ClayRadio's Podcast
The podcasts are recordings created from programs that stream on internet radio station ClayRadio in Clay County, Florida. The shows are made available to the public on the podcast following the debut of the program online.
ClayRadio's Podcast
Clay County Sports Report 7-16-26
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Join Tim Mooney From Clay Radio and Clay Todays Sports Editor Randy Lefko talk to Ridgeview High Schools new Head Football Coach Jason Smith and players Amani Blount, Edren Rhodes, Jayden Worthy and Jordan Mesa talk about their upcoming football season and the culture change for the Panthers. Also, phoning in is, Hunter Hill from St Johns Country Day talking about a HUGE wrestling tournament in North Dakota!!!
Time now for the Clay County Sports Report on Clay Radio, your home team station. Each week we break down the big plays to celebrate standout athletes and bring you the stories behind the scores. Now here are your hosts, Clay Today's sports editor, Randy Lefko, and Clay Radio's Tim Mooney.
SPEAKER_08All right, Clay County Sports fans. Hey Tim, you're smelling you smelling the leather? You smelling the uh we're going from are we going from pitch to turf to gridiron?
SPEAKER_07We've we're going from football to football finally. Getting the gridiron going.
SPEAKER_08So the uh clay county sports report here on clayradio.com. I'm ready left go clay today's sports editor with Tim Mooney on the soundboard for Clay Radio. We're excited. We're gonna have our first football coach on uh for the upcoming season, and then uh hopefully follow that with uh uh you know one or two of them each week to uh get you guys fired up for it, man. It's gonna be uh it's gonna be exciting to have it. All of our county teams are in the same district.
SPEAKER_07It's gonna be fun, they should be.
SPEAKER_08Except for Keystone and uh in Oakley, you know. So uh it's gonna be good. And then uh we got kids, we got volleyball starting up. Uh they're in tr they're in uh conditioning as well with tryouts on usually the last week of July. Big tournament at Bishop Kenny coming for uh the preseason tournament of champions. JJ VA is hosting a bunch of them, so that's exciting. We had Richard Fannon on last week, so uh we're getting cranked up, man. The uh the Clay County Sports Report's gonna be uh maybe two, three hours uh in the in the future, man. We've got enough stuff going on.
SPEAKER_07I mean, and I was just thinking about it, I was looking for our through our files. We're coming on our one-year anniversary doing this show.
SPEAKER_08What date was it, dude? Have you figured it out?
SPEAKER_07Not yet. I'm looking around, but yeah, think about it. We started out as a high school football report.
SPEAKER_08Yeah.
SPEAKER_07That's it. And then we evolved to the Clay County Sports Report because we have so much going on in this county, not just with the kids or the young men.
SPEAKER_08What do you think? What do you think at this point that is the attraction that to change it from a football show to a uh kind of an all sports show?
SPEAKER_07I think it's it's showing off what we can do. Clay County has been such the little brother of Duval for so long that we're flexing our muscle. We're showing that we are not a little brother. We're gonna be that brother that that little brother that got bigger than you and put giving a noogie to you.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, so uh we'll get our football guys in here. We're gonna have a phone call from North Dakota, another uh coast to coast uh chit chat with us at the end of the end of the program, which would be exciting. It's gonna be a blast. All right, let's go. All right, we'll be back right after this. All right, Clay County Sports fans. Randy Lefko here, Clay today Sports Center, Tim Mooney on the soundboard. Tim, ooh, ooh, I'm getting a little nervous here. We're close to kicking it off here. We uh I just saw the Argentina one uh 2-1 over uh over England, so we got uh Argentina and Spain and the uh world championship. I think it's gonna be, isn't it Jersey? I don't know. I think it's at Jersey Stadium, New York Giants Stadium up there.
SPEAKER_07So once USA was out of it, I'm done with it. I'm done with football. Oh, it's I'm ready to move on to football.
SPEAKER_08All right, and we got we got a pretty interesting uh fall coming up with the guys that we have here. We're gonna kick off our football coverage with uh basically probably some unknowns. But uh, you know me, I like to get around practices and see what's going on. And to me, the guys we have here could be could be either dragon slayers or uh just the surprise of the day. We got uh we got Coach Jason Smith, the uh newest guy at Ridgeview High School. Uh Jason, come on in. Jason's been around for a while. Good afternoon, good afternoon. What's up, coach? Give us a little bit about you. I know you were here at Ridgeview, you're also at Orange Park. Uh he's the he's the king of speed, whether it's track, football, defense, or football he coached before. But this guy, if uh if he's on the team, people are gonna be fast. And that and that I think is what's scaring people around the county is he don't know people don't know all they Ridgeview, 0-10, 0-10, 2-8, 0-10. But uh, and I know this guy, and and uh when he steps onto the field, he doesn't like to lose, right, Coach?
SPEAKER_05Right, right, right. You don't have to crave to you you don't have to crave the work, but you gotta love the result.
SPEAKER_07There you go.
SPEAKER_05And uh so who we got with us? Tell us tell us who we got with us.
SPEAKER_08Edwin Rose.
SPEAKER_07What position you got?
SPEAKER_04Strong safety and wide receiver.
SPEAKER_08Edwin Rose, how uh what what grade are you?
SPEAKER_04I'm a senior, sir.
SPEAKER_08Senior, okay, good. So so you're a perfect guy to be talking about the transition here. Uh been on the team for four years. Yes, sir. And uh so you've seen the the bad. You've seen some of the good. Uh my guy uh Merlin, he got two two wins last year and got a little momentum going there. And part of the guy uh in and and part part of that is the quarterback who we got right here, Jordan.
SPEAKER_02Yes, sir, Jordan Mesa, class of 27. And how long you've been quarterback two years or three years? Uh I've been quarterb uh quarterback for three years, but um the first year was like half the season.
SPEAKER_08When they you and what Kitchen? What was his name? Kellogg. Jack Kellogg was any other quarterback. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he was a little guy there. So we got another four-year guy here, and next to them, who we got? Number four, three?
