Post by Aggie One on Oct 9, 2011 22:32:21 GMT -5
No Substitute for Quality Coaching and Game Preparation
by Craig R. Turner
bluedaethvalley.com
My wife and I didn’t really want to leave Aggie Stadium yesterday. It been over a decade since we have witnessed A&T fans in such a pumped up mood; the team, the band, the cheerleaders.
Every one that was decked out in their blue and gold were laughing, talking typical Aggie victory trash, and were already getting themselves pumped up for the “Greatest Homecoming on Earth” coming up this week.
The big question is this. What has happened to an A&T team that was 1-10 last year that simply were playing out the string, reduced to Division II level personnel wise because of APR problems and off the field problems into a team that is now 3-2 and 2-0 in the MEAC and has over half the coaches in the league sweating bullets when looking down the schedule now.
The automatic “W” has been erased from the N.C. A&T date and is now regarded as “oh hell not them.” Yesterday’s 22-3 shell lacking of the Bethune Cookman dream team was no accident and no “Any Given Saturday” fluke.
Rod Broadway has gotten his slightly more than 33 scholarship athletes and his thirty walk-ons to believe that they can not only now play with anyone on any Saturday, not just compete but come out and expect to win.
It’s not about swagger or bragging but about Broadway and his staff getting these kids to forget what happened in years before, not worry about what’s down the road and start believing that when you work to improve your performance from the week before, reduce your mistakes, be mentally tough and be humble, play together as a unit and have each other’s back and then go out make plays the rest will fall into place.
A&T defense was immediately cast a major preseason problem by sports writers and football gurus that could not measure up to the elite in the MEAC. Wrong.
The Aggies are not your standard defense of a bunch of 300 pounders but a defense that is first smart, fast, and plays as a single unit. They continue to prove that a team composed of speed, strong linebackers, and a tough secondary that covers, and an active defensive line that uses penetration and time disruption along with a relentless pass rush is what it is.
They have become something really hard for opponents to deal with and to attack.
Offensively what A&T does is not hard to decipher but it is hard to stop. They run the football. They don’t go away from it if it’s not working at the beginning or not and the more the game goes on the better they get.
Everyone knew about Mike Mayhew but they now they have suddenly opened their eyes to Dominique Drake who isn’t a pretty back, but who is tough as nails, hits the hole at full blast and runs North-South and over people now giving A&T a couple of 100 yard capable tailbacks which now should allow dangerous do everything playmaker Rickey Lewis a lot more freedom he hasn’t had up until now.
Broadway is also taking a good young quarterback and teaching him how to manage a game rather than trying win it all by himself. And after five collegiate starts, there isn’t a lot of worry about how he will react anymore but that he only gets better and makes the plays when he has to make them each week.
Everyone keeps asking me how is this guy managing to do this with the same basic kids and a bunch of walk-ons?
Experience and patience.
Remember when Broadway first came to NCCU he faced a tough schedule and a culture of losing just like at A&T. After that transition in the first year, NCCU became the most feared team in all of HBCU football.
The one thing that most people have completely forgotten about is that NCCU was a D-II school during his tenure there with about the same numbers as A&T has now and produced win after win after win once his players began to listen to his mantra.
What is happening now is the beginning of a repeat of that history. He does not have the powerhouse numbers past his first 44 players or so but the core group is extremely talented, smart and they listen and it has now carried over to the walk-ons and backups.
The harder they work, they better they become each week, not looking behind them or looking ahead of themselves but simply focusing in on what is right in front of them.
This week its Delaware State in what should be the one of biggest crowd that the Aggies will play in front of, especially at home until NCCU comes here just before Thanksgiving.
There will be no talk of championships or the like but just get that next win.
If A&T stays on this present path, and the good Lord willing we stay away from injuries, the rest will take of its self in due course.
It may be easier for Coach Broadway to keep his team focused than the Aggie Fans but after enduring such a long drought of embarrassment for almost ten years, it’s okay if the Aggie Nation celebrates just a tad bit.
