The Anniston coach hopes as the summer days drag on those words resonate with his players.
“Man, that’s a kill shot,” he yelled to one defensive back who missed a opportunity for a highlight reel tackle.
“You’re supposed to take care of the guard so we can get back there,” he told another player minutes later, after a potential sack opportunity was wasted.
No matter the 25-0 winning margin over Greensboro, Bullock wasn’t letting up on his job. Nearly every play he had at least one nugget of football wisdom for his players between snaps of the ball.
It’s all part of the process that Bullock is still early into. After being given an interim head coach title on June 22 and then being bumped up to unrestricted honors after a 10-3 season just shy of six months later, he’s still yet to have a complete year at the helm with this group of players.
And when you add into that the losses suffered by graduation, his job only becomes more difficult.
“When they are young you have to pretty much tell them what you want them to do,” Bullock said. “That’s kind of what I was doing, just get them in line so they understand what we’re trying to do.”
“We’ve got some kinks we’ve got to work out ... in just 10 days, you don’t really have time to do what you want to do, you’ve just got to pick and choose the critical things you’ve got to work on.”
At the north end of the county, Daryl Hamby could fully empathize.
The Weaver coach has passed his first-year anniversary, but the two halves the Bearcats played against Hokes Bluff and Pleasant Valley were the first experience of spring jamborees that he’d had.
Weaver knocked off the Raiders 14-0 and then tied Hokes Bluff 7-7 after fumbling the ball on the 1-yard line.
Weaver got a touchdown out of Brandell Massey, and two others from a pair of freshmen: Chris Arnold and Chris Troge, who scored on a fumble recovery.
Even though the tie wasn’t ideal, it was a better situation than last year when Hamby didn’t even feel his team was prepared enough to participate in a spring jamboree.
This year, Hamby said they have made major strides from where they were last season.
“The coaches that we’ve brought into this system know the whole system a whole lot better,” he said. “Now, we’re fine tuning things — and of course you learn something every year.
“I really do have a great coaching staff. I can literally just let them coach.”
