Meet the OC Behind Fernandina Beach’s Offense | Bryce Nelson

We go inside Fernandina Beaches Offense with Former Alum and Offensive Coordinator Bryce Nelson, we reflect the spring game and talk about offseason, getting ready for fall season, and much more…

0:00 - Introduction

0:36 - Coaching at Alma Mater

1:23 - Review of Last Season

2:41 - Self Scout

3:24 - Coaching under Blake Willis

4:55 - Role of Assistant Head Coach

7:12 - FHSAA vs SSAA

9:06 - Sideline or Press box

11:21 - Opening Script

13:38 - Fernandina's Offensive Identity

14:59 - Tempo

17:42 - Quarterback Room

21:51 - Biggest improvement since last season

23:09 - Mobile QB

24:58 - Offensive Mis-Matches

28:24 - Defensive Coordinators thats tough to gameplan against

30:14 - Rapid Fire

31:35 - Best part of Coaching at Fernandina Beach HS

33:57 - DOWNLOAD, RATE, & REVIEW

Twitter: @behindTW904

Transcript

Introduction

Coach Moss 0:00

Fernandina Beach, Nassau County, and the man with the call sheet. He doesn't take snaps, he doesn't make tackles, he makes it all work. Offensive coordinator, quarterback coach, play caller, as well as assistant head coach. Last year, Fernandina averaged 23.5 points per game and nearly 4,000 yards of total offense. Every 3rd and 8, every red zone trip, every two-minute drill, it runs through Coach Bryce Nelson, the architect of the Pirates offense. Coach Nelson, welcome to Behind the Whistle 904 for.

Coach Nelson 0:30

Thank you. Thank you for thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here, man.

Coach Moss 0:33

Yes, sir. Excited to have you. So the first

Coaching at Alma Mater

Coach Moss 0:36

thing I kind of want to talk to about you about when I was doing my research, I saw that you um were were graduate of Fernandina Beach. How does it feel like to come back and uh coach at your alma mater?

Coach Nelson 0:46

Yeah, man, it feels great. Um I graduated in 2017 and you know being able to see kind of the community growing up there, playing there, and you know, not seeing a lot of success as a player, and then coming back as a coach and trying to give those kids exactly what I never got, you know, as a player and trying to give that on and pass it on to the next generation of pirates. It's been awesome. And you know, it's just it's just super fun being able to go through the halls and go in the same weight room, the same locker room, be on the same field. It it brings back a lot of nostalgia, but we're also trying to build something new, you know, something that I never had back when I played too.

Coach Moss 1:22

Yeah, definitely.

Review of Last Season

Coach Moss 1:23

So can you just um kind of give us like a quick review of how your y'all season went last year as a team with and offensively as well?

Coach Nelson 1:31

Yeah, um, so last year we had a very you know good season. Um we built off of uh our first appearance in the SSAA state championship game the year before, and then we came back last year with a bunch of seniors, a bunch of returners, and offensively, you know, we took that next step and we were able to get you know the ball to our playmakers, and you know, we had a really, really good passing attack, you know, averaged close to 30 points per game. You know, like you said, had over 4,000 yards of offense, um, or close to 4,000 yards of offense. And you know, it was a really, really fun time. It was a really good time. That was a really good group. And you know, we just honestly fell short in the playoff game. You know, we had some turnovers late in the season that kind of hurt us. You know, we had some missed assignments that kind of hurt us. We had injuries that plagued us there a little bit, you know, some guys with boss and bruises, but you know, we were able to take what we did at the end of last season, take it into the offseason, and now you know we're ready to load up and ready to go again, man.

Coach Moss 2:28

Yeah, and I feel like kind of a big thing as far as being offensive coordinator is kind of your self-scout as far as after the season, kind of evaluating what you can do wrong, um, what you can do better as far as tendencies as well. Um, what

Self Scout

Coach Moss 2:41

what's probably one thing that you kind of took away after you did your self-scout?

Coach Nelson 2:45

Yeah, so the one thing I took away is uh me being a quarterback, you know, growing up and loving throw the ball is that I we threw the ball a little too much. And uh looking around, you know, we had uh three running back rotation, and you know, this year one of them's coming back in Fred Jones, and he's our big back. He's the guy, you know, the ball in space. You know, we're returning three receivers that all you know, two of them out almost had a thousand yards, and our tight end almost had or had over 500 yards receiving himself. And you know, just trying to get more creative ways, you know, either pre-snap, post-snap, you know, trying to figure out ways to get them the ball in space and let them utilize their ability.