SPEAKER_00Four uh number fourteen, Jaden Worthy. Jaden Worthy, what grave? Uh I'm about to go into my junior year. Junior year? How long have you been with the Ridgewood program? Uh since my freshman year.
SPEAKER_08Okay, good. And then right, the fourth guy. We got half the team here, Tim. Feels like it. I know. We're gonna need some uh Gatorade and some flags or something if it gets bad.
SPEAKER_07Oh, you're laughing at Randy's jokes? That's bad. That's bad at all.
SPEAKER_03Come on, man, stop laughing. Okay, who's the last one? Amani Blunt.
SPEAKER_08Amani Blunt. This guy uh is a freshman. Don't want to call him a sensation yet, because you know, seventh and eighth graders are good, but when you get to the high school, it's a it's a different game, a different level of game. And uh, Amani, welcome to the show. And hopefully, hey man, we have you for four years. Uh you may be one of the marquee guys coming in. Uh Coach Smith, tell me about some of these guys.
SPEAKER_07Amani, what position you play? Slotting running back. Okay, so you're the one that I I just want to point something out. You're the one laughing, having a good time, smiling the most. But you're one of those you put the helmet on, you get in between there, you're just focused and ready to go and just knock the heck out of somebody.
SPEAKER_08Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_05All right, Jason, give me a little bit about all these guys. Tell me what you got. Well, we're starting with Ed. Ed's like my field journal on defense, man. Uh safety. He gets sideline to sideline fast. Jordan has become a better quarterback, developed. We got a good coordinator in there, so we developed them making the game slow down for him. Who's that?
SPEAKER_08Who's that coordinator?
SPEAKER_05Corey Hawkins, correct? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_08Then he comes back, he's been around for a long time as well. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_05Uh we have Jalen. Jalen started as a mic backer, and now he's a wheelbacker. So he allows us to do different things in different schemes in our defense. And the mind is just like the utility tool. We use them as a slot, we use them at running back, we use them all over the field. So he's a big one.
SPEAKER_07So you're that Swiss Army knife right there. Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_08All right. So coming coming into the selection of you, how did that come about?
SPEAKER_05And and why did you take the job? I remember last year I went to one game, uh, had no plans on coaching, but they was losing 66 to 6. And I saw kids from the school taking pictures of the scoreboard. And I don't know if something just came over me and I was like, man, that sucked. Like, I remember me being in high school. So I was just telling my wife, I'm like, you know what? If they if they uh fire the coach or the position come available, I'll put in for it.
SPEAKER_07So you're there at the St. Augustine game and just didn't like it?
SPEAKER_05I got there half. I just go to pick up my daughter. Never go to the game. My daughter's a cheerleader. Okay. So I just go to pick up my daughter.
SPEAKER_07There you go.
SPEAKER_08That so from that, when the choice came to you, what was your uh plan of action to make the make the changes now? Um Tim, I've seen a couple of practices and uh tell us about that spring game. That that to me was the opening salvo of what we might see uh for the rest of this fall.
SPEAKER_05First thing first was just changing the culture. Changing the culture, pointing to the kids, making them believe, right? Giving them a positive influence that they can follow, putting in the work. If you put in the work, it'll pay off. So it was just putting in the work, getting towards the spring game. It was no doubt going into the spring game that we were gonna win that game. We were gonna win that game. Defense was flying around to the ball. Um, of course, you know defense that's what we do. So we're flying around to the ball. Offense, they did pretty good, they did what they can. Um, but we didn't have our coordinator at the time either. So now we have our coordinator, and uh things should be a lot better this year.
SPEAKER_08So on the defensive side, you're talking about, and I remember this with a second play of the game, your guy Drake Bate Bats? Yes, sir. That uh went 65 yards for a touchdown, and the entire sideline emptied into the end zone. Of course, a couple flags went out. What was your what was your thought when that happened as far as a momentum kicker for what you planned to do?
SPEAKER_05I didn't think about it twice. You I let the kids celebrate it was their their first time experiencing that. So it was all about them. It was their game, and I knew once they got that, the defense were flying around the ball. We had five takeovers, so it wasn't a question.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, it was. Jordan, what was your thoughts on that? You and uh Edrid's uh part of the team where you know you you were through some uh some skinny, skinny seasons, and all of a sudden, bang, you're emptying the sidelines on the second play of the game, and uh eventually went to a 24 to nothing win. So uh Edrid, what what is what was going through your head on the side like like oh my, what do we what is going on here?
SPEAKER_04I seen growth. Uh a lot of us don't come from come from things like that, like the the strip and to the touchdown. We ain't never come from that. And now overcome. We had like three weeks going into that game. We built up as a team, we played as one heartbeat. You know, we went in there, win, dominate, got the game over.
SPEAKER_08What was the thought process when the new a lot of times with the new coach, Tim, you know this, yeah. There's a little bit of transition, but it seemed like you guys jet started into throwing that. I mean, because I I mean I know this guy from years ago. Any defense he's a part of, you you were putting 11 guys in the backfield, just chasing guys, you know, and there's there's chances where you're gonna get burned by it, but I tell you what, the other guys are gonna remember it. When on your defensive end when when Drake did that, how did that I mean you guys won 24-0? What was the thought process there? What was the thought press for you, Jordan, as far as quarterback? Like, I gotta put some points on the board if my boys are scoring on defense.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was definitely hard at like the start, but you know, we picked it up, we got um into a good formation, threw a few screen passes and got some quick touchdowns.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. And then uh the young guy here, he had a couple of nice uh uh Amani. Where was your thought? Oh, this is this looks like it's gonna be fun. There he goes, smiling again.
SPEAKER_03I mean, um, we was working for it for a good three weeks, so I knew going into the game we was gonna show up and show out. But um when Drake got that interception, I meant that strip and scored, it just was a new wave, a new reality.
