CHOCOWINITY — New coach, same intense atmosphere. Friday marked only the second official day as the head football coach of the Southside Seahawks for Jeff Carrow but you would never know by watching.
The Seahawks players shuttled through drills with intensity and quietly listened while Carrow and newly hired defensive coordinator Andre Quinerly installed schemes.
Carrow, who is going into his fifth year overall with Southside, was recently elevated to head coach after longtime coach DeWayne Kellum retired at the end of last year and said so far it’s been a smooth transition for him and the players.
“It’s been pretty smooth, the advantage I have is that I’ve been here,” Carrow said. “I know my kids, I know my personnel. I’m not just coming out here on the fly. I know these kids’ talent level and I know what I can do with it.
“The kids knew it was coming. We didn’t keep it a secret last year, we knew Coach Kellum was going to retire. I’m pleased with the kids transition to it, they’ve been adjusting well.”
Carrow has worn many hats with the Seahawks, with his last one being defensive coordinator, and said he is prepared for the challenge of being the team’s head coach.
“I’ve gone up through the ranks,” Carrow said. “I’ve done everything from filming to assistant coach to JV head coach to defensive coordinator and now I’ve taken the natural progression to head coach.”
On Friday, the Seahawks had nearly 50 athletes turn up for practice and Carrow said so far the mood has been good.
“We’ve gotten better both days,” Carrow said. “The morale is real high right now. I’m pleased with the guys. We had a great practice today.
“The turnout has been OK. We’re still missing a select few varsity guys … We do want some more JV guys to come out, but overall I’m pretty pleased.”
The Seahawks will have to get a few more practices under their belts before the pads come out on Wednesday and Carrow said right now the goal of practice is to work on the basics.
“It’s all about fundamentals and technique,” Carrow said. “As always, we’re not going to be bigger than anybody. We’re going to be small and quick, that’s just how we are. So our fundamentals and technique are real important to us. We stress that heavily.”
While most teams participated in 7-on-7s this summer Carrow opted for more private workouts and said he has reaped the rewards of that over the past two days.
“Definitely. We had to find out what we had as a team and take it slow and it’s showing over the first two days of practice,” Carrow said. “We’re ahead of the game varsity-wise as far as knowing what we’re supposed to be doing. We’re sophomore loaded but they’re picking things up pretty quick.”