Coach Moss 3:21

Yeah, definitely. That that's cut that's big. Can

Coaching under Blake Willis

Coach Moss 3:24

you talk about how it is coaching under Coach Um Blake Willis and the trust that he has in you to run his offense? Well, Fern an Dina's offense?

Coach Nelson 3:33

Yeah, uh Coach Willis is great, man. You know, we I started off, uh we started off together. You know, he was there a little bit before I was, but I started off under Coach Apollo Wright, and he was the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. And you know, whoever coach Wright left, you know, he took over the head coaching job after a lot of offseason drama, you know, trying to figure out who the head coach is going to be. And you know, I walked in there and he, you know, and he and I had that trust, you know, coming from that previous staff and now working together. And you know, he named me offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, which was great. And you know, he knew that you know I was young and I was eager and ready to get after it. And he's also a Fernandina Beach alum. And you know, he's awesome to work for. He has a lot of trust. He's always asking questions, you know, he's always asking what we can do to get better. And I think he's the perfect fit for the Fernandina Beach High School football team. He loves it. He loves getting after in the weight room, loves getting after on the field. And he, you know, he and I are very alike where we're always looking to grow. And we're always looking at each other saying, where did we mess up in this case? Where did we, you know, fail and where can we grow from this? And that's one thing I love and admire about him. And you know, he has complete trust over you know, me running the offense and you know, the offensive staff and everything else. And so it's it's fantastic, man. I love working for him.

Coach Moss 4:54

Yeah, that's great. Now,

Role of Assistant Head Coach

Coach Moss 4:55

can you talk about the role of being assistant head coach as well? Because now you're not just as offensive coordinator, you just run the offense, but now as an assistant head coach, you're kind of like the number two in charge. So how's that as far as wearing that hat?

Coach Nelson 5:08

Yeah, um, so he gave me that hat last year, you know, going to my second season as offensive coordinator. And basically we sat down and we just talked about what are some things that he's doing that I can take off of his plate, you know, whether it's man, you know, helping manage the staff, you know, figuring out big problems or little problems, you know, managing the players, you know, again, figuring out, you know, hey, there's some things that need to go to the head coach that he needs to deal with right now, or are there things that we can kind of push off to the side or kind of wait on? And, you know, honestly, it's been such a cool job because, you know, not only is he the head football coach, but he's the head weight lifting coach as well. And so being able to take some of those things off of his plate and you know, just having that trust between the two of us to where, you know, if he has to miss a practice, he can fully rely on the players still getting after it, the coaching staff getting after it. And if something were to happen, I don't think he'll ever get kicked out of a game, you know, because he's so mild-mannered. But if something like that were to happen, you know, him and I having the same understanding of we're on the same page with everything, we can run practice if he's there or not there. And that's honestly what my job is to make sure that I'm doing all the gritty work I can for him, but also making sure that the players are right, the staff is right, everything is ready to go. So that way when he walks out there, he's not really doing much. You know, he's not having to sit there and worry about is the water full, is the practice station set up, are the players wearing the right jerseys or pants or you know, just small stuff like that that a head coach shouldn't have to worry about. But, you know, knowing Coach Willis, if you ever get a chance to talk to him, he's gonna worry about it. You know, that's the type of person he is. He cares about every little thing to make sure. And my job is to say, hey, don't worry about it, man. We got it. We got it. And uh, you know, just having that relationship has made my job and his job just so much easier.

Coach Moss 6:57

Yeah, I think that's kind of a big thing as far as being a head coach, to have assistant coaches that you can trust because you already have to balance so much stuff as far as parents, boosters, alumni, as well as trying to make sure your team is the best that it can be on the field.

FHSAA vs SSAA

Coach Moss 7:12

Now, shifting a little bit to so a lot of people kind of try to make it seem like there's a big difference between FHSAA and the Sunshine Um conference. Do you think it's that big of a difference? Or what's your opinion on that?

Coach Nelson 7:26

Uh I think football's football, man. You know, I think that, you know, the difference between FHSAA and SSAA is the way they honestly place us. You know, the SSAA, what I love, has a private school division. And in my humble opinion, you know, I think the FHSAA does need a private school division.