SPEAKER_08Even even from my perspective, being I've been here forever, and I knew when when Ridgew was the king of the castle over here, you know, Tom McPherson took him to district, of Chris St. Augustine was with us as well. And uh, and to see that happening, I was like, whoa, this is a this is a kickstarter. Jaden linebacker, were you chasing Drake or were you in on that?
SPEAKER_00Or uh yes, sir. Um I was definitely running down the field with him because um seeing a big play like that happen was I mean it meant something to m m more than me because I mean over the past few years it's been, you know, touchdown after touchdown and touchdown, and they weren't in our favor. So it's just like seeing a guy like Drake who's been working, who's been there, he's been there from the start since I was there, seeing him get that big moment it was just very it it put some fire in the team.
SPEAKER_08Jordan, what was that in the second half? Because I think it was only 7-0 at the half, right? So in the second half, what was going on on your end to put the points on the board? Tell me, tell me who scored what? Um Potts scored a touchdown. Um scored a touchdown. This is real, you gotta explain it. Elijah Potts, Elijah Potts, a football, a football.
SPEAKER_02Elijah Potts scored a touchdown off of screenplay. I um I think we just slowed it down in the second half, got into like formations that favored it us. Yeah. Um, spread it out more. And defense just kept flying, Edridge?
SPEAKER_04Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_08So now coming into uh what do we got? How much time we got left there? 21 days. 21 days.
SPEAKER_05What's the what's the process here, coach? The process is just brush up, brush up a little bit, uh fine-tune things that we've been working on, and um, you know, we just put in the work. It's time to let the work show. Being the underdog, it's time to just show up. We don't talk much. We're just gonna show up and play football and let the result speak for itself.
SPEAKER_08And one of your strengths, coach, is is uh strength, power, conditioning, training, stuff like that. Do you see a big jump from for you guys, for you four guys here in that, in that, you know, maybe last year, you know, the guys were kind of doing it and they're doing it, but now all of a sudden uh everybody has seen the result. I mean, that first game was a result of what conditioning training and and speed. Uh I mean you kind of made me look smart, kind of stuff. What do you think uh from a young guy? Where did you play, where did you play junior high ball, Amani?
SPEAKER_03Lakeside junior high.
SPEAKER_08Oh, so so that's uh you got a good program there. Were you the were you the big gun for them? Yes, sir. So are you expecting that to be here? Is uh Coach Smith giving you the uh the green light to let it rip? Yes, sir, yes, sir. Who else is running the ball with you?
SPEAKER_03Tyon Edmondson.
SPEAKER_08Oh Edmondson, isn't he the the the guy from New Jersey? Last year, he was one of the big play guys last year, so that's a that's a good one. Who's catching the ball, Jordan? Who's your who's your target?
SPEAKER_07Who's your go-to guy?
SPEAKER_02So many yeah, I got Aiden Kennedy, I got um David, David Moore, that's the last name, right? David Johnson, um I got Amani, obviously Amani. Yeah. I got uh Sawyer Green. He wasn't there for spring game, but he's gonna be a bit part two.
SPEAKER_08What do you think? What do you think has changed as far as the offensive strategy that is making the difference, Jordan, as far as uh play selection? Is it you know I know I know Murray liked to go off tackle, and he was a big proponent from Oakleaf Junior High of just pounding that uh left and right tackle spot. And it seems you guys are a little more flexible on the outside and then down the field a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, with uh Coach Hawkey's giving us more way more formations. We're spreading out like with formations too. Like we'll go spread. We're definitely airing it out more too for the side.
SPEAKER_08And you got any of you guys offensive, you defensive guys, offensive something? You play any offense, Jaden? Or do that?
SPEAKER_00Uh last year, um our senior tight end, Christian Hansen, went down with uh ankle injury.
SPEAKER_08Big guy, the kicker. Yes, sir. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00He went down, and uh my primarily uh position was defense, and I knew I could play tight end, so it's just like when that chance came to me, it was just like I knew I could do it, and I stepped in and that's what I had to say.
SPEAKER_08I said the the big guy is he playing Mog Mowglia, Michael? Yes, he was like, the real big guy? I know he was uh going through some surgeries.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, Michael was out, he had had some surgery done. Uh he'll be back. So he's another one that we plan to contribute big to the code.
SPEAKER_08Tell me about the line. That seemed to be the the point of attack for especially in this county where we have some very big people that that roam the line of scrimmages in there in your uh district games, but you're gonna be all okay. What's your who's the who's the focus on that to get that done? Everybody speed is speed, but you gotta have guys in front of you to get out there.
SPEAKER_05Everybody contributes.
SPEAKER_08Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Everybody. We swarm to the ball, so everybody on that line has a contribute. If you can't contribute, you can't even be on the team.
SPEAKER_08But on the offensive line, what names you have? I know Mowgli is the biggest guy out there. Who else is who else is at there?
SPEAKER_05Or you got just a bunch of new faces. Got a bunch of people to fit in. We got Jalen Wright, we got Mike, we got there's so many new kids out there too, as well.
SPEAKER_08Mowgli is Mowgli is like 6'3. Yeah, he was a big dude.
SPEAKER_05No, six Mowgli is 6'10. 6'10, yeah. He's a little bit. 16.
SPEAKER_07I would love to have had somebody like that blocking for me.
SPEAKER_08That would have been great. I think when you have something like that, you tend to, okay, let's just go behind the big guy. You know what I mean? So I I and I think that could be, I don't know, you can you can say yes or no on this guy, but that could be, you know, one of your distractions. Is hey, we got this big guy on the right, but we're gonna send our little freshman running back left and let it rip out that side while you guys are trying to double team. Are you are you trying to do it, Randy? Are you trying to put a play?
SPEAKER_07You know what I mean. Are you trying to put a play?
SPEAKER_05Okay, we're not about distractions. We're gonna line up and play football and let you try to figure out what we're doing. We're not trying to distract you. We're gonna line up and play four.
SPEAKER_07What we try to do, we started this last year, just to be real with you. We always try to get one play out of the coach or the players to tell us, hey, what's a special play you got going on for the season? So they started catching on later on in the season, like, nope, we ain't trusting you guys. Somebody's listening to let us know. So we're gonna try and pull the play button.
