 minutes ago, Jon in Pasadena said:

Just for laughs:

 

Last week we had a comeback win for the ages in our second game.  The opponent had legit NFL-sized players (265lb fullback, 310lb OG, 315lb OT, etc.)

They run that nasty-ass old double wing offense. Boring but effective. They're used to just steamrolling smaller teams like us.  

We were down by 21 pts three different times in the 1st half, but then our D slammed the door, and we came back and outscored them 36-8 in the 2nd half. 

Craziest HS game I've ever watched.

 

My kid had 18 tackles (2 TFL) and after two games he's ranked 2nd in league, 16th in California, and 79th nationally.  I know that can't last, but we are enjoying the heck out of this season as long as we can. What a great sport!  🙂 

 

 

Congrats

 

When I was at the HS level I ran the wing T for a decade 

[Jon in Pasadena]

3 hours ago, Buffalo716 said:

Congrats

 

When I was at the HS level I ran the wing T for a decade 

If you have the personnel for it, it's brutal, but effective.  When we looked at the film of our opponent's offense their last few games we calculated they ran like 92% of the time. Either power, counter, or toss/reverse over and over and over and over....

[John from Riverside]

Enjoy the ride it doesn’t last forever
I lived vicariously through my son as he played multiple sports, started varsity immediately. All of that ended up playing semi pro ball and winning a couple of championships. Enjoyed the ride on all of it.

 

I was just with him in Las Vegas as he was doing a powerlifting meet about a month ago

[Jon in Pasadena]

17 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

Enjoy the ride it doesn’t last forever
I lived vicariously through my son as he played multiple sports, started varsity immediately. All of that ended up playing semi pro ball and winning a couple of championships. Enjoyed the ride on all of it.

 

I was just with him in Las Vegas as he was doing a powerlifting meet about a month ago

I'm glad you can still spend get together from time to time. They grow up too fast!

[ColoradoBills]

Linebacker you say?  How soon can you get him to OBD?

 

Seriously, good luck to your son!

[Jon in Pasadena]

8 minutes ago, ColoradoBills said:

Linebacker you say?  How soon can you get him to OBD?

 

Seriously, good luck to your son!

Thanks for the good wishes!   Tomorrow night will be a good test.  Our next opponent is ranked quite a bit higher than us, but we'll try to keep it rollin'...

[LeGOATski]

[Thrivefourfive]

If you’re in Pasadena Jon, Southern California HS football is ten hands full. Warm beautiful summer Friday night games.. right down to freezing games in November for the playoffs. Awesome, unforgettable stuff. Those Florida, southern, and Texas teams can pop on tv, but nothing is as deep as Southern California. Whichever top team is in Georgia, we have four or five of those, and one is actually public. I still go to a couple games a year, 30 years after my time in the east San Gabriel Valley.

Enjoy the season, Jon!!

[thenorthremembers]

Very cool to hear about other people's kids football experiences.   Congrats to your kid.  

 

My kid has played youth football for the last four years.   Started as a tight end, linebacker, and safety.  Moved to starting Quarterback in his 5th and 6th grade year.  Played fantastic last year leading his team to an undefeated season.  Moved to modified football this year as the high school is small and doesnt have a JV program.   So essentially a group of 7th-9th graders.   I didnt expect him to play Quarterback, and honestly didnt expect him to start this year.   But the coach in his infinite wisdom moved him to starting left guard.  My kid is 12 years old and is 5'5 110 lbs.  

 

This is where I could use advice.   Some  of the schools on their schedule send out their JV squads.   I am trying to teach him to be resolute and just do what his coach tells him.   However, the coach is doing things like making the principals son starting WR in 7th grade when the kid hasnt played a down of football in his life.    That said, how long do I go on telling him to be resolute when I am going to have to watch him be manhandled most games?  Doing my best at teaching him technique, stay low, wide base etc but at 110 lbs I am a little worried. 

 

 

Edited August 31, 2023 by thenorthremembers

[Buffalo716]

30 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

Very cool to hear about other people's kids football experiences.   Congrats to your kid.  