Coach Moss 7:43

Yeah.

Coach Nelson 7:43

Because you have so many schools, especially here in North Florida, that are private, that get the opportunity to enroll kids and do things like that. You know, some kind of the un unspoken things that we're not going to dive into today, but you know, kind of get players that they kind of want, and you know, us as a public school, you know, we can't do that. And another thing is too, you know, at the FHSAA, before we joined the SSAA, you know, we were going to be 2A. And so we're playing a team like Bolles that is going to be probably an open division now in the FHSAA, you know, top eight team in the state. And us at Fernadina, we don't have the capability to have a team like Bolles all the way around. And so I think that the SSAA and the FHSAA are very similar. I think both can learn from each other, but we're happy in the SSAA, man. You know, we're playing teams that are on our level, better competition, and we're actually able to go out and play harder teams like we are this you know season playing like Andrew Jackson, Leon County.

Coach Moss 8:42

Okay.

Coach Nelson 8:43

Uh, you know, still playing Prov, you know, we're playing Providence and Episcopal while still playing Yulee, West Nassau. You know, we're able to make our schedule hard, easy, whatever we need to be to kind of help the development of our players, rather than going and playing the same five teams each year, banging our head against the wall, and then we losing those kids, you know, just being blunt the transfers to those bigger schools.

Coach Moss 9:05

Yes, sir. So

Sideline or Press box

Coach Moss 9:06

now we're gonna kind of shift more to your game days. Are you on on the sideline or are you in the box?

Coach Nelson 9:11

So the past two years I've been on the sideline. This year I'm moving up into the box.

Coach Moss 9:15

Okay. What what what what kind of um made you decide to make that change?

Coach Nelson 9:22

Well, I love being on the sideline. I love being in the stuff, you know, as as you know, my wife and I call it, you know, I love being in it, but you know, I think I'm um I'm deciding to go up in the booth just because I'm able to see more. And it also allows me, we have such a young offensive staff, you know, not always age-wise, but also coaching experience-wise. You know, I'm I'm 26 and I've been coaching football for eight years now. And the next coach who's been coaching under me is my age, and you've been coaching for three years. And so now I'm trying to give the offensive staff more freedom, let the players hear more from their position coaches rather than me. And so going up in the box allows that to happen, allows the coaches to coach, allows me to trust them, and also allows me to see things from a better vantage point. And it helps that our new stadium is gonna have an indoor press box as well, so I'm not gonna be outside in the rain and the wind and all that too. So, but that that's just a selfish response there.

Coach Moss 10:21

Yeah. So, yeah, because uh well, you know, I I coach too, so um, it's kind of like a balance because you love being on the sideline so you can interact with the players and stuff, but when you're in that box, you can see like everything that's going on. So it's especially when you call ing plays, it's easier for you to be able to um see what's going on.

Coach Nelson 10:40

Yeah, and you know, be on the sideline, you know, there were games last year and even the year before, you know, I think the state championship game that we played against, the state championship game we played against Frostproof a couple years ago. You know, I'm on the sideline and I'm sitting there banging my head against the wall, trying to get a moment a momentum play going. And going back and watching the film, it's there are plays that we should have taken more advantage of that I would have seen if I was up in the booth. And so, you know, kind of playing more off of what I'm seeing rather than playing off momentum, which playing off momentum is great sometimes, but sometimes, you know, trying to win a game, you're trying to do what's best of what's actually out there on the field rather than what you feel on the sideline.

Coach Moss 11:19

Yeah. So

Opening Script

Coach Moss 11:21

as far as so as far as your opening script, do you kind of go off a script or do you kind of try to feel like what's going on in the game as far as those first 12 to 15 plays that you're calling?

Coach Nelson 11:32

Yeah, so our opening script is based off of what I see on the film. I spend, you know, probably 10 to 12 hours each week watching film, scouting, doing scout cards, stuff like, you know, just really preparing. And so usually the first 10 plays, 10, 10, 15 plays that we call is mostly just, okay, what do we see on the film? What are they throwing at us now? How can we adjust? And so some games it's great because you get exactly what you see on film, and you're prepared and you're able to go out and get an opening drive score. And sometimes, you know, like against West Nassau, they threw a different coverage at us, you know, props to them. But they threw different coverage at us, and I wasn't expecting that. And so we kind of had to go off script very, very early to kind of start countering what they were doing against us. And so it's more of just a game by game situation.