SPEAKER_08So we're gonna take a break here. It's good. We got a little intro for more guys here. We're gonna come back talking about the upcoming season, what's going on for the rest of uh the 21 days, and then uh who's excited about playing? All right, we'll be back right after this. All right, Clay County Sports fan. We uh opened up the door, got a little air in here because we got all these big boys in here, Coach Smith, everybody's getting all hot and bothered because it's football season here, too.
SPEAKER_07I don't think we're getting hot and bothered with the what one, two, three, four, five, six, seven dudes in one room. That's probably we're getting excited for football, but not hot and bothered yet.
SPEAKER_08Jordan, what are you what are you, Jordan Mason is the quarterback over there, senior quarter, what do you, what have you seen in the in the what month or so that you have had uh Coach Smith in front of you that has given you a good outlook, good optimism for uh this upcoming season? You guys are gonna be playing everybody in the county is is a as a district uh game. So everything counts. It's the and the rivalries are just as important, but now you got a rivalry game, plus you got games that count for the districts. And then like uh Coach Smith and I talk about you got the big elephant in the room in St. Augustine on the fly, where you guys when do you guys play them? St. Augustine is October 9th.
SPEAKER_02We should go week by week, one and oh, one and oh every week. What do you do? Um I'll say from Coach Smith coming in, this is definitely the closest I've been to a team like the Brotherhood that we have is probably the best I've seen for all my four years.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah. What has he added to your skill set? Because then you were you were good last year. He's a left-hander too, too.
SPEAKER_07So that's those are the worst ones to try and cover.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, that's uh I mean that's always been the fact that.
SPEAKER_07The ball comes out different from a lefty, too. So whoever's catching it, you have to adjust real quick for that.
SPEAKER_08Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Maybe people don't know he's a lefty and they because everybody's a righty. Has that been an advantage? Now you still run the ball at it.
SPEAKER_02You've always been a good runner. Yeah. Always use my legs because, you know, had to skip a lot, um, especially with like not being able to like chat with like the line.
SPEAKER_08Did you get did you get time to uh make choices behind the offensive line in that spring game? I definitely did. I mean 24 points is pretty good about points there to to to score there. You gotta have some time to do that. Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_07That's actually more points than they scored. Nope, the one game against uh on October 3rd, they scored 31-8, but 24 points is the most they've scored. Uh the second most since last year? Since last year. So you're setting a tone right off the bat.
SPEAKER_08You guys are writing some momentum on the on the defensive end, Jaden. What has been added to your skill set to uh to make you optimistic about what's coming up here? You know, and then I'll tell you what, uh Coach Smith, you'll back on this is energy. Energy and get after it kind of stuff is sometimes a lot better than all the schematics and X's and O's you want. You got a guy that just wants to bust through and knock somebody in the dirt. That's uh that's that's normally what it takes to get a winner. Is it somebody like that's gonna disrupt the whole thing? Are you the dis What do we call that guy? What do you call that? The disruptor, the uh the chaos guy. We call that guy something. The enforcer. The enforcer battering ram or the enforcer. Uh who's the big Who's the Fred Warner of your team? Yeah, something like that.
SPEAKER_00Um I want to be confident, but uh I don't know. One key factor that uh the spring game showed to not only me, but uh coaches and other teams that were watching as well is um my DNs. My DNs, Drake. Drake was at DN and Jalen Wright. They were setting the edge perfectly, sending the running back back up the middle for all my linebackers to eat. I mean, that's their job.
SPEAKER_08And that guy, and that guy when he fumbled it the first time and they went for the score, he didn't want the ball the rest of the game. I mean, you can you can watch literally watch body language and know that the uh you know the five, six guys that are taking him down, uh he was worried about that. Five or six guys on a seven-on-seven? No, no, no, no. This was a spring game. Okay, spring game. I thought it was 77, sorry. And uh and they were just they were just hammering this guy all night. He didn't want the ball after that. So season-wise coming up, uh what do you want to see on the first game, uh, Coach Smith? What do you want to see on the first game? You got West Side is your is your first game, Menendez, Orange Park, Fleming. So you got those uh two uh two two uh two local guys in there, Orange Park and Fleming, not real early in the season. Well, how do you how do you set the tone?
SPEAKER_05We set the tone, we take it week by week. I tell my guys we have a one-on-one mentality. So we set the tone week by week. We don't look for it, we we are well feed at. We focus on the task at hand that's in front of us. Take care of that, then we get on to the next one. So ask me about games down the season. I don't know.
SPEAKER_08We focused on one goal. Well, part of it too, and we talked about this, is uh make them play your game. You know what I mean? Uh, you know, when you've got wrestlers and and stuff like that, it's not uh, what do I know about that guy? What does he know about me? You know, and and and I think your approach to it with your your speed and action and attacking, to me, I think it's gonna be a breath of fresh air for the football where everybody wants to grind and go that route. I think you're you're going down a path that will create some kind of energy.
SPEAKER_05Yes, sir. We want to be the most dominant, most physical team on the team. Uh team on the field at all times. We want to be dominant. You play rear you, we want you to know that you played Rid You, that you've been in the war.
SPEAKER_07So you're they're playing black and blue and they're gonna end up black and blue. Absolutely, that's not a question. There you go.
SPEAKER_08So over there when the choice was made, uh, let me get one of the seniors here, Jay or Jalen. You're you're Jalen's here, he'd been here. Uh, what did you know about your coach when he came in? Or did you not?
SPEAKER_00Honestly, when when Coach Jason first came in, it was more of like uh I didn't really know how to feel. Because when I came in as a freshman, I had we had Coach Merlin as our head coach, and um I heard great things about him and the two years I had with him. I mean, you saw the record. So um having Coach Jason come in, obviously I heard about the the playoff run he had and him being the defensive coordinator, but I still had I did I wasn't really confident because I mean I was so sure about Coach Merlin that it's like we had a new coach coming in and I didn't know nothing about him, so it's like I don't know, I gotta take the time to trust him, and that first practice that's that's all it took.