 

My kid has played youth football for the last four years.   Started as a tight end, linebacker, and safety.  Moved to starting Quarterback in his 5th and 6th grade year.  Played fantastic last year leading his team to an undefeated season.  Moved to modified football this year as the high school is small and doesnt have a JV program.   So essentially a group of 7th-9th graders.   I didnt expect him to play Quarterback, and honestly didnt expect him to start this year.   But the coach in his infinite wisdom moved him to starting left guard.  My kid is 12 years old and is 5'5 110 lbs.  

 

This is where I could use advice.   Some  of the schools on their schedule send out their JV squads.   I am trying to teach him to be resolute and just do what his coach tells him.   However, the coach is doing things like making the principals son starting WR in 7th grade when the kid hasnt played a down of football in his life.    That said, how long do I go on telling him to be resolute when I am going to have to watch him be manhandled most games?  Doing my best at teaching him technique, stay low, wide base etc but at 110 lbs I am a little worried. 

 

 

One of the best football players ever at my school was a modified guard... Built like your kid

 

Then a superstar QB

[thenorthremembers]

47 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

One of the best football players ever at my school was a modified guard... Built like your kid

 

Then a superstar QB

Good to hear man.  I honestly am a little heartbroken for the kid.  He eats, sleeps and breathes football and basketball.   He picked up a football at 3 years old and never looked back.  I pick him up from practice now and the spark is kinda gone.  He is a massive Michigan Wolverines fan, not sure where it came from because I am not.  But tonight after practice I told him "who knows man, maybe when you hit your growth spurt you'll end up 6'3 310 and all of this experience will be amazing.  Michigan is known for offensive lineman ya know!"   This parenting thing is tough because I truthfully dont know what to tell him. 

 

Hard line to walk because I dont want him questioning his coach.  Thank you for the positivity. 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2023 by thenorthremembers

[Buffalo716]

10 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

Good to hear man.  I honestly am a little heartbroken for the kid.  He eats, sleeps and breathes football and basketball.   He picked up a football at 3 years old and never looked back.  I pick him up from practice now and the spark is kinda gone.  He is a massive Michigan Wolverines fan, not sure where it came from because I am not.  But tonight after practice I told him "who knows man, maybe when you hit your growth spurt you'll end up 6'3 310 and all of this experience will be amazing.  Michigan is known for offensive lineman ya know!"   This parenting thing is tough because I truthfully dont know what to tell him. 

 

Hard line to walk because I dont want him questioning his coach.  Thank you for the positivity. 

 

 

Tell him he should be thankful that he's playing... Lots of kids don't get to play

 

Then I would tell him what my high school coach told the kid that he made a guard in modified....

 

I put my best athletes on the line

[thenorthremembers]

18 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

Tell him he should be thankful that he's playing... Lots of kids don't get to play

 

Then I would tell him what my high school coach told the kid that he made a guard in modified....

 

I put my best athletes on the line

Makes complete sense.   Thank you man!

[Riverboat Ritchie]

I am out here in CA too and still lots of kids playing in sac valley area. This is first year for two of my boys playing football and while I have gotten use to watching soccer and other sports, nothing is like football. Pretty cool moment last week, my older kid playing JV caught his first pass ever and took it 70 yards for a TD. He will be chasing that feeling for a while. Go Bills. 

Edited September 1, 2023 by Riverboat Ritchie

[John from Riverside]

4 hours ago, Jon in Pasadena said:

I'm glad you can still spend get together from time to time. They grow up too fast!

That is the number one thing I would take as much time as possible with your kids because you don’t know how much time you’ve got left
 

My children are the greatest accomplishment that I’ve ever had

[Jon in Pasadena]

19 hours ago, thenorthremembers said:

Very cool to hear about other people's kids football experiences.   Congrats to your kid.  

 

My kid has played youth football for the last four years.   Started as a tight end, linebacker, and safety.  Moved to starting Quarterback in his 5th and 6th grade year.  Played fantastic last year leading his team to an undefeated season.  Moved to modified football this year as the high school is small and doesnt have a JV program.   So essentially a group of 7th-9th graders.   I didnt expect him to play Quarterback, and honestly didnt expect him to start this year.   But the coach in his infinite wisdom moved him to starting left guard.  My kid is 12 years old and is 5'5 110 lbs.  