Coach Moss 12:21

Yeah. And the thing that for me that was it's kind of confusing, is you know, you'll see some offices where, you know, when they're on the opening script, they're humming, like they're moving the ball, but then it's like when they get off that opening script, it's like the offense just goes into like a shell of itself, and I'll be like, sometimes I'll be confused that how does that even happen?

Coach Nelson 12:41

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. I mean, and you know, one thing about our offense is that, you know, people ask for a playbook all the time, and I tell them, I don't have a physical playbook. You know, the play, you know, the offense is so wide open. We can tag, we can move, we can shift, we can motion, I mean, we can do anything. And so one thing about our offense is that one the goal is once we get out of that script, is really we try to get more creative, attack more mismatches, attack the defense more as the game goes on, and then all of a sudden, you know, all of a sudden you're sitting back and you know, later in the game, or you know, there are times you have to go into more of your identity more than your creativity. And so that's one thing we try to do is once we get out of those opening plays, is how can we be more creative? How can we continue attacking the defense? How can we continue being our offense, our our offensive identity while making sure we're still attacking the mismatches to go out there and put up points?

Coach Moss 13:37

So speaking

Fernandina's Offensive Identity

Coach Moss 13:38

on that identity, what is um Fernandina's identity, offensive identity?

Coach Nelson 13:43

Yeah, so I mean, you know, the best identity that I tell everybody is we're fast, physical, violent. That's the goal. You know, fast, you know, we're we try to process the information fast, we try to move fast, we try to go fast at times. You know, we try to dictate the tempo of the game. And then being physical is, you know, everything up front. We're trying to be physical, we're trying to be physical with our hands, we're trying to be physical while we run the ball. And last part's violent. I mean, football's a violent game, you know, and we're trying to be violent, we're trying to be more violent than the defense, and we're trying to be violent in everything we do. And part of that identity is, you know, we're gonna run to pass. And, you know, we're gonna try and set up the run on you, we're gonna try and set up some RPO, set up some option stuff, you know, again, just really create mismatches to the point where and it helps when you have the skill set that we do out wide, but we never want the defense to be focusing so much on one person or two people on our offense when we have the skill set across the board to say, you gotta play base defense against us, and you gotta try and stop us, and if you can stop the run, cool, we can throw the ball over the top. If you want to stop the pass, cool, we can run the ball right down your throat, and we'll be happy with either one.

Coach Moss 14:58

Yes, sir.

Tempo

Coach Moss 14:59

So as far as tempo, are y'all more so huddle or do y'all like no huddle, or do you kind of like to change the tempo up throughout throughout the course of the game?

Coach Nelson 15:08

Yeah, so we um we signal everything in from the sideline. Um, and so the one thing that's cool about our uh our offensive staff being bigger than it was in the past is that uh we have three guys signaling all different things. And so, you know, the point of that is you never know what play we're actually signaling in, especially with signal stealing and all that stuff. You know, it's been going around the past couple years. But uh tempo-wise, you know, we can crank up the tempo to 100, but we're also not afraid to huddle up and say, hey, let's slow it down. You know, and that was the one thing that I I learned a lot from my first year of coordinating to last year coordinating is our four-minute offense, my first year was terrible. I'm just gonna be flat out honest. It was it was terrible. I did not do a great job at that. But last year we were to really work on our four-minute offense and still perform our two-minute offense at a very high level. And so, you know, again, we're trying to dictate the tempo. So some games it's super, super fast, super, super quick, and some games it's hey, you know, we don't need to do that. Let's just keep our tempo regular, line up, go. And you know, we motion a lot, and so the tempo doesn't really help us. You know, we can't really go super, super fast while we're trying to motion and shift and stuff. And so, but yeah, I mean, we we the majority of the time we're signaling everything in from the sideline.

Coach Moss 16:24

Yeah, it's kind of funny because when I was at Savannah State, we had we actually had four signalers. So we had somebody signaling in the um tempo, somebody signaling the formation and the motion, someone signaling the play. Then we also had a coach that only that just signaled in the offensive line what their protection or the run play was. So it was like it was no room for confusion as far as the offensive line saying they didn't get the call because you got your own coach signaling to you what the protection or what the run is.

