Gods Beat Writer: Samuel B. Hopson
The Greek Gods are back for a fourth season and looking to improve on last season’s tumultuous run. The team started the season a solid 3-4 start to season 8, a change in ownership/management philosophy and a firing of coaches lead to the team releasing or trading away over 90% of the roster by the end of the season. The only remaining starter from the team is QB Chucker Longfellow. Longfellow has accepted a backup role with the team due to his loyalty to the owner and gm. “I want to be part of a championship run on this team with these fans. I realize that I need to be a backup and a role model for the younger guys, but I’m fine with that. Chucker is gonna be new and improved this year, and I’m gonna get me some stats.” When asked if his reason for staying behind, was because he got 0 offers from other teams Longfellow responded, “I can’t control what happens with other teams, I know what I’m capable of and people are going to be asking about my availability this off-season.” The rest of the roster has had a full off-season to finally gel together and get some chemistry; the newest faces on the Greek Gods are those of the brand new coaching staff.
New head coach Bill Tice has brought a new style to the Greek Gods that focuses on toughness. “We aren’t going to back down from anyone even if they have way more talent. We will play hard every down of the season and we hope to surprise some people.” Tice has brought with him an exciting new staff that will help focus the team on achieving the goals Tice has set.
Offensive Preview
Heading up the new offense is Coordinator Gerald Thomas; Thomas has never had an offensive coordinator job and was previously a crabber on the hit show, So You Think You Can Crab. “Coach Tice has a lot of faith in me for some unexpected reason. I guess it was my charisma that got me the job; although to be honest I didn’t apply and still don’t know exactly what I’m supposed to do.” The leaders of the offense will be playing QB, they will be expected to execute the game plan and keep the defense off the field so it is never too tired to be effective. The 2nd of the two-headed monster at the position is Joseph Montana, Montana is still raw and may not perform well early but is very accurate. At the HB position a Boom-Flash combo is expected to keep defenses off balance. The Boom of the position HB J.J. Sampson, who may be a bit slow of foot but he seeks contact and is focused on having the defender bounce off him. Flash Reggie Pope doesn’t have much other than speed right now, Pope said “Well, I’m still learning how to cut with cleats on, I’m a natural runner and have great speed but I still need learn how to keep my speed up after I cut.”
The FB’s and TE’s will not be expected to contribute early on in the rushing or receiving game respectively, but they will be expected to do their job and help the rest of the offense perform well. I caught up with starting TE Zach Schneider in the restroom at training camp, “Well, we(FB’s and TE’s) really practice a lot together; we are focused on contributing the same things to the offense. We need to block well to open up lanes for Boom-Flash and Chucker, but we also need to run great routes to help our WR’s get open and make ourselves available for our QB’s incase they need a safety valve to avoid a sack.” The WR’s are a brash confident bunch, which have attitudes that boarder on arrogance. “We know that they (QB’s) will get us the rock if we are open. So we are focusing on creating separation on our breaks while running the routes. Be ready to see a ton of plays come from us because we come at you fast” Dontae Coke. I was not overly impressed with what I saw out of the wr’s abilities when it came to catching the ball, lots of drops maybe expected from those guys this season.
The offensive line refused to give any comments on the upcoming season, but from what I’ve seen they are well schooled in fundamental blocking and look like a cohesive group that will keep the QB’s jerseys clean and open up holes for the HB’s to run through.
Defensive Preview:
The Greek Gods defense is completely revamped this season; no current defensive players were on the team one season ago. A young team like this struggles to find an identity. Yet, the coaching staff was happy to see leadership emerging from unexpected spots. Cornerback, Rudolfo “Rudy” Fernandez, has been active as a defensive leader. “I, ah, just want to play, ah, the team football. It is, ah, great, ah. I am, ah, confident in me. I can anybody I can coverage. And, I am, ah, sorry for my English, but, ah, I try.” Nose Tackle, Henry Schnozzleberry, said this about the defensive captain, “Rudy? Yea, he’s proably the leader of our D. Sometimes he brings the defense together and really motivates us. I mean, most of the time we can’t understand his English, or he just yells at us in Spanish. But, his passion still gets us fired up.”
Passion isn’t the only thing this team has. It has depth and talent. With six legitimate LBs subbing in and out, the Gods will have fresher legs than their opponents in most cases. I found Charlie McRae straightening his tie and wink to himself in front of a mirror placed in his locker. “Yea our depth at Linebacker will be key. All six of us have bonded pretty well. When we got our signing bonuses, five of us left for Vegas that night. I don’t know what happened, but Troy (Harvey, the only linebacker not to venture to Sin City) found us cashless in Taipei and used his bonus to pay off the local police, clean us up, and get us home.” That’s bonding.
The D-line must have been bonding too. As they all had left mid-practice to go to a “dancing club.” Apparently the club only takes one dollar bills, because Malcom Gold was handing out stacks of singles right before they all left. All the DBs were at the practice facility, though. I asked Hakeem Bryant about the high school incident, were he paralyzed an opposing WR on a crossing route. “First, get out of my face. Second, it was a clean hit. If you want to make a play on my field, you need to be willing to suffer the consequences. Because, I feel no remorse. Offensive coordinators need to make the decision: keep the ball away from me or have your players in wheelchairs.”
Final Predictions:
Offensive MVP: Chucker Longfellow, QB, I could tell you why but let me have Chucker tell you why he’s going to get the Offensive MVP, “Come on, I’m going to run for like 500 yards and throw for like 2000 and put up at least 20 tds, anyone really going to do better than that?” Nope, he’s going to be the key to any upsets this season.
Defensive MVP: Damien Dean, LB, while Fernandez might be the heart of the defense, Dean is “the balls.” Be prepared to see this kid fill up the stat sheet and make clutch plays in late game situations.
Special Teams MVP: Mark Booter, P, He is going to have a huge role in helping the Gods win the special teams battle which is what coach Tice wants. If the Gods get great play out of their special teams they maybe a fringe playoff contender.
Predicted Record: 6-10 (10th-12th place)
