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| "Lemme splain... no. There is too much. Lemme sum up..." - I. Montoya
So much to say. Let's start with the big news. I'm pretty much guarenteed to have an internship at training camp this year with the Falcons. This means I'll live at Flowery Branch during the entirity of camp, in the same dorms as the players. I feel it is worth pointing out that these dorms have big screen plasma TVs and such... a far cry from my old dorm at Russel Hall I dare to say. This is an internship with Pro Personnel, and I've been told that I'll be on the field working during practice. Most likely recording hang times for kicks or other similar practice responsibilities, and pretty much whatever else they need done. I really feel like this is just building momentum as it goes. Coach Ryals exact words when I was asking about the time that I'd be away from practice were "This is an opportunity you don't turn down." Oh, I'm QB's and RB's Coach for the Freshman team, and the positions I had said before for varsity. I'm not sure what I think of my peers on the Freshman staff, since I've only seen one of them two or three times at summer practices. Ryals made a comment to me about noticing how dedicated I was, and said that it was appreciated and would not be forgotten. So I guess the Clarke Central thing is going all right. The team is definately making progress. I've broken up fights, collected gear from kids as they were removed from the lineup, watched one of my RB's tear his ACL doing a footwork exercise(the day after having a teammate sucker punch him leading to 5 stitches above his eye), and all kinds of other things. It's immersive... Anyway, the match is over, Iran is out of the tourney. USA plays a huge game against Italy today (and we're not exactly favored... ) Go Red White and Blue! I've moved again, and now live on the West side of athens again, closer to CCHS and I'm living with Julee and Kate now... oh and lucy and taco... two chihuahuas that I have a love/hate relationship with. Fun times... All right that's it for now, I should have been more detailed... but I wasn't ... | | |
| Okay, we’re going to start off this time with the Clarke Central story thus far. I have to admit, I am love every second of this. It has been indicated to me again that I may be the offensive coordinator for the freshman team. Being the one calling in plays really excites me.  We’ll see if this actually pans out… I hope it does. As far as working with the varsity team goes, I have added Assistant Runningbacks Coach to my resume, as well as the position of Assistant Quality Control that I already had. This will work out well for me, and it seems in a lot of ways that at least for now the decision between offense and defense has been made for me. It’s cool with me, working with an offensive minded Head Coach (he is the Offensive Coordinator for the Varsity) provides me with a great opportunity to continue doing my best impression of a sponge. I’m already knee deep in the X’s and O’s… The first day learning the offense was like sitting in on an Ancient Hebrew class at the University. After an hour or so of that however, I began to catch on. From there it is much more rapid fire, and I feel as if my knowledge of the game almost doubles on a daily basis. It is now seven days a week at this point, for example I have been in staff meetings both days of this weekend. The big excitement is that “true” Spring Practices begin tomorrow, and thus it really gets fun. Sadly one of the things I am excited about is all the gear we have gotten as coaches, and we’re not even anywhere near game day gear yet. I’ve got a few sets of clothes just for practices… I mean I was really impressed with the quality of this stuff (Photo’s will be posted eventually I’m sure, with me IN them this time ::Winks::). Working with Damien Gary is a trip, for those of you who don’t know he was a Wide Receiver / Kick Return Specialist at UGA. I had to slip a comment into him about how much I loved seeing number eighteen back to return kicks. Now we’ve already begun the Madden smack talking… He uses the Panthers… I really can’t wait for that game now… just have to get a little more practice in… ha! Oh, and before I forget… the team is looking a lot better now… I think I had just forgotten that these are just kids… and they’re not going to have the same work ethic/drive that I was expecting… though there are some that stand well above the others, and I already have a feeling about some of them. Especially this one receiver who is a Sophomore and he’s around six foot six already!