Coach Nelson 16:49

Yeah, and you know, in our offense, you know, I some of the play calls get wordy, and so some of the players and coaches start laughing, and so you know, we do have to give the quarterback a wristband, and that would be a time where you know I may have a three-paragraph play, and I'm like, no, let's let's just put that on the wristband and huddle up, man. We're not gonna have you go out there and throw 20 27 signals out for the guys to try and listen and hear it, man. Because, you know, as a quarterback myself, we try to do that one year at Fernandina, and I was like, Coach, what are you even signaling, man? That ain't even makes sense. We need to call timeout. You know, it took it took the whole play clock to signal that play in, like, we need to put that on a wristband or something. And so just uh learning from that experience and being like, no, we can, you know, those longer plays and you know, those really, you know, meticulous parts of that play, we can just put that in a wrist band, huddle up and you know, break the huddle and go from there.

Coach Moss 17:40

Yes, sir. So um

Quarterback Room

Coach Moss 17:42

now I'm kind of shift to more at as you as at quarterback coach, can you talk about who your um starting quarterback or a couple quarterbacks that you have and talk about what their best trait is?

Coach Nelson 17:53

Yeah, so we have uh four, I had to think about that for a second. We have four quarterbacks uh this year, technically three, but uh so our starter this year is gonna be Talon Van delinder. Um he's about 6'1, 160 right now. He was uh kind of our backup last year, you know, to Ian Miller, and you know, Ian Miller last year had a great season for us, threw 29 touchdowns, you know, through for over 3,000 yards. I mean, did a fantastic job. And you know, so Talon came in, he actually transferred from UC and he came in because he wanted the opportunity to learn. And being at University of Christian, you know, their quarterback room was stacked, and he wanted to come to Fernandina and have the opportunity to compete for the job, and you know, he was okay sitting another year, and so he'll be a junior this year. And right now he's our starter. Um he is very, very quick. He's very, very good at you know, running the ball, finding lanes, and he has a uh a whip of an arm. You know, he can really throw the ball in there. You know, in our spring game, he went 14 of 18 for I think 160 yards and threw a touchdown. And he also had you know seven or eight carries, you know, just running the ball and getting vertical. I call him Haynes King because you know that's that's his favorite player, but that's who he tries to emulate his game the most after.

Coach Moss 19:13

Okay.

Coach Nelson 19:13

And so we have him. Um our backup right now is Blake Rothermel. He's a sophomore, uh, balled out on JV last year. He's six foot, about 190, 200 pounds, something like that. And that kid can throw the ball over the yard, man. He his arm is so strong and you know, he's so accurate. But you know, part of the development is that he played JV last year. He's gonna play a little bit again this year, and just continue developing, you know, getting him caught up with the playbook, caught up with the reads. You know, everything we do in our passing game is pure progression. And so getting him and you know, all the quarterbacks really, but you know, getting him to understanding it's one, two, three, then you gotta make a decision after that. And then uh we have a freshman, you know, Connor Goodman. Um you know, haven't seen a lot of him, obviously with spring with him being an upcoming freshman, but the little bit I have seen, I mean, that kid can throw the ball a mile. I don't know where it's gonna go after it gets to a mile, but he can throw that ball a mile right now. And you know, one thing about him and all the quarterbacks is that they're eager to learn. You know, they they really come in every day during our individual periods, during our film meetings, you know, during our team period, seven-on-seven, and they're always asking questions. And it's not questions of, well, what's the route on this play? It's more questions like, hey, if the safety's hips are facing this way, two high safety look, we have a post over the top of the dig, you know, coming on the opposite side. Well, coach's safeties are pointing backwards. So what's the timing on this dig? What's the timing on this drag? What's, you know, what happens if they rotate safeties? Do I go towards the rotation, away from the rotation? It's all those football questions that as a quarterback coach and as the offensive coordinator, but mostly as a quarterback coach, it gets me excited because it's like now we're asking football questions. Yeah. You know, we're not asking questions that, you know, you should know by now. It's asking questions that make sense towards the playbook, towards the progression. And you know, then our fourth quarterback, you know, it's kind of our emergency quarterback, you know, is uh Beck Rohe. And he's our leading receiver, you know, from last year, but he played quarterback his sophomore year for us due to injuries. And Beck's just a playmaker. I mean, that kid can play quarterback, running back, receiver, tight end, whatever. And he's gonna lead your team in in total yards on offense. And so we're gonna utilize him and at quarterback a little bit too, you know, just because of his ability. And he's the same thing. He can throw that ball a mile. He's a little more accurate, but he can throw that ball a mile, and you're like, man, like that's awesome. But he's also our best receiver too. So we're like, you can't you can't lose your receiver just yet.

