CONDITIONING, LEADERSHIP BOOST BEARCATS
T. Scott Boatright, Reporter
10-02-2008
Football is a game of inches — and of adages.There are seemingly countless sayings involved with the game on the gridiron, and several could be used to describe the strong start of the undefeated Ruston Bearcats.
But the one that might best fit this season’s Bearcats is “Failure to prepare is preparing yourself to fail.”
There’s been no failure in the early going of the season for Ruston, and it’s been a year’s worth of dedication to preparing themselves that has helped the 4-0 Bearcats reach a No. 7 ranking in Class 5A football. Conditioning has played a big part in the ’Cats’ strong start, with first-year strength and conditioning coach Patrick Hall serving as a catalyst that has refueled Ruston’s intensity this season.
“It’s been a bunch of factors, but I think Coach Hall’s presence is definitely one of them,” Ruston coach Billy Laird said. “With that bald head and his size, he’s a pretty intimidating guy. He’s big and he’s tough, and the players know that if they don’t do something the right way, the way he expects it to be done, that there are going to repercussions.
“We worked hard and had a good spring. We knew when it was over that it had been a good spring and that we had a chance to be a pretty good team. We came into preseason practice in good condition and kept up the hard work and intensity, and that’s helped us get off to a good start. It all carried over. Coach Hall has played a big role in helping this team get into that kind of condition, and he’s gotten into their heads — they’ve bought into his way of doing things and the intensity he brings to this team.”
Hall, a former baseball and football All-Stater at Cedar Creek before becoming a baseball standout at Louisiana Tech (baseball is in his blood — grandfather Bill Hall played professionally for the Detroit Tigers) coached at Bellaire, Parkview Baptist (where he was part of four state championships), Lutcher, St. Amant and Port Allen before returning home to Ruston.
“It was a freak thing ending up here as a football coach,” Hall said.
“My wife is from Gonzales, but we decided we wanted to raise our kids in a more rural-type area, and she said she wanted to move to Ruston. I came up looking for a teaching job, and soon found out Coach Laird was looking for strength coach. It’s strange it happened that way, but it’s a perfect fit.”
GETTING FIT
Hall’s fit with the team and fellow coaches has helped the Bearcats become a well-conditioned and intense unit.
Senior defensive end Jon’al White (6-2, 265) is a Bearcat whose intensity level has noticeably turned up a few notches this season. Hall has helped play a role in that, but Laird said much of it has come from White.
“I think he finally realized his capabilities,” Laird said. “One of his big problems was stardom too early. He came in as a sophomore and started and was noticed because of his potential. People expected him to come out as a junior and keep things moving forward and getting better.
“But I don’t think he was ready for it. He wasn’t in the condition he needed to be last year. Sometimes he took plays off and just didn’t have a good year.
“This year he came in prepared. Coach Hall did his part, but Jon’al did his part, too, in realizing that he has plenty of potential, but it’s going to take hard work if he wants it to pay off for him.”
“The first day Coach Hall worked with us, he pushed us to the limits,” White said. “I fell out. He just seems to know how to get to you and pull that hard work out of you.”
Hall and White got to know each other well during those early offseason conditioning sessions as they were workout partners.
“It had to be me because no one else was strong enough to spot Jon’al in the weight room,” Hall said. “I thought I was going to die those first three weeks, so I know I pushed them. But the thing is, they push themselves. Jon’al saw how hard the others players around him were working and realized he needed to be working that hard, too.”
So far that work has paid off for White, who has recorded 30 tackles (12 solo) this season, with three quarterback sacks and another seven takedowns behind the line of scrimmage for 22 yards in losses. White has added three quarterback hurries, two pass breakups, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
“That first day Coach Hall had us run about 1,500 yards,” senior safety Javontay Crowe said. “People were dropping and throwing up everywhere. In three years we hadn’t seen anything like that, but it’s what got us in shape for the season.
“Off the field, Coach Hall is one of the coolest coaches we have. But on the field, he brings the intensity. He doesn’t let you slack off ever, whether it’s in practice or in a game.”
LEADERSHIP
While conditioning has played its part in Ruston’s resurgence, senior leadership also has been a key factor. And many of the Bearcats aren’t only leaders on the field, but in the classroom, too. Receiver Ross Garbarino is student council president, linebacker T.L. Oakley is vice president and Gantt Graham is parliamentarian. Even junior rushing leader Carlos Wilson is in on the act as the student council secretary.
White has seen plenty of production from his teammates to help spur on his strong play. The group of senior Bearcats has played together for more than five years now and know how to push each other’s buttons.
“Some of the credit has to go to the group of seniors on this team,” Laird said. “We have a group of 35 seniors and they’ve really dedicated themselves to making themselves, and the whole team, better. They stay on each other and make sure they’ll all on the same page and working hard.
“This team is close and is really believing in each other, and that still goes back to it all starting with the team buying into that offseason work and preparation.”
Their success hasn’t surprised everyone. Garbarino’s father Danny is a former principal at RHS and remembers telling some of the current seniors years ago how hard work could pay off for them.
“After their eighth-grade season, I was the booster club president and I told this group of current seniors that they had a chance to do something special if they kept working. I held up the state championship ring from the 1980s that I wear and pointed to it and told them that if they kept working hard, they had a chance to wear one, too.
“This senior class has stayed together and worked hard the whole way. They’ve had some additions and subtractions, but they’ve always fit together perfectly and they’ve all become leaders, from top to bottom — even the seniors who don’t really play in the games. They’re still doing their part to help this team be the best it can be.”
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