Upon Further Review

If you want to see the future of Waynesboro football, you have to take a gander at the past. Most notably last season and, to be more specific, about an hour before the Little Giants’ first game in 2007 against Turner Ashby.

It was at home and in a crowded locker room, then-first-year coach Steve Isaacs looked around at the small, but dedicated group of players. He asked them if anybody was scared, to a man they all said “No,“ shook their heads or sat in silence while staring at the ground.

Hey, different players get geeked up for games in different ways. But when he called for their attention on that Friday in August a year ago, the Little Giants all looked up at Isaacs like a group of puppies ready to be led.

“There’s no place I’d rather be right now than with you guys,“ he told them.

They nodded back in appreciation and, despite the 9-6 loss to the Knights that night, played their most solid game of the season. (Sorry, but that beat-em-up win over Covington wasn’t a solid game, just a win over an outmatched opponent.)

Isaacs is making no predictions about his team this season, obviously well aware that when it comes to football in the River City, promises of great things to come is about as tired and worn out as playing OMD’s “If You Leave” at a prom in the 1980s. So, to open training camp this season, Isaacs only watched with his arms folded and said that, once again, he’s a got a good group of kids and some stellar skill-position players. The offensive line, however, could be another story.

Two major problems plagued the Little Giants last year—lack of blocking that forced the backs to make too many moves before they even sniffed the line or scrimmage and an old Waynesboro football nemesis called “cramps.“

And as little and petty as this sounds, that’s why you gotta like the idea that Isaacs and his coaching staff aren’t telling the players when to drink water during training camp. Instead, they’re telling them to go ahead and drink it whenever they need it, throwing away the usual forced water break and putting the responsibility of the players to keep themselves hydrated. Once they get used to keeping themselves full of water, it should come as a no-brainer to them that, during games, they have to do the same as well.

As for blocking, well, we’ll have to see where that goes but with expected talent in the backfield (led by Brown), the line, as it usually is, will be the key.

A little thing? You know it. But when it comes to football and Giantdom even the little things help like:

Steven Brown, in his senior season, looking like he’s ready to take a leadership role. The bruising running back raised eyebrows his junior season and gave Waynesboro fans a taste of what could be in that Turner Ashby game. Remember when he ran over two Knights at the line of scrimmage, then broke a tackle three yards down field and followed that up by carrying two TA defenders?

And another thing: Don’t know what all this talk about the heat was Monday. I mean, yeah, it was hot, but I can easily recall a few seasons back when it was so hot during practices you could have fried up some bacon on a player’s forehead.

The only thing red-hot right now in Waynesboro is expectations and, having heard that song and dance before, Isaacs appears to be steering clear of them. For now, at least.