Coach Moss 21:50

So

Biggest improvement since last season

Coach Moss 21:51

um just speaking on your starter specifically, what's one area that you kind of have seen him improve from the end of last season to now?

Coach Nelson 22:00

Yeah, one area on the offense I've seen improve uh is the offensive line, to be honest. Uh we lost one offensive lineman last year, and you know, we were young. You know, we started a freshman on the offensive line. We had all juniors and only one senior last year. And this year, you know, seeing them take that step forward, you know, we played uh Pedro Menendez in the spring game and they towered over us. Oh wow, you know, up front. And we were able still to run the ball, push the pile forward, do a bunch of things. I mean, our run game really shined a lot during that game. And so seeing the improvement on the offensive line, you know, you know, to me has been really, really exciting. You know, I'm a Miami fan, and you know, I love Mark, you know, Coach Chris to bal out there, and he's a big offensive line guy. And so seeing the offensive linemen do what they do, it gets me excited. I'm like, yeah, let's keep just running the ball. And then I look around and like, oh wait, we have you know two potential division one receivers. We gotta get them the ball too. Wait, we now we have a running back, you know. It it's a good problem to have, but it's still uh one of those things where I'm like, I'm so impressed with the offensive line, I want them to shine as well.

Coach Moss 23:08

Yes, sir.

Mobile QB

Coach Moss 23:09

So I want to kind of shift a little more back to like you as offensive coordinator. So just talking about as far as your red zone offense, does it kind of help having a quarterback that is mobile? Because you know, when you once you get down there in the red zone, it's a lot harder to score. So if you got a quarterback that can is mobile where he can get out the pocket and then threaten the if the defense comes up then he can throw it over top, or if they stay back and they're man coverage, then he can run. Does that kind of help kind of make your job easier?

Coach Nelson 23:37

Yeah, I mean, having a quarterback that can run makes any offensive coordinator jobs easier. Yeah, I mean, I I've seen quarterbacks that can run in the four fives and four sixes play in a wing T offense. I'm like, what are you doing, Coach? This kid can run. You need to go in the shotgun and let him run around a little bit. But no, I mean, yeah, it made it makes my job easier, you know, and and it opens up the playbook. Um, you know, red zone offense, you know, under Coach Wright, you know, we sit we would sit down as when I was just the quarterback coach, and we're sitting there like, how can we utilize you know the limited space and the limited yards that we have? And then going into my first year as offensive coordinator, you know, Coach Willis and I sat down and were like, same question. But his was more of, hey, you know, we need to be aggressive in the red zone. And going into this year, um, especially in our spring game that we played, you know, we were really aggressive in the red zone. We weren't afraid to throw the ball around, run the ball, run the ball with the quarterback as well. And, you know, it just adds that extra element to where now the defense is expecting mostly run, you know, once again, especially in the high red zone or low red zone. But now at that element of, hey, you can't just focus on our 230-pound running back. Now you gotta focus on a quarterback who can beat you to the edge. And so it definitely gives us that extra advantage. And, you know, I'm really excited to see what we can do in the red zone this season, you know, especially with a quarterback like that.

Coach Moss 24:56

Yes, sir. Also,

Offensive Mis-Matches

Coach Moss 24:58

I think a big part of game planning is kind of figuring out who your mismatches are, like what you can exploit in the defense. Who are some players that you think, as far as for Fernandina on a week-to-week basis, that you know is going to create a matchup, uh, a mismatch for the defense?

