Braddock impressed with Brownsville numbers
High school football coaches don’t have to be mathematics teachers to get caught up in the numbers game. For Brownsville coach Von Braddock, the roster has been a bit like a fluctuating stock market of late.
But while the Falcons’ numbers dwindled in recent years, the sixth-year coach saw a definitive increase in warm bodies with the beginning of this year’s training camp that could serve as a springboard towards a change in fortunes for the program.
“We had talked to kids in school and told them we need more kids if we’re going to compete,” Braddock said. “The majority of them did all the (recruiting) work this winter and a lot of our core kids just want to win at any cost at this point.”
The in-house recruiting effort worked, with roughly 34 players providing an enthusiastic atmosphere during the first week of actual drills. Some of the players were athletes with potential who had left the program and have now returned.
In the last three years, the Falcons’ roster had gone from over 40 players to 27 at the start of camp last year.
Braddock is the first to say that the results have everyone from the players on up to the coaching staff feeling good about the new campaign.
“Spirits have been good. I’m more excited than in the last two years with the kids we have,” Braddock said. “There aren’t any monsters; just kids who will do the job we ask them to do.”
Braddock said the coaching staff has been trying to increase the numbers in recent years. But as the program has struggled, many potential athletes stayed home each fall.
“Many kids in the school district don’t think they can win at football and so they don’t come out,” Braddock said. “They don’t want to put in all the extra work and not have success.
“But this year we’ve had some large enthusiasm. They’ve been up-tempo all week. Wednesday was the hardest day so far and the enthusiasm was as high as it has been in a long time.”
The bigger numbers mean players will be rested more with substitutions at times during games, especially on the offensive and defensive lines.
Brownsville has 23 players among the seniors and juniors and only 11 combined among the sophomores and freshmen. But Braddock said “The freshmen class will be a big class next year.”
He added, “We’ve been hitting pretty well, much better than in the past. But we still have a long way to go.”