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Media Day impressions: Part 3
Stone Bridge, Loudoun Valley and Dominion were three of the schools represented July 29 at the Gameday media luncheon.
Here's a brief look at what each of those schools coaches had to say.
Bulldog coach Mickey Thompson does not feel there is a lot of pressure involved with being the defending state champions.
"It's high school football. It's not a lot of pressure to tell you the truth. I've slept every night. I've never had a problem. I don't understand how people can get so wound up about high school football. It's a fun time.”
Nick Sheehan has transferred in from Loudoun Valley and should pay dividends at receiver and in the Bulldog secondary.
Stone Bridge took part in a couple 7-on-7 camps this summer – a rarity for coach Thompson. He was impressed with what he saw and stated “we could be pretty special throwing the ball” in 2008.
Zach Thompson and Brian Slay, a pair of D-1 defensive linemen, will alternate at TE. Thompson said they will be two of the best TE's you'll see anywhere in the state.
The secondary is a bit of a concern on defense but the front 7 or 8 are very solid.
New Dominion coach Karl Buckwalter returns to the sidelines after spending the last five years in the corporate world.
"I'm excited to be at Dominion and be back in the game,” said Buckwalter, who was highly successful in previous coaching stints at McLean and Colonial Forge.
Buckwalter called sophomore RB Deandre Reaves “one of the best tailbacks I've seen.” But the new coach also feels Reaves was keyed on too much last season and wants to open up the offense. He said Henry Lobo and Tre Baxter can really scoot as well.
Baseball standout Chris Taylor returns to football after skipping the last two seasons. Taylor, a senior, is competing with Andy Pont for the QB job.
The Titans are young at OL and DL and Buckwalter would like to limit kids from going both ways. He plans to run a 4-3 attacking style of defense. Dominion has some kids that can run in the secondary and they plan on sending people after the QB.
Recently hired Loudoun Valley frontman Danny McGrath is still getting to know his players.
McGrath spent one season as an assistant coach at Park View after a successful playing career at Herndon and Virginia Tech.
"I hope to bring all my good experiences that I've had in football to the Loudoun Valley program. I've been fortunate enough to be a part of good teams and I've been a part of bad teams. I hope I can take a lot of what I learned from the good teams and instill that in the kids at Loudoun Valley. I hope to allow our kids to have a successful, positive time in our program."
McGrath said he's received great support from the community so far. He simply expects great effort from his players this season.
"We are going to try to put our kids in the best position to be successful. We are going to find a way to do that.”
McGrath admits that his first fall camp as a head coach with players he is still learning will be interesting.
"I hope I'm able to establish our expectation right off the bat. I think the players are kind of feeling their way around and seeing how I am. I'm trying to feel my way around them and look for ways to connect with them anyway I can. So we'll see. It's going to be an interesting experiment over the next month to see how much we can get out of our program."
Check out Jason's blog detailing Broad Run and Park View.
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