By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — Start from scratch. Literally.
Some of the kids who walked onto the field for I.A. Lewis this fall did not know what a line of scrimmage was. By the time the season wrapped, they were rolling coverages, lining up in three- and four-receiver sets and hitting like they meant it.
That is the job for I.A. Lewis Head Coach Curtis Goodwin, and he said this year’s group did it the hard way.
“It’s a different route from last year,” Goodwin said. “Last year, they were extremely talented and extremely big. We’re kind of back to basics with this group. There is talent in a lot of spots.”
The results on the scoreboard were modest. I.A. Lewis won one game, against Riser, and it did so against that school’s seventh-grade team, which Goodwin said was bigger and stronger than his sixth-graders. The schedule also included a game against Ruston Junior High’s seventh-graders, a Red/White game, two games against Good Hope and two against West Ridge.
The size gap showed up in other places, too. Goodwin said Good Hope had probably 10 holdbacks, and West Ridge had more than 20. Holdbacks are sixth-graders who are a year older than their classmates.
“That’s hard to overcome as a challenge, but the kids fought really hard,” Goodwin said. “We’re starting from scratch where they don’t know what the line of scrimmage is. We’re learning that, and now we can wrap up, getting three or four different sets. We can have three receivers if we need to, and we understand how to roll our coverages. The boys themselves did a great job learning.”
Goodwin pointed to the defense as the group’s calling card.
“These boys all worked together and fought together,” Goodwin said. “The great thing about them was how defensively, they were extremely aggressive and played together in the concepts that we want here at Ruston football.”
On offense, Goodwin singled out two players. Quarterback Turner Kilpatrick, a left-hander, drew the loudest praise.
“It’s like he was born to play the position,” Goodwin said. “Extremely smart, intelligent, makes good decisions, and he’s got a cannon for an arm. And he can run all day. It was really surprising to see that.”
Tight end Maze Brister also played what Goodwin called a “really solid season.”
On defense, one player stood out above the rest. Jakari “J.K.” Hampton held the team’s “Big Cat” title from the first week to the last. Goodwin explained that it is a one-on-one matchup in which a player is challenged each week by an opponent and loses the title if beaten.
“J.K. Hampton is a natural leader,” Goodwin said. “He’s one of the few kids I’ve ever seen that the other kids already turned to him for an example, for leadership. He’s the only kid I’ve ever coached to hold Big Cat the entire season. It’s really been impressive. He’s going to be a defensive monster by the time he gets up there.”
So how long does it take to turn a kid who has never run a play into one who is comfortable on the field? Goodwin said running plays takes about four weeks. Pads change everything.
“When you put the football pads on and say this is contact, we’ve got to kind of start over,” Goodwin said. “They know where to go, but the feeling of pressing another human being or another human being hitting them, that’s the next mental concept they have to get over. That usually takes a whole other two to four weeks, really.”
Goodwin said he judges the team around the third and fourth games, asking whether players are gaining knowledge, executing on offense, wrapping up on defense and playing the game correctly. That is typically when he sees the biggest jump. Defensive coordinator Ryan Wells, who has been with Goodwin all four of his years at the school, sees it the same way.
“It’s watching that growth,” Goodwin said. “Watching them go from ‘I’m scared’ to ‘let me hit that guy as hard as I can.’ That’s what we love as coaches.”
Part of the growth is mental, Goodwin said. Players this age arrive with expectations shaped by what they have seen in the media.
“An 11-year-old, when he comes in, their only reference is what they’ve seen in media,” Goodwin said. “So their expectation is they should be elite immediately, and then their confidence falls when they hit a challenge. My job is to instruct them and let them know that they’re only supposed to get incremental successes, small successes. Those small successes, that’s where their confidence starts to build. And once they have the confidence, that’s when they step up and make the play better.”
Goodwin said wins and losses matter little at that level.
“We don’t care about winning,” Goodwin said. “Winning in sixth grade is a totally different ball game. There are so many other factors in play. But to watch our team’s growth through the season is by far the most beneficial thing for coaching. It’s definitely not the pay.”
The payoff comes later. This was Goodwin’s fourth year at I.A. Lewis, which means his first group is now in high school, and Reed Williams is starting for Ruston High.
“He was one of mine, and I take great pride in that,” Goodwin said of Williams.
The sixth-graders head to junior high next, then to Ruston High, and Goodwin said the standard follows them.
“Our expectation is for them to be a state championship football team. Period. That’s it,” Goodwin said. “They are supposed to come in and work toward that goal every day and get better every day. It may be a small increment every day, but that is the standard. I tell the boys, this is Ruston football, where we have high standards. You will meet our standards or you won’t be here. You can play football anywhere else. But if you want to be a champion, if you want to be a Ruston football player, that means something else.”
Goodwin said it comes down to culture, and he said it carries into other sports. He is coaching basketball now, and most of his team is made up of football players.
“They know how to practice, they know how to play in the game,” Goodwin said. “They may not know what to do exactly, but how to do it is the same. That’s the standard we preach from top down.”