SPEAKER_08There you go. Amana, you uh you got A special uh uh bonus coach over there and our guy Alex Collier's Alex uh gonna be on the silent with you still, he's the 400 meter state champ for Orange Park. That uh Jason had a big part of uh getting him to that level as well as the the four by one hundred that was I think third, third or fourth in the in the state as well. Umani, what is what did you know any of that? I'm trying to try to see what you guys knew about this guy more than what you read about what I said, because I know all about him.
SPEAKER_03I mean, when he first came out, I didn't know much about him, but you know, I've been at Rising Grind and I seen him on like Rising Grind, I'm glad he brought that up. I seen him at the post on the poster. I'm like, who is this guy? But when I met him, he he funny, he's cool, and when it's time to lock in, he locks in. Like he takes the time to research and gives us his experience and just lays down everything for us.
SPEAKER_08So the Rising Grind Tim, I don't know if you know this, is uh is Jason's uh what do you call it? A training facility, training facility, weightlifting, and uh multiple. Give us a little bit about that. How long have you had that? That's uh somewhere off of landing.
SPEAKER_05Yes, I had Rise of Ground probably since like 2016. We established in 2016. Um just liked uh just working, you know, trained Jalen Ramsey. Yeah. That was my first Jack DeWan smooth. Yeah, Snoot in there. I mean, we got Josh Hans Allen, we have uh Josh Hans Allen, we have DeWan, I mean we have uh Devon Hamilton, Devin Lloyd, I mean, where Robert Harris, just the name of you. All Jaguars, Tim. All Jag Wars. I think I got some different teams too that come in, but that's just right off the hat. But um, we do a lot of sports specific training. We train kids from other schools as well. Okay. Um, any sport. So we we train MMA fighters, we train soccer, softball, baseball. So we got different schools that actually bring their team now to train to try to uh, you know, better the county, better the county.
SPEAKER_07A lot of strength conditioning and stuff like that. Yes. Okay.
SPEAKER_08So so in that, uh, you know, every every school has their own weight room and they got their conditioning guy, whatever. What what little added chink in the armor does having a facility like that close by that you can take your boys over there and give them a little bit of extra? And then it also tells you who's serious. If if guys are coming to you, imagine those guys are serious about getting better.
SPEAKER_05Absolutely, it is it is better, but to have me running rising ground and then have me as a coach, you don't need to go to Rising Round. Because you get it all right there. We get it all done at the school. Um, yes, it's a bonus to be able to get there and do it, do a little extra with some guys, but most of the time when you leave, I work out, you don't want to do nothing else.
SPEAKER_07Oh, we got head shake in east and west right now.
SPEAKER_08Worst workout there, uh, Edridge? What is he doing over there that uh scares the bejeebies out of you?
SPEAKER_07We got some looks right now.
SPEAKER_04We got we got some. So uh one time we wasn't playing as a team, wasn't being too honest with with each other. Uh so like for something that we had to do, we had to do army cross and morning dew. Eight o'clock in the morning.
SPEAKER_07You're like sliding around there.
SPEAKER_04Um it was a hundred it was a hundred yards. A hundred yards? A hundred yards, down the back, really 200 yards. But that just covered discipline.
SPEAKER_08So what was what was the action that was not the team part? That's that's what does it take to have that from him that you guys learned to take the next step on? What did you guys do wrong? It's basically churched up way of asking.
SPEAKER_04Uh we just wasn't being honest with each other as far as play level. We wasn't um as far as what? We wasn't being brothers. What did you see? There you go.
SPEAKER_08What did you see that caused that, coach? I don't even remember the new I don't even remember.
SPEAKER_07They remember.
SPEAKER_05They remember more than me. I don't even remember.
SPEAKER_07Well, and that's one thing. It's it's July right now.
SPEAKER_05Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_07It's hot as Hades out there. Correct. What's your workout's been like this summer? Get preparing for this new chapter of Ridge Ridgeville football.
SPEAKER_04Oh, just grinding.
SPEAKER_07All day. Wake up, grind. All day. 24-7. That's I'm like it. I like it. So that's what you're doing. 24-7. That's all you're thinking about. You're ready to run the rock all day. Yes, sir. All right. What are you doing for your team to build that confidence? Because they're gonna look at you no matter what. You're the leader on that. You're the voice. How are you being a demonstration out there?
SPEAKER_02I mean, doing the little things in practice like breaking us down, you know, telling everybody to clean up uh the gym, um, you know, telling everybody what we need to do when we get outside, stuff like that.
SPEAKER_07And that's one thing that the hardest job about the quarterback is you gotta set the example. So when everybody's out doing whatever they want, you gotta be the one setting the example. It's me.
SPEAKER_08It's me. I mean the guys, you know, you you have team leaders that are your stat guys. They are laughing at you right now. Which guy, which guy is the guy that will kick somebody in the butt for uh being a little lazy, coach? Well, I'm the alpha.
SPEAKER_05I'm I'm truly the alpha, but but I lean on the seniors heavy. I have I've got five seniors, and that was part of changing the program. Um they've never been in a position where they were leaders of the team. So I employ them to lead the team, and what happens is if something doesn't go right or something's not done, executed right, I punish those guys for the rest of the team. They get to sit and watch while they get punished. Uh-oh. There you go.
SPEAKER_08That's tell me tell me uh give me a couple names on your coaching staff. Who'd you who would you retain who you got coming in so people uh know who's out there? We didn't retain anybody.
SPEAKER_05Came in and you brought in a new name. Yep, I'm sorry, we did keep Coach P. Coach P from last year. Uh Coach P. You know we got Pereira.
SPEAKER_08That's Coach P.
SPEAKER_07You should know, Randy.
SPEAKER_05You've been on this coach Coach Pereira. Pereira. Um, we retained him, he was the only one. Uh of course, you know we got one of the best around here, Corey Hawkins. Corey Hawkins. That's the OC.
