Trying to play a football season during a pandemic is daunting enough.
But parts of three seasons maybe … all in one year? And with three different head coaches squeezed into a four-month window?
Welcome to the world of Austin Peay.
“Honestly, it’s been a blessing to have football all year round,” said Austin Peay All-America defender Kordell Jackson. “This is what people have wanted for as long as I can remember. So you ask and you have it – football all year round. It’s an amazing opportunity for us when we didn’t even know if it would last for football would be summer. “
The governors will open their Tennessee Valley Conference season with seven games at Tennessee Tech (2:30 p.m., ESPN +) on Sunday. That is after participating in the first live football game of any kind since the COVID-19 pandemic began on August 29, a loss to Central Arkansas at the Guardian Credit Union’s FCS Kickoff in Montgomery, Alabama, between 24-17.
0:19
Central Arkansas QB Breylin Smith received his passport from Jack McDonald celebrating cylinder and cane sales with Austin Peay’s sales.
Marquase Lovings led the governors as interim coach for all three Fall 2020 Games after standing up for Mark Hudspeth, who resigned on July 3 for personal reasons after a 20-day suspension. Austin Peay also faced Pittsburgh and Cincinnati last September, both of whom suffered losses before closing them and, like the rest of his FCS brothers, hoped that a spring conference season would come to fruition.
Meanwhile, Austin Peay Sporting Director Gerald Harrison had to hire a new head coach and pick up Scotty Walden from Southern Miss. Walden was serving as the interim coach for Southern Miss at the time and was discovered on a familiar 2020 topic that he tested positive for COVID-19 the day after the interview with Harrison in New Orleans in late October.
From there the madness only escalated.
Walden was introduced as Austin Peay’s head coach on November 2nd, and one day a few weeks later he was in the community with his players and coaches participating in a painting service project. Harrison couldn’t resist fueling the fire under his already energetic 31-year-old head coach, who does everything quickly from talking to practicing to running his offensive.
Harrison, who had just heard the Pac-12 voted to allow his teams to find some non-conference games, called Walden on his cell phone and told him he should be ready to go to Oregon for a game with the ducks in a week to travel.
“I know it’s short term, but we can’t refuse that kind of money. They’ll pay us a million dollars,” Harrison told Walden, trying to hold it together and not burst into laughter.
Walden, who was still on the phone with Harrison, was already shouting to his coaches to collect the players and set up the brushes.
“I was literally ready to get these guys to the practice field right away,” Walden said, laughing at himself as he fell in love with Harrison’s prank.
“I mean, we didn’t have anything installed. I didn’t even know if we could get in line. I think, ‘Are we going to do your old crime, our crime, or something in between?’ We hadn’t even been in the field with them. My mind was racing all over the place. “
2 relatives
Harrison couldn’t let it go any longer and eventually collapsed and told Walden he was joking.
“I’m pretty gullible, but that wasn’t cool of Gerald, not cool at all,” quipped Walden.
Speaking of cool, this was one of the biggest adjustments for the players as they were preparing for a spring season dubbed “Spring,” especially given the freezing temperatures that hit much of the country.
“Bro, it’s winter, 100% winter football at its best,” said Walden.
Second offensive lineman Bucky Williams said it was surreal to go through preseason camp with ice and snow everywhere.
“We practice outside when it’s 10 degrees and 15 degrees outside, and you’re used to practicing in preseason when it’s 90 degrees,” said Williams.
The reality is that everyone’s routine has been turned upside down.
The Austin Peay players had no idea when they would play soccer again after their 55:20 loss to Cincinnati on September 19. The OVC announced in October that it would draw up a spring plan from February, but only “if the pandemic supports this step,” said Commissioner Beth DeBauche.
Knowing that there were no guarantees, the players pushed forward. They did their best to stay in shape, starting with 6 a.m. mat exercises in November, socially aloof and focused on defending their 2019 Co-OVC championship, the school’s first in more than 40 years.
“Nobody knew. We didn’t know if this was our last game or when we could play again,” said Williams. “But we would be ready.”