Now I have to talk about my Falcons. It has been a great draft for us in my opinion; we truly have made huge leaps and bounds this off-season. The pre-draft additions of John Abraham, Chris Crocker, and Lawyer Milloy already helped our defense have a new look feeling. Add the drafting of Jimmy Williams, and now we should have a solid passing defense, as well the expected terrifying pass rush that one would expect from having Kerney, Coleman, and Abraham up front, and the cherry on top is a deep linebacking core with everyone coming back healthy. However, I am getting off topic, the draft. Great selections, I really have to buy all the people I personally know that are part of that process a round or two. I mean seriously, it seems like we have done nothing but improve ourselves this off-season. Not to mention drafting UGA’s quarterback DJ Shockley makes me even happier (I had an indication this was going to happen, but it was told to me a week ago “He has about a 30% chance of becoming a Falcon…” I am glad the other 70% apparently slept through their alarm ::Grins::. I do have to comment however, the rest of our division appears to have done nothing but improve themselves as well. The Saints actually seem to be a little dangerous with the addition of a quality quarterback, not to mention drafting Reggie Bush (Houston… you really screwed up passing on this kid). The Buccs have been making solid moves, and the Panthers look even scarier. On the whole, our division looks BRUTAL… and I can’t wait.
The long and short of it is… My life, now more than ever, remains seven days a week football, and I couldn’t ask for more. Julee however might like a break every now and then… unfortunately for her it seems to only be gaining momentum… Oh, and school is going extremely well… Like I said I really don’t think I could be happier right now. That’s it for now, likely more coming this week as I get deeper into spring practices. | | |
| Okay, I'm going to try and catch a lot up briefly here. I met with Coach Ryals on Friday, it went really well, and then the first staff meeting followed right behind. Assigning positions, academic eligibility, camps... I would guess the usual. Then I sat in on the offensive meeting. It seems I'll be the assistant quality control coach for the varsity, and then the JV/Freshman squad hasn't met yet, so I'm not sure what I'll be doing there. The head coach of the JV/freshman team seemed to indicate to me that the offensive coordinator position would be open, so I'm doing my best to study offense full time at the moment. I have to admit, Coach Ryals offense is exciting, I can't wait to see it in play.
So yesterday was my first day at Spring Workouts, and my first chance to meet some of the guys. I have to admit; watching some of these kids run the 40 impresses me. I really am happy with the amount of speed we have on the field. To be perfectly honest, some of these kids have the setup to be players, but during workouts, the heart wasn't there. That’s not saying some of these kids do not look athletic… But then again, Spring workouts have just begun. The oddest moment of all of this was when I was asked by a kid what my name was… My instincts were to respond with “Chris” however, I stopped myself right before saying it and corrected “Coach Hulse.” What a trip.
The coaching staff has been great. They have really made me feel welcome. One of the varsity position coaches (tailbacks, fullbacks, h-backs, and special teams) spoke to me yesterday about working a lot with him. Thus it seems that in addition to being the Assistant Quality Control Coach, I’ll also be Assistant to all of those positions as well. Long and short is I am getting into the thick of it, just like I wanted… and loving every second of it. | | |
| It is a beautiful day outside and I'm watching a Braves game (I'm going to the home opener tommorow!!!). This is one of the better ways I could imagine to spend a Sunday afternoon. Of course we all know what I think of as an ideal Sunday, however we are a long way off from the season. The draft is just around the corner, and already the Falcons have made many (Previously mentioned) moves to strengthen our team for the upcoming season. It's barely April, and I'm practically already counting down the days untiil the season begins. The schedule just came out, and it appears I will be at the Georgia Dome working on Christmas Eve this year... I hope to not repeat the feeling of a Christmas Eve loss that I experienced last season... but that is a long way from now.
It would be really hard for my life to be any better at this point in time. I've lost right around twenty-five or so pounds since just before spring break (About a month). I haven't done anything silly, no diet pills, no crazy atkins-voodoo diets, just no fried food, almost exclusively drinking water, and not eating after 7:30 PM. Portion sizes were cut down, and I am eating a bit healthier, but that's just a result of realizing how much better I feel as a result. Everything goes well with Julee, I still remain amazed that she at least pretends to listen as I talk about football constantly. Which by the way, I'd like to point something out here. If I manage to get student tickets (about 1 in 3 chance I believe is what it works out to be right now), or really even if I don't, this fall I will be involved in something football seven days a week. That's right, seven days a week... it's enough to bring tears to a grown man's eyes. I'll have practices Monday-Wednesday, JV games on Thursday, Varsity on Friday, Georgia games on Saturday (Whether I'm watching on TV or there, it's still part of my day), and then life as a Dirty Bird on Sundays (we unfortunately only have one Monday night game this year, and that's in New Orleans...) I know you all pity me ever so much.
