High School Football America radio show - May 1st

On this edition of High School Football America, host Jeff Fisher talks with new Claude High School football coach Duane Toliver. Claude HS is a small high school in the Texas Panhandle with about 1,100 residents. 

Also on the show is Chris Salvi, a Chicago high school football coach who is currently playing professional football in Italy for the Torino Giaguari.  Salvi, who walked-on at Notre Dame after not being recruited out of high school, is the defensive coordinator for St. Ignatius High School in Chicago.

2-Minute Drill Podcast - April 11, 2014

High School Football America radio show - April 10, 2014

On this edition of High School Football America, host Jeff Fisher talks with Bailey Kenter, a punter a Layton Christian Academy in Utah. Kenter hails from Australia and has come to America to pursue his dream of playing Division 1 college football. During his junior year, Kenter was one of the top punters in the nation, averaging over 46 yards a punt. 

Also on the show is Joey Teichert, one of the founders of Southern Sport that produces the Debris Inhibitor Razur. The TDI Razur keeps crumb rubber from Field Turf out of players' shoes. It also gives you the great look of spatting without the high cost of tape.

2-Minute Drill Podcast - April 9, 2014

2-Minute Drill Podcast - April 8, 2014

2-Minute Drill Podcast - April 6, 2014

2-Minute Drill Podcast - April 5, 2014

2-Minute Drill Podcast - April 4, 2014

2-Minute Drill Podcast - April 3, 2014

On this edition of the High School Football America 2-Minute Drill podcast, Jeff Fisher talks about a Hawaii high school football coach who has stepped-down after two years on the job and a state championship ring.  Fisher also tells you about six North Carolina schools getting used gear for their practices from the NFL's Carolina Panthers.

Click here to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes.

2-Minute Drill Podcast - April 2, 2014

2-Minute Drill podcast - April 1, 2014

2-Minute Drill podcast - March 31, 2014

2-Minute Drill Podcast for March 13, 2014

 
by Jeff Fisher
Follow @HSFBamerica

Today's High School Football America 2-Minute Drill podcast looks at the latest from Allen, Texas and a report that says they made need to do a "partial teardown" of the Eagles' 2-year old, $60 million stadium.  I also talk about the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association's decision to delay a vote on splitting public and private schools in athletics.

Number of high school football injuries in Texas drops

by Jeff Fisher
Follow @HSFBamerica

KTBC-TV Fox 7 in Austin is reporting that high school football injuries declined for the third straight year in Texas.

According to a report obtain by the station from the University Interscholastic League, the state's governing body for high school sports, there were 3,200 injuries last year - down from 4,000 in 2012. The UIL says there were 12,000 high school football injuries from 2010 through the 2013 season. 

The most common injury was a sprain with concussions being the second most common, but the number of concussion cases also dropped last year.  The report does not cover every school in the state.

The report goes on to say that most injuries occurred during games and not in practice and that most injuries didn't require a trip to the hospital.

Fort Thomas Highlands closes-in on Valdosta on all-time wins list

 
by Jeff Fisher
Follow @HSFBamerica

If you listened to today's High School Football America 2-Minute Drill podcast, you know that Parkersburg High School in West Virginia is ready to join the exclusive 800 Win Club.  Parkersburg enters 2014 with 799 wins.

Currently there are seven schools in America with 800+ victories, or eight if you go with Easton (Pennsylvania) High School's record-keeping.  According to the school, the Red Rovers won #800 last November, however , the NationalFederation of State High School Association’s official record book has Easton at 786 wins entering next season. 

Valdosta (Georgia) is still at the top of the list with 882 wins, but second-place Fort Thomas Highlands (Kentucky) closed the margin a bit with a 13 win season in 2013 that leaves the Bluebirds' 27 wins behind Valdosta.

All-Time Victories - through 2013 season

Valdosta (Georgia) 882

Fort Thomas Highlands (Kentucky) 855

Louisville Male (Kentucky) 833

Massillon Washington (Ohio) 830

Mount Carmel (Pennsylvania) 820

Mayfield (Kentucky) 819

Canton McKinley (Ohio) 802

Parkersburg (West Virginia) 799

Easton (Pennsylvania) 786

Muskegon (Michigan) 785

High School Football America begins daily podcasts

 
by Jeff Fisher
Follow @HSFBamerica

With all of the success we've had with the Thursday High School Football America radio show, it seems only natural to expand the brand with a daily podcast.

Below you can listen to our first-ever High School Football America 2-Minute Drill.  Props to our good friend and now intern Greg Gerber in Wisconsin for suggesting the name.

The idea behind High School Football America’s 2-Minute Drill podcast is to give you up-to-the-minute high school football news daily that you can listen to on your computer or on your mobile device since we're free on iTunes and also on SoundCloud.com. 

The High School Football America 2-Minute Drill is brought to you by The Debris Inhibitor Razur. Stop those pesky rubber pellets from Field Turf from getting into your shoes with the TDI Razur that also gives you the great look of spatting without the high cost of tape.
 

Miami Dolphins play ringer-bearers for Booker T. Washington football team

Photo courtesy of MiamiDolphins.com

by Jeff Fisher
Follow @HSFBamerica

The NFL's Miami Dolphins are making Booker T. Washington's (Florida) championship 2013 season a little more special.