Walden spent more time in November and December talking to his players about the culture he wanted to install than the warp-speed offense he wanted to install.
“It will pay off in the long run. We didn’t want to take any short cuts,” said Walden, who was faced with the task of hiring assistant coaches in November, who in some cases were elsewhere in the middle of their season. “It seemed like we had a different coach every week.”
“We didn’t know if this was our last game or when we could play again. But we would be ready.” Sophomore attacking lineman Bucky Williams
Walden didn’t bring his players onto the field until January. The first full practice session took place on January 23, and transitioning to his quick offense was not easy, especially when he was determined to play a game every 12 seconds.
“You can’t simulate how fast you’re going to go until you actually play in this system,” said Williams. “You can do as many sprints as you want, but until you’re out there and hit another guy and then queue up and leave 12 seconds later, there’s nothing like it.”
As soon as training ended in January, Austin Peay’s coaches stormed off the practice field, sprinted all four levels of the soccer complex to their offices, and began recruiting visits through Zoom right away.
“We’re all out of breath when we walk into our offices, put on new equipment to videoconference with the recruits, and call each other to make sure we have the correct parents’ names and are doing everything right – they all want to get on with everyone else address important details that matter in recruiting, “said Walden.
“It was crazy. There weren’t enough hours in the day.”
The governors will operate their third offensive system, following Hudspeth’s resignation in July. You will face Tennessee Tech without a quarterback who has ever started a college game.
“And throughout all of this, our kids stayed there and held together for all the unknown,” Harrison said. “We had five opt-outs in the fall and at the moment three that canceled in the spring. I didn’t even know what an opt-out was this time around a year ago.”
Walden didn’t have much time to think about it, but he vividly remembers sitting on his couch in Hattiesburg, Mississippi last August and watching Austin Peay play in that first game of the 2020 season.
Austin Peay participated in the first live football game of any kind since the COVID-19 pandemic began, a loss to Central Arkansas in the Guardian Credit Union’s FCS opener in Montgomery, Alabama, on August 29. Marvin Gentry- USA TODAY Sports
“It was a big deal, the first football game of the COVID-19 era,” recalls Walden. “People were actually playing soccer. Hell, everyone was watching. I remember the first game that had a touchdown and I think I fell asleep in the second half. I definitely had no idea I was going to be here, to train Austin-Peay. “
“It was different for all of us. What wasn’t different last year? But we don’t talk enough about how resilient these children were and the sacrifices they made to make football a reality. Children have been doing this since last August amid all the changes and uncertainties and have never wavered. “
The two FCS teams that qualify for the championship game will play until mid-May. That said, they will have about two and a half months before the start of the preseason camp for the 2021 fall season. Austin Peay’s first game is scheduled for September 2nd in Chattanooga.
“It’s the backend that will reach you and that is the hardest one to navigate,” said Harrison. “We have to be careful there so that the children have enough free time. The players used to go home for the summer. They don’t do that anymore. They are on campus all year round. But you go home this year. You will need six to eight weeks to get completely away from football. “
The self-discipline required to play portions of three football seasons in one year will be unlike anything these players have ever experienced.
“You have to live right,” said Williams. “You have to eat right. You have to stretch. You have to keep your body healthy enough to play three seasons when you normally don’t play more than one in a year.”
And it’s not that COVID-19 is going to go away anytime soon.
Walden created a leadership committee to help manage the COVID-19 logs within the team with a specific person in charge in each dorm, apartment complex, or household where the players live. The governors haven’t had positive tests in three of the last four weeks.
“It’s about holding people accountable and knowing that at the end of the day the big picture is on Sunday football,” said Jackson.
That’s right – Sunday. All but one of the governors’ games this spring will be played on Sunday, ending with a trip to eastern Illinois on April 11 and the FCS playoffs.
“As a child you always say you want to play on Sundays,” said Walden. “Hey, we can play on Sunday.”
And when it’s all over, both spring and fall this year, Walden will need more than just a nap.
“I can hibernate, all of us, the coaches and players,” said Walden. “But what a trip, and we can’t wait to see where it all ends.”
Comments are closed.