I'll meet with Coach Ryals on Friday, which is exciting. I can not wait to "get my hands dirty and feet wet" (Thanks for the phrase Doug)... Amazingly enough, I believe I am getting more and more excited about this as time passes. I also have been speaking with Coach Proveaux again (My old soccer coach from HCHS), and have made plans to have lunch with him sometime this Summer. I have now added his name to the top of the list of people who I'm planning to get Falcons tickets to eventually (this of course requires me to be in a position where ticket packages are available to me (not yet, but hopefully soon)). I've already scheduled all my classes for the fall so that I'll be on campus starting at 8:00 AM, and my latest day has me on campus until 2:15, so that I can in turn head straight to the school for practice. I only wish we were starting camp, or practices, or something tommorow. It's hard right now, keeping myself from getting too far ahead of myself. One of the guys within the Falcons advised me to not even think about what I'd like to work more with (Offense or Defense), and to just learn as much as I can and let my specialty make itself clear to me. Both sides of the ball carry appeal to me, but I almost think I'd like to learn how to run a defense... after all Offense wins games, but Defense wins championships.
Oh, and I saw Charlie Murphy the other night. That was definately worth the price of admission, and in fact if he's ever going to be anywhere near you, I would recommend going to his show. The funniest thing of the whole bit was when he started talking about how people around him are getting sick of hearing his name (IE people screaming "Charlie Murphy!" whenever they see him). His response was that they may be getting sick of it, but he loves it. "You have to understand for years people have known me as Eddie Murphy's brother... I know without Dave Chappelle you would still know me as that..."
Anyway, back to the Braves game... | | |
| Okay, so an odd thought has occured to me as I begin this. Will I choose my first or last name to be preceded by the word Coach this fall. That's right ladies and gentlemen... Coach. That aforementioned e-mail to the Athletic Director for Clarke-Central has quickly led to big things. The A.D. was excited to talk to me, and we scheduled a meeting/interview for 2:00 today. So I don my Falcons gameday attire (Front Office polo, khakis, and a practically brand new pair of adidas), print a copy of my resume, and head out ,excited. I was so worked up because I knew I was going to come into this and ask for an assitant coaching position, I only let myself be slightly bothered by the fact that I have no experience at this. Then comes the fun part, telling the lady at the front desk "I'm with the Atlanta Falcons, and I have an appointment with Jon Ward." I just love saying things like that. Anyway, so I am sent to the Athletic Offices which are at the back of the main building. I enter this stairwell and was thinking about how cool it was to be encased with such large windows, then I realized that I was looking out into the stadium and over the field. What a view, even for a High School, it was nice. So I go into the office, and sit down and talk with this guy. One of the first things he wanted to ask me about was who had told me that this would be a good idea. I then told him about the Falcons guys that had taken me (Sorry for the pun) under their wing, and how they had advised me to get experience. I then proceeded to tell him that I would like to see myself in the future on a collegiate or NFL sideline, or in the Football Operations side of it. He then paid me a compliment that was my first indication of how well this was going to go. "The way you are going about this, and the fact that you are doing this, speaks volumes about your character, and who you are." Then we got into the new head coach situation. I impressed him again I have to believe by the fact that I had already done my homework on the new Head Coach. This guy has been at a few high schools in florida, and was apparently even brought in by Nick Saban at LSU at the start of his last season there. The story goes when Saban went to the Dolphins then he went back to his high school football roots. Then Jon goes on to explain the coaching staff of the JV/Freshman team to me, which is simple; one head coach and three assistant coaches. I will be one of these three assistant coaches! Then I was told about how it's not as polished a view as I am used to from inside the NFL. Things such as washing jerseys, and acting as a liason for the players and colleges looking to recruit them are duties he pointed out were part of a coaches job at a high school level. Anyway, we talked for about twenty minutes, and he seemed as excited as I was about me being part of their program. He even went so far as to talk about how he had done much the same thing when he had first gotten into coaching, and told me about the progression of a coaches style over time. Oh, and I must not forget his question about my college. He asked how many years I had left, so I was explaining about the time off, and how I had never failed out, just taken a four year vacation, and he stopped this line of reasoning with a simple statement. "I am asking out of greed because I want to know how many years I will be able to have you around here." Long and short of it, my head is spinning it has been such a great day. My practices will be Monday-Wednesday in the fall with games on Thursday. He also talked to me a bit about working with the Varsity team as well, various things on gamenight, as well as breaking down film. Long and short of it, it's going to be a very busy, football filled fall. I can't wait. | | |
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