 

This is where I could use advice.   Some  of the schools on their schedule send out their JV squads.   I am trying to teach him to be resolute and just do what his coach tells him.   However, the coach is doing things like making the principals son starting WR in 7th grade when the kid hasnt played a down of football in his life.    That said, how long do I go on telling him to be resolute when I am going to have to watch him be manhandled most games?  Doing my best at teaching him technique, stay low, wide base etc but at 110 lbs I am a little worried. 

 

 

It is definitely a challenge to play on the line at that weight, and proper technique will certainly give him the best chance to succeed, but if I were to give one piece of advice based on our experience this past year, it would be to get him into the weight room for strength training as much as possible (of course consult with your pediatrician, trainer, etc. on what is the best/safest program for your son.)

 

My kid is not the largest, but he busts his ass in the weight room and is probably top 5-8 strongest on the team.  It helps so much for two important things:

 

1. Cuts way down on injuries to have more core and arm/leg strength.

2. Gives you an upper hand over larger kids who just rely on their size to bully smaller opponents.

 

Last game a player on the other team who outweighs my boy by like 45 lbs tried to cheap shot him after a play was dead by jumping him from behind. My kid just grabbed him, flipped him completely over his head and body-slammed the poor SOB.  Didn't mess with him after that! 😁

Edited September 1, 2023 by Jon in Pasadena

[Augie]

16 hours ago, Riverboat Ritchie said:

I am out here in CA too and still lots of kids playing in sac valley area. This is first year for two of my boys playing football and while I have gotten use to watching soccer and other sports, nothing is like football. Pretty cool moment last week, my older kid playing JV caught his first pass ever and took it 70 yards for a TD. He will be chasing that feeling for a while. Go Bills. 

 

Football definitely has the most juice to it. EVERYBODY shows up for the football games. Our son was QB and the offense so took a beating. He’d come with two bags of ice for the bathtub soak (while his friends were drinking beer and smoking weed around a fire). He needed it! For that reason (plus a host of serious injuries, including ACL/MCL and broken arm), football wasn’t my favorite to watch. He got the most press for it, including 1st team all-area when Manatee High, FL right up the road was #1 in the country loaded with D1 kids. Florida has some serious competition and both kids played against multiple eventual NFL players. But I was always on edge due to the injuries. 

 

I really enjoyed watching soccer. It was somehow soothing and more….”polite”.  Even cerebral in ways. Basketball was everybody just screaming at the refs and embarrassing themselves, and weightlifting is a total of six lifts, each taking several seconds. You hate to cross the state to watch THAT! 

 

They each have their own flavor, I guess. 

 

 

 

On 8/30/2023 at 9:02 PM, Jon in Pasadena said:

Just for laughs:

 

Last week we had a comeback win for the ages in our second game.  The opponent had legit NFL-sized players (265lb fullback, 310lb OG, 315lb OT, etc.)

They run that nasty-ass old double wing offense. Boring but effective. They're used to just steamrolling smaller teams like us.  

We were down by 21 pts three different times in the 1st half, but then our D slammed the door, and we came back and outscored them 36-8 in the 2nd half. 

Craziest HS game I've ever watched.

 

My kid had 18 tackles (2 TFL) and after two games he's ranked 2nd in league, 16th in California, and 79th nationally.  I know that can't last, but we are enjoying the heck out of this season as long as we can. What a great sport!  🙂 

 

 

My son’s OLine averaged 285 lbs at a small catholic school. The teams they faced were incredible and included a bunch of guys who played in the NFL. You can look out on a field and say “OH! Yep, that guy and that other guy over there. Those are not like the rest.”

[Buffalo716]

12 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

Football definitely has the most juice to it. EVERYBODY shows up for the football games. Our son was QB and the offense so took a beating. He’d come with two bags of ice for the bathtub soak (while his friends were drinking beer and smoking weed around a fire). He needed it! For that reason (plus a host of serious injuries, including ACL/MCL and broken arm), football wasn’t my favorite to watch. He got the most press for it, including 1st team all-area when Manatee High, FL right up the road was #1 in the country loaded with D1 kids. Florida has some serious competition and both kids played against multiple eventual NFL players. But I was always on edge due to the injuries. 