Coach Nelson 25:15

I mean, all of our receivers, man. I mean, that that sounds very cocky and blunt, but uh that that's just the truth. I mean, you know, we have Aydin Poe, who uh actually just came back from a Charleston Southern visit. You know, he has seven Division I offers. I mean, he's a he's a mismatch nightmare for anybody. You know, he's 6'1, 180, runs a 4'5 in the 40, and can beat anybody at the top. I mean, he is he's a dude, you know, and I don't say that about a lot of players, but our three, our three guy, our big three, as I call him, they're they're dudes. And you know, he's definitely one of mismatch that you know, I'm looking every game like, okay, you know, who's on Aydin and who's on Aydin and how can we get him mismatched? And then the second one, you know, is like I mentioned earlier, Beck Rohe. I mean, that kid, you know, doesn't have any offers yet. He should have a lot more than than he does right now, just being honest.

Coach Moss 26:04

Yeah.

Coach Nelson 26:05

Uh, but he's you know, six foot, you know, about 165, 170, you know, runs in the four sevens in the 40, but he's uh, you know, he's not he's not a 50-50 receiver, he's an 80-20 receiver. He's coming down with that ball every single time. And you know, again, same thing is he's our best route runner. So how can we get him moving to the inside, moving to the outside? How can we get him on a matchup to where he's gonna win the route even more than he would against a corner? And then our tight end, Ethan Watts, you know, he's six, you know, he just went to West Georgia, measured at 6'3.5, 225, runs a 4'8 hand time in the 40, and you know, he's one of those guys that he'll make a big play for you. You know, against Clay County this year, uh, we ran an all-go concept, and he was coming across the middle, and he jumped over a guy, caught it, flipped, you know, got flipped on his head and made the first down, and just got up and was like, give me the ball again. Like, I'm like, and that's how all of them are. But he's like, I'm ready to make a mismatch and you know, make a play, and that's how they all are. And so, you know, I have to tell those three all the time, there's one football, you know, there's one football, so we have to share it, but all three of them know at any point that they're a mismatch no matter who they're up there against. Yeah, and they can go make a play for us. And again, it's a good problem to have, you know, especially for us at front of the end. We've never had this problem, I don't think, since I've been here. But it's definitely something that every game we're gonna try and get those guys at least 10 targets, you know, running, passing, catching, something, you know, getting the ball at least 10 times each game. And then, you know, we have other, you know, we have other guys on the team too that can make plays for us and out wide. You know, we have uh Cordell White, who's a slot, you know, he's a sub-four-six guy. We have Jake Holbrook, who's another slot that can make a mismatch. He's a cool, fantastic route runner. And then, you know, we have freshmen coming up, you know, Jakeada Myers and Chance Whitaker, that, you know, just seeing them play right now against our varsity defense, even though they're only freshmen, they can still go make plays for us.

Coach Moss 28:09

Yes, sir.

Coach Nelson 28:10

And so it's again, it's one of those things where you're looking you're going down the list and you're like, man, all these kids can make a play for us, but making sure we're doing it on time and we're not force feeding those guys as well.

Defensive Coordinators thats tough to gameplan against

Coach Moss 28:24

Definitely. So as an offensive coordinator, who who is one defensive coordinator that you would say that you know that is probably the toughest that you have to game plan for, whether it's one of those West Nassau schools or somebody like Episcopal that you have to match up with?

Coach Nelson 28:40

Yeah, so um I I ones that we've gone against, you know, last year that we're gonna go against this this year, uh, who runs a really, really good scheme. I mean, I'm gonna shout out West Nassau. Um, you know, Coach Gunnar Cox over there runs a really good scheme. You know, he threw a little wrench in our plans, you know, the first couple times, you know, the first two times we played him, not the first two times, but the only two times we played him this past season. You know, he he there's some different coverages and different looks out there at us that you know really kind of had me stumbling a little bit in the beginning, I'm not gonna lie. But you know, and that game is always such a fantastic game. You know, it's cross-county rivals, you know, both in the SSAA. You know, we went to the state championship two years ago, they went last year. And so, uh, but he does a good job really coaching those guys up and really does a good job, you know, mixing up coverages, mixing up stuff to really throw you off. And another one is Yulee. Um, you know, Coach KD out there at Yulee, who's the head coach, he does a fantastic job of game planning, you know, using Hudl. And you know, every time we go against those two teams, it's how can we keep our tendencies but also break our tendencies because we know when they come play Fernandina, we have to go play them. It's gonna be a good matchup, and we're really trying to win that game. Um, one defense I'm excited to see this year is Clay, uh, not Clay County. Well, yes, Clay County, too. We played them last year, but a new defense is uh Providence and Episcopal. You know, I haven't you know had the opportunity to call plays against them, and you know, those are two really well-respected programs, well-respected teams, well-respected coaches, and I'm excited to see what we can do and what they throw at us defensively.

