Prep football preview: Fayetteville Christian gets back to basics
By Patrick Obley - Correspondent FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER
Noah Barnes is the future of Fayetteville Christian's football program, one in which he will not be around to see.
Barnes is a senior whose team is coming off a winless season. He is frank when assessing the program's past and prognosticating about its immediate future.
"Last season was tough, probably the worst season of football Fayetteville Christian has ever seen," he said. "Our season may not be determined a success in terms of wins and losses, but we're learning. There's improvement."
Barnes, who will play receiver and defensive back this year, is as close to a prototype coach Greg Bryant has for the program's future. He leads the team's post-practice prayer. He leads the weight room workouts. He is the clean-up enforcer in the locker room.
"A lot of little things," Bryant said. "Making sure the guys do what they're supposed to do. That's what he is great at."
But what about on the field? Here is where Bryant's program vision comes into focus. What happens on the field at Fayetteville Christian is not what is important for Bryant right now.
Everyone carrying themselves like Barnes is the present goal.
"It's all about building character and being good young men," Bryant said. "About 15 or 20 years ago, it was all about winning, but it's not so important as becoming good young men and being successful in life. You can win all the games in the world, but if you are not a mature young man, you're in trouble when it comes to life."
A player quit the team this past Tuesday. As he walked up to Bryant on the field wearing street clothes, the terror on his face was obvious. Turns out, it was the best part of practice for Bryant that day. Why?
"The young man had the courage to come up to me and say, Coach, I can't play. I have a job,' and I was so proud of him," Bryant said. "I will do anything for that young man because he was being a man right there.
So for now, it's about showing up at practice. Even when it's over 100 degrees (Said Bryant: "Kids get told to stay home because it's hot. When I was a kid, my momma said, 'isn't there some place you're supposed to be?'"). It's about organization and simplicity. It's about doing just a few things correctly rather than dozens of things erratically.
"We're going to take everything back to basic," Bryant said. "We're not going to try and get fancy with it. Just do one or two things and get really good at it and if they stop us, oh, well. The playbook is three sheets."
Barnes welcomes the change of pace from last year's complicated schemes and said the team has been responding well to the simplified approach. Still, he is pragmatic about 2015.
"My freshman year, we were playoff contenders, so going from the playoffs to 0-10 is a bit frustrating, so . two or three wins?" Barnes said with a wince. "It's hard to say that because I'm an optimist. I try to look at the best, but you have to be a little bit of a realist out there."
Bryant nodded at that assessment.
"That's OK. Every building you build starts with one brick," he said. "Every mile begins with one step. That's where we are right now. Last year was step one, this is step three and hopefully we get to step five and just build our program up over here. All they need to do is be better kids, get better and grow and just believe in themselves and what we're trying to teach them."
By Patrick Obley - Correspondent FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER
Noah Barnes is the future of Fayetteville Christian's football program, one in which he will not be around to see.
Barnes is a senior whose team is coming off a winless season. He is frank when assessing the program's past and prognosticating about its immediate future.
"Last season was tough, probably the worst season of football Fayetteville Christian has ever seen," he said. "Our season may not be determined a success in terms of wins and losses, but we're learning. There's improvement."
Barnes, who will play receiver and defensive back this year, is as close to a prototype coach Greg Bryant has for the program's future. He leads the team's post-practice prayer. He leads the weight room workouts. He is the clean-up enforcer in the locker room.
"A lot of little things," Bryant said. "Making sure the guys do what they're supposed to do. That's what he is great at."
But what about on the field? Here is where Bryant's program vision comes into focus. What happens on the field at Fayetteville Christian is not what is important for Bryant right now.
Everyone carrying themselves like Barnes is the present goal.
"It's all about building character and being good young men," Bryant said. "About 15 or 20 years ago, it was all about winning, but it's not so important as becoming good young men and being successful in life. You can win all the games in the world, but if you are not a mature young man, you're in trouble when it comes to life."
A player quit the team this past Tuesday. As he walked up to Bryant on the field wearing street clothes, the terror on his face was obvious. Turns out, it was the best part of practice for Bryant that day. Why?
"The young man had the courage to come up to me and say, Coach, I can't play. I have a job,' and I was so proud of him," Bryant said. "I will do anything for that young man because he was being a man right there.
So for now, it's about showing up at practice. Even when it's over 100 degrees (Said Bryant: "Kids get told to stay home because it's hot. When I was a kid, my momma said, 'isn't there some place you're supposed to be?'"). It's about organization and simplicity. It's about doing just a few things correctly rather than dozens of things erratically.
"We're going to take everything back to basic," Bryant said. "We're not going to try and get fancy with it. Just do one or two things and get really good at it and if they stop us, oh, well. The playbook is three sheets."
Barnes welcomes the change of pace from last year's complicated schemes and said the team has been responding well to the simplified approach. Still, he is pragmatic about 2015.
"My freshman year, we were playoff contenders, so going from the playoffs to 0-10 is a bit frustrating, so . two or three wins?" Barnes said with a wince. "It's hard to say that because I'm an optimist. I try to look at the best, but you have to be a little bit of a realist out there."
Bryant nodded at that assessment.
"That's OK. Every building you build starts with one brick," he said. "Every mile begins with one step. That's where we are right now. Last year was step one, this is step three and hopefully we get to step five and just build our program up over here. All they need to do is be better kids, get better and grow and just believe in themselves and what we're trying to teach them."