Saturdays are getting to be fun again. At least it definitely was late Saturday evening.
by Craig R. Turner
bluedaethvalley.com
My wife and I didn’t really want to leave Aggie Stadium yesterday. It been over a decade since we have witnessed A&T fans in such a pumped up mood; the team, the band, the cheerleaders.
Every one that was decked out in their blue and gold were laughing, talking typical Aggie victory trash, and were already getting themselves pumped up for the “Greatest Homecoming on Earth” coming up this week.
The big question is this. What has happened to an A&T team that was 1-10 last year that simply were playing out the string, reduced to Division II level personnel wise because of APR problems and off the field problems into a team that is now 3-2 and 2-0 in the MEAC and has over half the coaches in the league sweating bullets when looking down the schedule now.
The automatic “W” has been erased from the N.C. A&T date and is now regarded as “oh hell not them.” Yesterday’s 22-3 shell lacking of the Bethune Cookman dream team was no accident and no “Any Given Saturday” fluke.
Rod Broadway has gotten his slightly more than 33 scholarship athletes and his thirty walk-ons to believe that they can not only now play with anyone on any Saturday, not just compete but come out and expect to win.
It’s not about swagger or bragging but about Broadway and his staff getting these kids to forget what happened in years before, not worry about what’s down the road and start believing that when you work to improve your performance from the week before, reduce your mistakes, be mentally tough and be humble, play together as a unit and have each other’s back and then go out make plays the rest will fall into place.
A&T defense was immediately cast a major preseason problem by sports writers and football gurus that could not measure up to the elite in the MEAC. Wrong.
The Aggies are not your standard defense of a bunch of 300 pounders but a defense that is first smart, fast, and plays as a single unit. They continue to prove that a team composed of speed, strong linebackers, and a tough secondary that covers, and an active defensive line that uses penetration and time disruption along with a relentless pass rush is what it is.
They have become something really hard for opponents to deal with and to attack.
Offensively what A&T does is not hard to decipher but it is hard to stop. They run the football. They don’t go away from it if it’s not working at the beginning or not and the more the game goes on the better they get.
Everyone knew about Mike Mayhew but they now they have suddenly opened their eyes to Dominique Drake who isn’t a pretty back, but who is tough as nails, hits the hole at full blast and runs North-South and over people now giving A&T a couple of 100 yard capable tailbacks which now should allow dangerous do everything playmaker Rickey Lewis a lot more freedom he hasn’t had up until now.
Broadway is also taking a good young quarterback and teaching him how to manage a game rather than trying win it all by himself. And after five collegiate starts, there isn’t a lot of worry about how he will react anymore but that he only gets better and makes the plays when he has to make them each week.
Everyone keeps asking me how is this guy managing to do this with the same basic kids and a bunch of walk-ons?
Experience and patience.
Remember when Broadway first came to NCCU he faced a tough schedule and a culture of losing just like at A&T. After that transition in the first year, NCCU became the most feared team in all of HBCU football.
The one thing that most people have completely forgotten about is that NCCU was a D-II school during his tenure there with about the same numbers as A&T has now and produced win after win after win once his players began to listen to his mantra.
What is happening now is the beginning of a repeat of that history. He does not have the powerhouse numbers past his first 44 players or so but the core group is extremely talented, smart and they listen and it has now carried over to the walk-ons and backups.
The harder they work, they better they become each week, not looking behind them or looking ahead of themselves but simply focusing in on what is right in front of them.
This week its Delaware State in what should be the one of biggest crowd that the Aggies will play in front of, especially at home until NCCU comes here just before Thanksgiving.
There will be no talk of championships or the like but just get that next win.
If A&T stays on this present path, and the good Lord willing we stay away from injuries, the rest will take of its self in due course.
It may be easier for Coach Broadway to keep his team focused than the Aggie Fans but after enduring such a long drought of embarrassment for almost ten years, it’s okay if the Aggie Nation celebrates just a tad bit.
Saturdays are getting to be fun again. At least it definitely was late Saturday evening.