Coach Moss 30:12

Yes, sir. So this

Rapid Fire

Coach Moss 30:14

next um section is kind of like a rapid fire section. I'm just gonna give you some questions. You kind of give me your responses to them. So what's Fernandina's true identity run or pass? Both shotgun or or understanding. Where does your quarterback live?

Coach Nelson 30:33

Oh, he lives in a shotgun.

Coach Moss 30:34

Okay. Tempo? Up tempo or control? Like what wins in Nassau County?

Coach Nelson 30:41

Up tempo.

Coach Moss 30:42

Um one word for a D D C who blitzes your quarterback every snap.

Coach Nelson 30:48

One word for that guy?

Coach Moss 30:50

Yeah.

Coach Nelson 30:51

Annoying.

Coach Moss 30:53

What's one word for quarterbacks who don't watch film? Annoying. So are you so as far as being on the sideline, are you a calm, are you are you like a calm play caller, or are you like a sideline screamer?

Coach Nelson 31:07

No, no, I'm not I'm not a side. No, in practice I'm a screamer, but on the sideline, I'm not a screamer. You know, I but those guys know, man, it it takes a lot to get me to the point of screaming and yelling and all that stuff, and you know, but they know like when I'm at that point, you know, we're either doing something right, or you know, I'm fired up, ready to go, or you know, we need we need to kick our butts in gear for a little bit. And so I I try to keep a calm demeanor all the time.

Coach Moss 31:34

Yes, sir. So

Best part of Coaching at Fernandina Beach HS

Coach Moss 31:35

what's the best thing about coaching at Fernandina?

Coach Nelson 31:38

I mean, the best thing are the kids, man. You know, again, we're not, you know, we're not one of these big name schools that can, you know, spout off for about an hour up in North Florida. I mean, we're a small school, we're a small town school, you know, but we love football and we love competing and we love being underdogs. Every year they're gonna try and write us off because of our past and not winning a lot of games and not having a lot of winning seasons, but that's more fuel to the fire, man. And you know, we have that underdog mentality. We we walk everywhere with a chip on our shoulder, and but we're not gonna let there and let people know that we're beating them. We're gonna beat them, get back on the bus to go home and get ready to work on Saturday when we're doing film and all this other stuff. And you know, that that's the one thing I love about it. It's football down to its core of you're not always gonna have the better athletes, but are you gonna have the better team that's practiced the best, that lifts the best, that shows up, that really wants to be true Fernadina Beach football players, not just guys that want to come in, get their film and up and leave, or you know, guys that are only in it for themselves, but we want guys that are gonna win, win for the team and win and understand that every day we've got to be one and 0. And that's my favorite part about being at Fernandina right now. And obviously the coaching staff is all bought into that. You know, we have a very big staff, but we're all bought into that. And obviously, it's led by a great head coach and Coach Blake Willis. You know, he does a fantastic job of getting us all on track and getting us ready to go. And you know, he he leads the excitement. You know, he lets us know, hey, let's get excited, let's, you know, let's get angry, let's get mad, and let's get them fired up and ready to go to practice. But he also lets us understand during games at times where it's like, hey, let's calm down, let's not get thrown out, let's not get fine, let's not you know, he's very calm, cool, collected as well. And so, you know, he did a great job of leading that. And it's it's just great being over here. I love being over here. Not just because I played here. You know, I tell people if I'd never played over here, I would still love to be here and coach over here because we're building something that's never been done here at Fernandina before.

Coach Moss 33:40

Yes, sir. Well, coach, that's all I got for you. I want to thank you again for coming on.

Coach Nelson 33:45

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. And I and I love what you're doing, you know, giving these players and coaches the opportunity to speak about you know football in our little area up here in the 904. And you know, I appreciate what you're doing, man. It was awesome.

Coach Moss 33:56

Yes, sir.

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Coach Moss 33:57

Well, folks, that's a wrap. Shout out to my guest, Coach Nelson, for coming through and keeping it real. You've been listening to Behind the Whistle 904. Please remember to download, rate, and review, and turn on that notification bell so you don't miss an episode. See you next time.