(Courtesy photo: Coach Zac Harrell.)
Note: This interview was recorded in the Athens Athletic Office on Wednesday, Sept. 16.
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The 3-0 Athens Hornets will host Wills Point Friday night for Homecoming.
The Breakdown (Quotes from Coach Harrell):
-- Coach Harrell talks about being 3-0. (:50)
The Hornets went on the road and dominated the Fairfield Eagles last week, 48-0. Here’s where you can read my game story and observations column from Fairfield.
“Every win feels good in this deal. Anytime you can get a win it’s a lot better than losing.”
“Last week was a great win, especially with how our defense played and how we were able to control the game.”
-- Athens started fast in Fairfield. (2:26)
The Hornets have shown themselves to be a second half team so far this year, but they came out on fire last week. Athens led at the half, 36-0.
“That was good to see. We challenged our guys to work on starting fast, let's work on playing better early.”
“Games like that are good for your program because everybody gets to play and it keeps everybody engaged. It keeps everybody involved.”
-- A plethora of weapons for the Hornets (4:15)
Every week, it seems like somebody different comes up with a big game for the Hornets.
“What I’ve been so proud of them for is not having egos.”
“Super proud of our guys for being selfless and buying into what we’re trying to preach.”
-- Hornets piling up takeaways. (6:10)
Athens have done a great job this year with turnovers. Against Fairfield, the Hornets had three fumble recoveries and did not turn the ball over.
“We’re plus-4 on the season in that department, which is good, we always want to be on the plus end of things. We’re doing a good job and we need to continue that.”
-- Coach emphasizes the need to keep improving. (7:33)
This is the last non-district game for the Hornets and the competition is going to increase with the start of district play next week.
“We have to -- as a program and a football team -- keep getting better every day, every week. Because if we don’t get better this week, then we’re not going to be ready to compete in this district.”
“It doesn’t really matter who you’re playing each week, the focus is us and the focus is we have to be a better football team and we need to get better.”
-- Looking at the Wills Point Tigers. (8:26)
Wills Point comes to town with a new coaching staff. The Tigers run a spread offense with a 60/40 run-pass ratio. Defensively they are a bit of an unknown, because they have not faced an offense like Athens yet.
“They are improving every week.”
“All three teams they’ve played have been run-oriented, more Wing T-type teams. There’s a little bit of unknown there of how they’re going to defend us, because we haven’t seen them against anybody that is similar to us.”
-- Discussion about zone vs man-to-man defense. (11:05)
We follow a little bit of a rabbit trail and discuss the differences between zone and man defenses in the secondary.
“You’re going to call different plays based on what you’re seeing. To me a zone defense is a little easier to attack.”
-- The Hornet offensive line. (14:07)
We discuss the improvement of the offensive line after three games. The Hornet’s are young along the line, with just one player with varsity experience before this year.
“There was no doubt after Friday’s game they played their best game as a unit.”
“One area that we focused on this week is we got to quit having false start penalties.”
-- What needs to be done this Friday night. (17:07)
After exploring some interesting topics, we get back to the Wills Point Tigers. Coach discusses the keys to the game.
“We have to improve as a team and be a better team this Friday than we were last.”
-- Coach’s Bible study. (20:52)
Mixed among his rosters and plans, Coach had a Bible study open on his desk.
“We do a coach’s outreach study with our coaching staff every year in the fall and the spring. It is a great organization and our current study is the first six books of Genesis.”
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