 

I really enjoyed watching soccer. It was somehow soothing and more….”polite”.  Even cerebral in ways. Basketball was everybody just screaming at the refs and embarrassing themselves, and weightlifting is a total of six lifts, each taking several seconds. You hate to cross the state to watch THAT! 

 

They each have their own flavor, I guess. 

 

 

 

My son’s OLine averaged 285 lbs at a small catholic school. The teams they faced were incredible and included a bunch of guys who played in the NFL. You can look out on a field and say “OH! Yep, that guy and that other guy over there. Those are not like the rest.”

I had a 400 pound teammate in 8th -12th grade 

 

literally 420lb in 8th grade

[Augie]

5 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

I had a 400 pound teammate in 8th -12th grade 

 

literally 420lb in 8th grade

 

That’s just not right. You see and hear stories like that far too often. I know there may be many very different reasons, but we have to take better care of our kids in general. 

[Buffalo716]

5 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

That’s just not right. You see and hear stories like that far too often. I know there may be many very different reasons, but we have to take better care of our kids in general. 

Playing football probably saved his life... He was literally all of 6'0-420 lb at 13.... Huge 

 

He is like the nicest hardest working guy ever... By senior year he cut down to maybe 315-320 ... Still huge but better 

 

Man I loved running behind him

Edited September 1, 2023 by Buffalo716

[Jon in Pasadena]

1 hour ago, Augie said:

My son’s OLine averaged 285 lbs at a small catholic school. The teams they faced were incredible and included a bunch of guys who played in the NFL. You can look out on a field and say “OH! Yep, that guy and that other guy over there. Those are not like the rest.”

Tell me about it. One of our league opponents features a 6'6 TE who's grandpa was Merlin friggin' Olsen.   My kid had better work on his vertical! 😅

 

(Dude also plays DE, so our OL can get in on the fun, too.)

[Augie]

12 minutes ago, Jon in Pasadena said:

Tell me about it. One of our league opponents features a 6'6 TE who's grandpa was Merlin friggin' Olsen.   My kid had better work on his vertical! 😅

 

(Dude also plays DE, so our OL can get in on the fun, too.)

 

I was in the stands on the road sitting by three guys scouting our opponent as they were coming up soon. They were from one of the Catholic schools in Tampa, I believe. One of the 3 played in the NFL, and the HC/OC was either Bernie Kosar or Vinny Testeverde. (SP?) They had former NFL players coaching every position group. 

 

If you are the best talent in the area, where else do you want to go to school if you are serious about moving up in football? Can’t afford the private school? I’m sure some scholarships are available! 

[pennstate10]

2 hours ago, Augie said:

 

Football definitely has the most juice to it. EVERYBODY shows up for the football games. Our son was QB and the offense so took a beating. He’d come with two bags of ice for the bathtub soak (while his friends were drinking beer and smoking weed around a fire). He needed it! For that reason (plus a host of serious injuries, including ACL/MCL and broken arm), football wasn’t my favorite to watch. He got the most press for it, including 1st team all-area when Manatee High, FL right up the road was #1 in the country loaded with D1 kids. Florida has some serious competition and both kids played against multiple eventual NFL players. But I was always on edge due to the injuries. 

 

I really enjoyed watching soccer. It was somehow soothing and more….”polite”.  Even cerebral in ways. Basketball was everybody just screaming at the refs and embarrassing themselves, and weightlifting is a total of six lifts, each taking several seconds. You hate to cross the state to watch THAT! 

 

They each have their own flavor, I guess. 

 

 

 

My son’s OLine averaged 285 lbs at a small catholic school. The teams they faced were incredible and included a bunch of guys who played in the NFL. You can look out on a field and say “OH! Yep, that guy and that other guy over there. Those are not like the rest.”

Interesting. 
 

True story. 
 

In the mid 90s i was watching my sons Mite (6-8 yo) hockey game at the Amherst rink. I think this was shortly befor it became the Pepsi center. Me and one of the other dads were watching the teams warm up. He pointed to a player on the other team and said, “that kid is going to play professional sports someday. Don’t know if it will be hockey or baseball, but he’ll play pro sports. “

I nodded and grinned, thought to myself, “yeah right, you’re here scouting 7 yo kids”

 

Some parents can’t separate themselves from kids games. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, by the way, kids name was Robbie Gronkowski.