Coaches Corner for August 12th: Brock Hinkel, Madrid Football

With us on coaches corner, KWBG, going to chance to talk a little matter of football today. Brock Enkel joining us as a Tigers, obviously, into practice and expectations. And I think every year, Brock, you have to handle your teams differently. But the neat thing, I think, for me, when you and I have worked together now for a while is the end goal is always the same. We want to go in the postseason. We want to go as deep as we can in the postseason. And then let's see what happens if we're one of the final four. I got to imagine that's kind of the same goals for this year. Yeah, absolutely. And when you kind of set that standard, we were in the unidome just two years ago. So these seniors got a chance to play in there as sophomores and got a little taste of it and kind of missed out. Didn't win some games last year. Had some injuries, whatever the case may be. Those kids didn't quite go the way we wanted it to go last year, and those kids came in pretty motivated to try and get back there. So you never know. We won't come in and sit there and go, our goals are the unidome and to make a run and win the whole thing. Our goals are come in to keep them week by week basis. And this week is to have a great week of practice leading into our midnight practice on Friday and Saturday. So each year, you have a new team. You have seniors that graduate that you'll miss. And we're excited to kind of see what this year's team's about. Well, the one thing that you guys always seem like you do such a great job in the off season. And I know it's difficult because you got multi-sport athletes. But Brock, I always feel like you guys outworked a lot of other teams. You get in the weight room, you get doing things that you need to be done, seven on seven, lifting on a Saturday morning just because, hey, I got to get in there and I got to get my lift in. Tell me the off season. Did you feel pretty good about it this year? Yeah. One thing I noticed too, we had a lot of kids play multi-sport, multi-sport athletes. And I think it starts there. We always want our kids competing. That's a big philosophy of mine. I want kids playing as many sports as possible. And we had a lot of kids do that. And then we had a lot of kids buy into the off season weight lifting program. And you can kind of see just in their bodies how they've transformed themselves over the last six months, six to eight months, really. And I think that's part of leadership-wise and culture. We've got going at matter, not just in football, but just all of our athletics. So yeah, we had a really good off season. And kids are pretty motivated. And it's fun to watch kids just come in and grind it out and work the butts off. Obviously, Brock, new season, new players, new things. But I mean, the system is still there. You guys aren't reinventing the wheel here this year. How have the kids kind of grasped what you want them to do? Because there are new kids in new spots. And I know we'll talk about new quarterback and offensive line. Definitely took a hit with graduation. But how have they stepped in and kind of taken what you want them to do and applied it to the field? Yeah, it's one thing, too, we have going for us. We haven't had many coaching turnovers that mattered either. So we pretty much have the same staff as when I started. So systems have been in place for a while now. Our schemes are in place. And our kids understand them. And when they're doing extra work, either on the field and the gym and the wintertime, they kind of know what we want to do in the fall. So they're working on that stuff on their own. So that's also fun to see. And we have positions at different spots. And kids are always talking about, I want to play this, this, and this. And it's just fun to watch kids work and compete and have a general idea of the systems moving forward that we're going to be running in the fall. Well, I know better than to talk about the skill positions first, because you are still a guy in the trenches. I think you always will be Brock as a head coach and offensive defensive line. I know are really important to you. So let's start out with the big fellas up front. How do you feel about the line play so far and kind of who's been mixing in? Because as we talked about, you guys lost quite a few offensive linemen from last year. Yeah, we did. We graduated four seniors from the starting offensive line. And those guys were great. And a couple multi-year starters in that group. And so anytime you're heading into a season where you got to replace four of your five, it's going to take some time. And that's where we're at right now. And the kids have been working really hard. They're actually talking to one of my old line coaches yesterday, like this group is pretty smart. They're picking things up pretty quickly. And there's some names on there. You'll probably recognize Cash Frey was a state qualifier and wrestling this year. Quint Moore was a returner on our team last year. And then we got Rogan, Allen, Olin Higgins, and Zane Smith. We'll round out that starting lineup. And big kids. And the other thing I like about this group is they're athletic. And they can get around and move a little bit for being how big they are. So I'm excited for these guys. They're doing everything we asked right now. And it's just fun watching where this group has started from this summertime to where we are now. We've made huge strides. So just like you said, I'm an Olin D-Line guy. So it's fun working with these guys and getting these guys all caught up to speed before week one. All right. So let's talk about the specialists now a little bit. We have a new quarterback that's obviously going to step in. I feel like, though, running back wise, we've got some kids that have been a part of this and not going to be huge surprises. And then, obviously, you've got a couple of kids on the edge with Jevin and Emerson that are going to be a lot of fun to get the football to at times. Give me some specialist, Brock. I know you were tight end back of the day. I like to catch the ball. I know you're going to chuck it around a little bit too. Yeah, absolutely. I think we're pretty deep. This is where our depth is in all of our skill positions. I feel like we could throw out three running backs right now and not miss a beat on the varsity level. I could argue we got two of the best tight ends in the state, all classes. And then our wide receiver depth, if we could rotate in six to eight guys at the receiver spot on Friday night. So Chase Perkins is going to take over the quarterback duties. And he's excited to put a lot of work in throwing this offseason and being a leader. So yeah, like you said, we've got some depth there at our skill spots. And one of the challenges we're doing is trying to put all those guys in the best spots for them to be successful. And it's been fun rotating guys around. And I think that's one of the better things about this skill group is I think a lot of them can play a lot of these different positions. And that's what we've been moving around. Kenneth Grimm's the name that he's going to start out as a slot receiver. But he's also going to rotate in at running back. He'll return punts and kicks. And might throw him some deep balls. So he's one that can kind of flex all over the place. Will Atkinson's going to be a two-year starter, going to be a three-year starter at that running back spot. And he's just a workhorse and a grinder and a really smart football player. And obviously with Jevin and Emerson at our tight end spots. And then guys like Max Fowler, Logan Begardus, Brady Springer, Sandra Nelson will be one out there, Cole Deppy. We just got quite a few guys out at wide receiver that I think we can mix in there that can all, one, not only run good routes, catch the football, they're all willing blockers. And you know me when we like to run the ball. If you're going to be out there on the field, doesn't matter what spot, you've got to be able to block somebody. So yeah, we're really excited about this skills group that we've got a lot of depth there we feel like. So I know looking at the schedule, and I remember doing this last year and you're not supposed to do this, but I always kind of look ahead then after the season's over to the next schedule for the next year. We got some great road games that are going to be very challenging this year, Brock. I know you look at the schedule at first glance and you say, okay, they're not the worst road trips, but man, there are going to be some challenges in there this year, aren't there? Absolutely. You've got to go to ACGC this year. That's always a tough one. They've put their name out there at Claffey, always going to be in the running there.