SPEAKER_08Um on the line is Pereira, right? Isn't that where he coaches?
SPEAKER_05No, we have a guy named Chris Messer that came from Andrew Jackson, that's our O-line coach.
SPEAKER_08Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_05Defense? Defense. We have a D-line coach named uh Harold, Harold Brown. Harold. His son actually played um at Ridge as a defensive back.
SPEAKER_08So was it important to do that, to to wash it away and and bring in your own staff so that you're all on the same wavelength?
SPEAKER_05I mean, yes, sir. I wanted I wanted a fresh start, a fresh start for the kids, and I wanted to surround myself with people who had the same goal and the same mission um to accomplish the same things that I want to accomplish for this team.
SPEAKER_08So give us a little, give us a little on your background, Jason. You kind of you're you're you're obviously athletic looking, and uh even though these guys are all giggling now, what are you talking about? Y'all gonna get in trouble now? And then uh tell us I know you're a military guy, you you've run the gym, you've been around the other county at different positions here.
SPEAKER_05Give us a little give us a little 30-second synopsis. Well, as you know, I was in the military. I got out of the military, um, started my training business, and uh that's what I've been doing for the last couple years, just training athletes, helping them maximize their potential.
SPEAKER_08And uh who's been the most who's been the most uh consequential of that who has taken your your realm of conditioning and and blossom. I know you got a uh I know Smoot has been one of your your favorite guys. So you had Brayden Cunningham from uh Fleming Island, uh the uh offensive guy now excelling. I think at FAU. Isn't that where he is? FAU you know, and he was one of the guy I remember what I don't know what year it was where you were out in the sand pits out there in uh Oakleaf running these 300-pound guys like uh in through the sand, and and they were looked like they were enjoying it. But the uh the after effect was you know, being fast, being strong. Like we say, Tim, uh, you know, be the best athlete in the fourth quarter. Fourth quarter is worth one. The elite athletes don't get tired in the fourth quarter.
SPEAKER_05Yes, sir, yes, sir. I mean, it's so meaning to name because I have so many kids from Duval, I got kids from Rands, I got kids from Bowles. You know, I had Simeon Caldwell from Bose, who's now at Ohio State. So I had so many different athletes, so it's hard so hard to pick one.
SPEAKER_08Who do you emulate? Tim always asks that. Who do you emulate as a coach, or is it just Nick Saban is my favorite coach. Ah, Alabama, baby. All right, we're gonna take well wait a money wanted to say something there.
SPEAKER_07He was he was going out well No, he got quiet real quick because he thought about conditioning.
SPEAKER_08All right, we're gonna take our second break here. We're gonna hopefully get a phone call from Hunter Hill from North Dakota, and we'll be right back. Right after this. All right. All right, Clay County Sports fans, you know we like to uh reach out across the country on the uh phone with us from getting worldwide, by the way. Huh? We're getting worldwide. Everybody's starting to know who we are. I know. We're trying to get somebody from Europe to call us. We got some guys playing out there like Jonathan Bryant or uh basketball guy from Oakleaf, and now he's uh gonna be coach in Middlebury. He's still playing in China, but I don't know if the uh if the phone budget for the radio can cover that. Oh, he can call us. He can call us? Uh we're we'll try and get that. That'll be international. You know, we've had uh well on the line with us right now, St. John's Country Dig wrestling coach Hunter Hill. Hunter, are you out there? Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_07Yes. You're not on vacation again this week, are you? Are you surfing? You're not a you're not standing there in a Speedo, are you?
SPEAKER_08Oh, Steve. He was out there surfing when they were in California and he was all talking about how good he looks in the speedo.
SPEAKER_07So we were uh just making sure uh I'm gonna let y'all know we were not saying that. We weren't. We might have been.
SPEAKER_08So you're at uh you're in Fargo, North Dakota for the uh what a USA Greco and Freestyle National Championships, kind of the premier national wrestling meet in the country, yes?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yes, sir, man. It's a it's a grind. We did a uh Friday through Sunday was Freestyle, and then Monday we had our Greco weigh-ins, and then Tuesday and today was the was the Greco side of it.
SPEAKER_08So you got our Bryce Fior, state champion, correct? You got Howard Hill, your your son, Colt. You got Vlad Chekinowski there, and he from Tikovsky from Tokoy, and you got a guy from Bowles as part of your uh now are they all a part of the Grapple Academy, as you call it?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, well Colt Cole and Bryce are. Uh Lucas has spent a ton of time with uh Team Jax, and then uh Vlad spent some time with Applied Pressure and Black Hive, you know. You gotta try to get as many, you know. I tell the guys, all the guys in North Florida, get it, get it where you can get good partners and good training in, you know.
SPEAKER_08So what you got? How's everybody doing how's Cole doing?
SPEAKER_06What's his right here? Cold's four and two, Bryce's four and two, we had a tough day today. Like we were on a roll yesterday. The the problem with this tournament is it's not a problem, but it's hard to deal with, is they don't the 16U guys don't start until 3.30 yesterday. They wrestled until 9 o'clock last night. Meanwhile, the the juniors, which are the guys like, you know, sophomores juniors and seniors, they got done wrestling at two, and they also started at 8 this morning. And they're just you could tell it's just it's just a grind. You're traveling, and like our first day, our uh the first day of our flight got canceled. We're in Orlando with 47 wrestlers, 10 coaches. We're on some country airlines. There's no other flights out, it's not country. So we're there from 9 a.m. to like 9 p.m. Flew to Minneapolis, and then drove four and a half hours from Minneapolis to Fargo to get to our hotel, and then we had to wake up, go to practice, make weigh-ins.
SPEAKER_08Like it's been less than 24 hours to transition from jet lag to wrestling.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it's it was tough, man.
