- April 29, 2024
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Game of 7-on-7 at Seabreeze football practice with Chandler Mitzo (left), Nasir Parhan (with ball), Gavin Getz and Shamar Dunham. Photo by Michele Meyers
Freshman Logan Swartz runs through defenseive line drills at the Seabreeze football team's "Max Monday" practice. Photo by Michele Meyers
Senior Mike Shropshire runs defensive line drills at the Seabreeze "Max Monday" practice. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze coach Kerry Kramer came out of retirement to take the helm of the defensive line coaching responsibilities. Photo by Michele Meyers
Denzel Shropshire (left) and Amari Peoples battle during the Seabreeze football team's "Max Monday" practice. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze head coach Lester Davis has taken over coaching responsibility of his secondary backs. At "Max Monday", the wide receivers and defensive backs ran a blocking drill to hone their skills against each other. Photo by Michele Meyers
Micah Karr (left) goes for the touch as Johntae Haddock catches the ball during a 7-on-7 game at the Seabreeze "Max Monday" practice. Photo by Michele Meyers
Senior wide receiver Gavin Martinez does a little grab-and-go during the 7-on-7 game during the Seabreeze "Max Monday" practice. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze wide receiver coach Mark Lewis shows his players how it's done during the "Max Monday" practice. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze wide receiver coach Mark Lewis and his players head over to the blocking drill during the "Max Monday" practice. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze wide receiver Dean Hayes and defensive back Daniel Spada got first-hand experience running the blocking drill during Monday's practice. Photo by Michele Meyers
Defensive lineman Jacob Hucka concentrates on blocking during coach Kramer's drill. Photo by Michele Meyers
Another catch for senior wide receiver Gavin Martinez during the Seabreeze "Max Monday" practice. Photo by Michele Meyers
Aiden Ford (right) hit his personal best during the chest press on "Max Monday" but made the biggest strides in his fitness level. Photo by Michele Meyers
“Max Monday” launched the Seabreeze football team into its last week of summer practice on June 26 before the holiday break. It is a day for players to conquer a personal best by bench pressing one repetition at their heaviest weight.
Coach Lester Davis liked what he saw in the weight room. Eighty-seven percent of the players increased their maximum by at least five pounds while 77% increased their maximum by 10 pounds since the last test of strength a month ago in May. Denali Campbell jumped 15 pounds.
“Although we are nowhere near where we want to be, we are climbing Jacob’s ladder,” he said. “We are working our butts off to make sure they are making gains. These kids have bought into, 'We will not be outworked.'”
Halfway through the practice day, the Sandcrabs headed out to the field for skills training and 7-on-7 games. Coaches broke up into groups for linebackers, wide receivers, offensive and defensive line, running backs and quarterbacks. Coach Victor Campbell Jr. was a week into his new position as linebacker coach after Davis switched him from offensive line coach.
“Seven-on-7 was an eyeopener as far as some culture changes that I had to make,” Davis said. “I moved Victor Campbell to coaching the linebackers. Learning two different positions is going to make him grow as a coach. He is the best man for the job because I know the work ethic. That was an easy move and one that I could see; 7-on-7 helped me recognize that.”
Although we are no where near where we want to be, we are climbing Jacob’s ladder. We are working our butts off to make sure we are making gains. These kids have bought into, 'We will not be outworked.'"
— LESTER DAVIS, Seabreeze head football coach
This has been a learning curve for Campbell, whose forte is offensive line. He played right guard at Mainland High School and Fullerton College in California.
“Now, honestly, I am literally learning with the kids ... the defensive scheme and the responsibilities of the linebacker,” he said. “It’s a beautiful process because I am transparent with the kids. They know that I am doing the best that I can with what I know but I’m also getting better as a coach each day by just demanding respect and effort. At the end of the day, I know that there is a lot more I have to learn knowledge-wise of Xs and Os but in the meantime, I can still have a high expectation for effort and discipline, which is a big requirement right now.”
He has become both coach and student as he masters the new terminology.
“I like it,” he said. “I like to be on my toes. I like new and exciting things. I know offensive line like the back of my hand. For linebackers, it’s a little bit different — that’s on the opposite side of the ball. It’s more of learning the terminology that coach Davis expects from the coaches down to the players. Really, everything comes down to semantics.”
He sees a lot of positivity in his group. Each day, they come to work ready to be the best that they can be. For Campbell, junior Dylan Hayes was a standout, while wide receiver coach Mark Lewis touted juniors Denali Campbell and Landon Smith as Seabreeze’s main receiving threats.
“By now, more than anything else, we want to see some cohesion,” Lewis said. “We want to see our conditioning come together. We want to see our play steady come together and execution come into focus. It is starting to happen for us.”
He said he does not get ruffled unless attention to detail is lacking — a missed block, missed assignment or a dropped ball. That all translates into stalled drives and not being able to put up as many points as possible.
“Once you start seeing less and less of that, you see more execution, you see a more cohesive unit and you know you’re on the right path,” Lewis said. “That’s basically what we’re seeing right now.”
The Sandcrabs started Tuesday with a day in the classroom studying game footage. Davis said they seemed to grasp what the coaching staff wanted to accomplish.
“The best part was I was able to see the transition between the classroom and the field today,” he said. “I could see the offense was clicking. They had a better understanding of the concepts we were running. Defensively, we were talking and communicating more, so it’s going to pay off in the long run.”