We got it. Yeah, I mean, I think our schedule, our district, I think it's pretty good.

We had, I think we had three of our four-win first-round playoff games, and so I think our non-districts are tough with Woodward Granger and ACGC, and then you've got to go play Erlum. That's always a hard place to play football game at. They have a great home environment on their turf. Yeah, they're just, they're going to be tough there, and got Lendil solely at home, and they're just as good as any Claffey football team's been, in the last five to 10 years. So, yeah, we're excited, you know? It's, that's kind of how we wanted it to be when we were about two years ago looking for non-district games with our district, and that's what we wanted. So, I think our kids are embracing, you know, playing good teams, and I think that makes you better come playoff time. Brock, last thing out of me. I know we're still very, very early into the practice schedule, but overall, what do you think about this group? What can this group achieve here during this 20-26 season? Yeah, that's a good question. You know, we don't ever want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but this group comes together and they start clicking, and we can do some things that, you know, they just keep improving from week to week, and, you know, embrace, you know, some of the tough times. That was one of the things I really liked to see last week. We made camp really hard, and those kids didn't miss a beat and complained and do nothing, and they were kind of almost hooting and hollering and getting after it and embracing the tough times, and I think if we could do that, I think we could have a pretty special group this year. Now, without being said, we got to continue to work, continue to get better, because we're obviously not there yet, but, you know, this group could be pretty fun moving forward for sure. Brock, as always, thank you so much for some time. Best of luck as you get ready for the scrimmage with Logan Magnoli, and we'll talk to you again here real soon. Thanks for having me on. You bet. Brock Enklegan joining us. Madrid Football here on Coaches Corner.