SPEAKER_08So I know the level, I know the level there is top notch. What did what did uh what did Coltface and every all those guys, any kind of what kind of level of uh wrestling do you got?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah. Uh uh Bryce ended up being a beating a super 32 champion. Um Colt wrestled uh the number three seed, a Minnesota State finalist in like the second or third round of freestyle. And that guy, like a Minnesota State finalist, um Greco, he and Greco, he ended up losing a second round match. Like it's just and with that good. It's that good. It's the toughest tournament, it's the world's largest tournament. Um, and you just gotta be on on point all game. And if you're not, you better find a way to get it done. And so what do you think one little mistake out here, Doug?
SPEAKER_08What do you think the guys bring home from that as far as uh because I know uh a couple of the a couple of Middlebury kids have gone out there, Sarah Walls and Caliente Barrientos from Oakley, uh State Champ over there. And uh we've had guys over the years who have done that. What is the what is the realm of of bringing bringing something home? Just to say I did Fargo.
SPEAKER_06Well, I I I think it's really kind of pressing for the college level, man. Oh, okay. You're gonna be in every match is a fight. There's not like this 16-man tournament that you're going to locally and you're gonna have a good, you're gonna have a buy and bracket up there. Yeah, yeah. No, every dude's a dude that's looking to whoop you, and you gotta be you gotta bring it, man.
SPEAKER_07They're all state champions, so you gotta practice like one.
SPEAKER_06So I read I read that I read that Cope broke his nose. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's it's the reason why that's not legal in high school athletics. Like you get more points if you get their their legs in the air, if you slam them, just rolling, yeah, just rolling them around. He was trying to he was trying to really boom this kid, and his nose came right down on a hip bone and it was gushing blood. So I had to overnight a face mask uh to like, you know, you know you know what I'm talking about, the protective face mask? It's $90 to get it overnighted. Oh it's at all.
SPEAKER_08So so when they do that, I know at the uh scholastic duels, if you uh if you have a guy that gets hurt, the trainer can actually you know pull you out if he thinks it's yeah.
SPEAKER_06And what is it at that level? Is it like, hey man, they so there's two cards you you have. You have a yellow card and a red card. Oh, I guess. And if they if they give you, if they give, you know, if you go get two yellows from a significant injury, you can get pulled, or if you have one significant enough, it's red and you get pulled out. And you know, like he needed to go to the trainer and get get it looked at. And it and they're awesome, they're top on that.
SPEAKER_08I mean, so was it was it a rocky moment where he said, Don't don't stop the fight, Mickey, don't stop the fight. I'm cut I'm cutting that coming. I mean, how do you how do you go back from a broken nose into the wrestling against some of the best guys in the country? And and uh you gotta, I mean, as a dad, you gotta like that uh in your life.
SPEAKER_06Well, it wasn't my finest dad moment. We waited until he was done for the day to go actually go see the dots.
SPEAKER_07So you were co you were coaching first and then dad second.
SPEAKER_08Does Alex Daniel know that? Does Alex know that? Uh she did not know. Right now, it's right now. Uh listen to this stuff in the restaurant. Was she able to get out there or no?
SPEAKER_06No, no. You know, she got her wrestling leader card, she's one of the one of the few uh female. I I don't know what the numbers are, but there's not a lot of female coaches out there. So she would have won the US Open, but uh not this one. This is I mean, this is long. I think next year she might try.
SPEAKER_08Was she able to stream it like and then call you later and like, hey, what happened under nothing? Uh you know, just the nose blade. Just a nose blade, dry hair, it's just dry hair.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_08So how did how did Bryce match up, our seventh grade state champion? How'd he match up?
SPEAKER_06Man, you know, um he went 113 for freestyle and um decided to go 120. And I mean how much did he weigh? How much did he weigh in? Uh he 113.1. Oh, so he was giving up seven day pounds. Yeah, yeah, for for for for the Greco portion. And uh yeah, you know, you can tell, you know, yeah, it's a lesson gotta learn. You know, he's he's on the younger side, he's he's 14, wrestling 16U, like, but he's trying to get after it. Then, you know, I think I think maybe if we're 13 he he goes up, goes out competes, or maybe if he's gotta be a little bit bigger, 120, you know. Um, but man, it's uh it's still good. It's a good thing.
SPEAKER_08So you gotta be you gotta be coming home with t-shirts that say Fargo on one side and badass on the other side. I mean that that is that is that is the whole deal about that thing, man. You go to that thing and you come home with even if you come home 0-2 or you come home, but if you come home four and two, five and two, a broken nose and so wrestling. How did Vlad and the other guys do?
SPEAKER_06Vlad did all Vlad ended up being the number four seed in Freestyle to well. It's just it's but each style is a different sport. Folks on freestyle to Greco, and Greco, man, he just was a little lost, you know. Um in it's so hard to get really good Greco and freestyle coaches around you like team Jackson's a good job. And that's college, isn't it? What is college? No, guys, college is folks, it's the international styles, but Olympics is freestyling Greco. So you end up going one and two in Greco, but really competed hard, man. You know, it's just fortunate.
SPEAKER_08Good man. Hey, I appreciate you calling us. We're gonna let you go in a minute here so you can get out to the fight. You told me about 20 minutes, so I know you're gonna uh stop by Chick-fil-A and uh grab some lunch before you go. What time is it there? What's it like 4 30?
SPEAKER_06It's five, it's 5 35. 5 35. I want to say hey, thanks, thanks to both you guys for team with like calling sports.
SPEAKER_08We'd like to see our boys, we see our boys out there. I uh and I appreciate you keep me in the loop on uh seeing all the posts going on. So when you when you when you get back, get me some photos so we can uh put some stuff in the paper, right?
SPEAKER_07We'll do absolutely, absolutely, bro. You guys should come back with a shirt that says I went to North Dakota all I came back with was a broken nose.
SPEAKER_08And a phone call that a clay radio uh clay county sports report.
