Baldwin Spring 2008

By ANDY GIDDENS
Head Varsity Football Coach
Baldwin Middle-Senior High School

FAMILY, the one word we coaches wanted our kids to understand the true meaning of by the end of spring practice. We wanted them to realize that each and every one of their teammates were "family" to them and that we must work together as a family to accomplish any goals next fall. To hear someone talk about what "I can do" or what "I have accomplished" takes away from the team concept. It takes away from "FAMILY". In a small town such as Baldwin, family is not a hard concept to sell, but selling it and getting the kids to believe in it are two different things.

Since spring practice started on May 1st, our kids have been bombarded with offensive plays and defensive schemes. When you only graduate four seniors from last year's team, and have a good nucleus of kids returning, we felt the best way to get the most out of the kids this spring was to get everything in early and then spend the rest of the spring trying to perfect it. As always, the defense is way ahead of the offense. Our defense, led by sophomore-to-be Taylor Hogan at linebacker and senior-to-be Jermaine Clark at defensive end, has been an extremely dominate group in the early spring. Our defensive coordinator, Coach Steve Shields, does an excellent job preparing our defense. His intensity fuels our defense and the kids feed off of his enthusiasm. Offensively, we are led by senior-to-be Kentrall Mims at quarterback. Kentrall will be a three year starter at quarterback and his experience is key to the success of our offense. Our offensive line is bigger and stronger with seniors-to-be Travis Hufstetler, Zach Halifko, and CJ Crews returning to anchor the line. In the backfield, Cody Ziegler is working well at fullback with Greg Aikens, Jimmy Giffin, and Dustin Richardson seeing time at the other running back positions. In order for us to be competitive in the fall, we have to be sound in the things we do and use our speed to our advantage.

With our spring game approaching on May 22nd at St. Joseph's Academy in St. Augustine, we can only hope our kids will be ready, excited, and anxious to rebound from last year. We can only hope that at the conclusion of spring practice, the Baldwin Indian football team will know what it means to be a FAMILY.