SPEAKER_07Something fun like that.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah. Hey Hunter, tell tell the boys uh I said hi. We're always watching you guys. All right, thanks, man. Thanks, guys. All right, guys. Be good. All right, we're back to football now, boys. Wake up over here. They're all they're all listening on wrestling. Well, you guys want to go out for a wrestle? Anybody wrestle? Do you wrestle? None of you guys wrestle?
SPEAKER_07There's some quick heads going down, shaking their head up.
SPEAKER_08Jason, you get any? You do any wrestling in your in your training stuff?
SPEAKER_05Boxing or no, we just get physical.
SPEAKER_08Alright, boys, so we got about four minutes. I'm gonna let you one at a time, give us about 30 seconds of uh your objectives and goals for the game. So, Edwards, what's your objectives, goals for their for the upcoming season? Uh what do you want to accomplish for the next two weeks to get yourself uh a hundred percent prepared?
SPEAKER_04Dominate, that's all I got.
SPEAKER_08How you gonna get that? How do you do that? How do you do that? How do you get that set in your head? Play as one team, play as one heartbeat. Now, what do you have to do to be a part of that? Be a leader. Be a leader? Which is what more push-ups than anybody, more weight lifting?
SPEAKER_04I mean, we do extra ordinary. That's that's just what we do.
SPEAKER_08All right, Jordan, jump on that mic. You're uh you're the key cog over there to keep everybody moving downfield, moving the chains as they say. What's your what's your objective to learn yourself in order to uh make this team what we're talking it up to be?
SPEAKER_02My objective is definitely get my reads down, you know, steps, little things to get the ball out. Um a big objective of mine is you know, go to playoffs. I want to definitely want to go to playoffs. That's a really big goal of mine.
SPEAKER_08Is that part and Jason? Is that uh, you know, are you guys are you guys walking that plank to uh you know we're gonna make the playoffs? Whatever guy has for us. There you go. All right, Jaden, you're on the defense. You're you're the headhunter. What you uh what do you want to see uh as you approach the first game? You know, the the preseason game you have is kind of uh it's a testing point, you know, you're you kind of go in there, you kind of flex in your muscles and whatnot, and then you guys get into a gauntlet. You got a little uh Orange Park and Fleming Island coming over there. What do you what do you want to see after that first game besides uh an impressive win?
SPEAKER_00Um honestly, uh from a defensive perspective, uh I was in the middle of the field in the spring game, so I was very like very much the voice of the box, and now I got moved to outside. So that's who's in the middle? Uh one of our guys, Bear Moyer. He's uh gonna be a sophomore. Oh yeah, yeah. Yes, sir. So uh I just want to make sure all my guys are in the right position to make the right plays at the right time and hopefully come off with a duck.
SPEAKER_08Alright, there, freshman. Last guy up here. The guy's got all the giggles over here. What do you want? Uh what's your what's your objective here? Coming in as a uh you know, you come in as a freshman and you rock and roll in the preseason of the spring game there. So you get everybody, wow, we got us a fast guy over here, and and uh how are you intertwining with your offensive linemen? You know, the the running back is a funny position because you have your skill set, but uh you have to create the uh what is it, what is it, the the the dynamic with the offensive line that they will take a bullet for you. You know? Are you are you there yet as a freshman?
SPEAKER_03I mean, me and my O-line got a great connection. I want them boys to work harder. I know they got heavier weight than me, but I want them boys to work harder than me because they open up the holes where I could get the yards for my team.
SPEAKER_08So you had a breakaway run in the uh sprint game down the right sideline there. Uh what was that all about? What happened on that one? I mean about 30, 40 yards on that.
SPEAKER_03I mean, my team, my quarterback, my coach made the right decision. We you know, we usually do the things we gotta do to get me there. So it wasn't really mainly on me. It was a team goal, team objective, and we got it done.
SPEAKER_08Do you know what separation speed is? Tim, you know what separation speed is?
SPEAKER_07Oh yeah, that's a fifth gear Jerry Rice had.
SPEAKER_08You have that? You got a separation speed? You got a separation gear on? Does he have a subcoach? Something like that.
SPEAKER_07I I want to tell y'all this, something real quick. I catch on a lot of stuff with what people's talking. I may not be the sports guru like Randy is, but I listen to people talk. Every word out of all four of you young men's mouth was team first. That's the mentality that has to change and stay with that for the entire season. Regardless of what that record is at the end of the day, team first, you're gonna be tremendously better than last year already. Stay with that attitude. That's gonna take you a long way in life. Football may end for you at the end of this season, but that mentality, stay with it for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_08Yes, sir. Last words here, coach. What do you think? I just want to thank you guys for having us on the show. Of course. So we put enough out there that uh now they got to have a little chip on the shoulder or sh or they got to back it up. Now they got to back it up.
SPEAKER_05Hey, coach, we just quiet. We just working. We just want to be better than yesterday. At the end of the day, that's our goal.
SPEAKER_08All right, Tim. I'm uh I'm all sweaty, irritated and rocking, but look at I got chills going on right now. I'm ready for it. So uh we wanna we want to thank our guys, Edridge. Edwards, how do you spell that?
SPEAKER_04Uh-e-n. And then my last name is Rhodes R E.
SPEAKER_08Edrin? Edrin. So I was saying it wrong the whole time. The whole time. I thought it was Edridge. No, sir. We got Jordan over there, Jalen over there. We got Amani over here. Look at this guy. He's like a loaded spring right here. We're having him for four years. He's ready to go, and then uh, Coach Smith, we appreciate you coming with us. And uh, you know, we'll be watching uh as the season goes. It's gonna be broadcast Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday at 5 p.m., Sunday at 5 p.m. There'll be a link available on uh Monday, and then uh there'll be some stuff on YouTube, Instagram, iHeart, we're all over Spotify and whatnot. So uh, you know, make sure you tell your friends about it, and uh, you know, you can, you know, this is this is how you stir the putt, right?
SPEAKER_07Oh, we're just starting it. We're just adding the ingredients right now. Yeah first ingredients added. All right, Ridgie Panthers first on the block on the Clay County Football Report, baby. All right, we're out of here. Have a great week.