On Wednesday, according to the Miami Herald, Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel presented the team with a $23,000 check to buy its championship rings.  Booker T. was ranked #1 in the nation by several national media outlets.  The Tornadoes finished #3 in the High School Football America rankings.

On hand for the check presentation ceremony were former Dolphins Nat Moore and Pro Football Hall of Famer Larry Little, who is a graduate of Booker T. Washington.

The Other Side of the Lens: Offseason Video Work

by Greg Gerber

Greenfield High School Video Coordinator and Receivers Coach

Follow @CoachMitts

In today’s insanely fast-paced world, football season seems to go by in the blink of an eye.  Starting with summer camp in July, it’s full boar until November/December brings on the state championship games.  Warp-speed is the nature of our sport, but (as we’ve all come to learn at one point or another) intense focus at season start is what makes or breaks a team.

As the hot summer sun scorches our field, camp gets underway. It’s the beginning of new season and there’s a lot of work, sweat and excitement – as well as a lot of forgetting everything they learned the year before. Which is utterly frustrating because coaches build from the basics - we lay the building blocks of our systems in the fundamentals we preach the entire year.  But what if we could eliminate how much time we spend on teaching the elementary principles of football at the beginning of camp?

High School Football America radio show - February 13, 2014

 
On this edition of High School Football America, host Jeff Fisher talks with Lubbock head football  coach Jason Strunk about the ups-and-downs of the 2013 season that included Strunky suffering some serious health issues on the sidelines during a game in September.  The west Texas coach also discusses his High School Football America blog called The Turnaround.  

Fisher's second guest is Pennsylvania Hall of Fame high school football coach Jim Tkach talking about his upcoming Nike Coach of the Year Clinic in Allentown, Pennsylvania that will feature top-notch college football coaches: Jimbo Fisher of national champion Florida St.; James Franklin of Penn St.; Paul Chryst of Pitt; Paul Rhoads of Iowa St. and Pete Lembo of Ball St.  The Allentown clinic will be held February 27th through March 1st.

Chris Salvi - First Week of Football Americano

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of blogs that will be written by Notre Dame graduate Chris Salvi, who is playing his first year of professional football in the Italian Football League (IFL) with the Torino Gaguari - Jaguars in English.  The IFL allows teams only two American football players.  Salvi, who is 5-10, 180 pounds, plays free safety.  What makes Salvi's story interesting is the fact that he was, in his words, "a Zero-Star" recruit who, a la Rudy, walked-on at Notre Dame.  Unlike, Rudy Ruettinger, Salvi played a lot as a star special teams performer for the Fighting Irish.  By his senior season, Salvi was awarded a scholarship by head coach Brian Kelly.

High School Football America has asked Salvi to give our readers an inside look at his Italian journey throughout the 2014 season that begins in March after a month-long training camp.  Below is his first entry.  You can also learn more about Salvi by listening to our interview with him before he left America on his journey.

  
by Chris Salvi
Free Safety, Torino Gaguari
Follow @CSalvi24 

Downtown Torino, Chris Salvi Twitter pic

To give a quick background on myself I grew-up in the north suburbs of Chicago and played football at Carmel Catholic High School. I went on to play a year at Butler University then transferred to the University of NotreDame where I walked-on to the football team. What makes my story even a little more interesting is that I now play professional football…. in Italy for the Torino Gaguari (Jaguars in English). Yes, they have American football in Italy and other countries around Europe.  So I went from playing most of my college career for free to now being paid to play, with the compensation of PIZZA!

My journey began at O’Hare Airport in Chicago on January 31st, where I finally got to meet my teammate Niles Mittasch in person. Niles is the only other American on the team and played running back at the University of Oregon.  Two flights and twelve hours later we arrived in Torino, Italy. 

The greetings by Roberto (president of the Gaguari), Rico (head coach) and Frank (team manager) gave a small taste to how different we are from Italians - a kiss on both sides of the face from each of them. 

They took us to our new home where I was in for a few surprises. 

First, they don’t use clothes dryers, so you have to hang the clothes to get them to dry out. I don’t like doing laundry to begin with, so that wasn’t a good surprise! Next was the TV, as a snob, I was hoping there would be some channels in English.  There's one channel and it is MTV. That is probably my least favorite channel, so I find myself eating breakfast while watching the cooking channel. These are just two examples of the differences I have seen in the first week.

After a day and a half of getting settled in, it was time for practice. To my likening the practices are run with efficiency. They have a practice plan every single day and we waste little time going from drill-to-drill. However, there are moments when a discussion of a scheme can get a little long.  

The communication between players and coaches is much different then we Americans know. In our experiences we are used to being told what to do while only asking direct questions. Italians, on the other hand, discuss with the coaches at length about schemes, plays, or techniques. 

Italians are a passionate people that enjoy talking and although I don’t understand a single thing they are debating, it is easy to tell when it gets heated, which is actually refreshing to see. I always want players and coaches to be heavily invested in what they are doing, and it’s clear that they are. 

To give you an idea about the players, our linebackers average about 220lbs. By no means are the players small, but the skill level and knowledge of the game is not like the D1 college level. Plenty of very talented Italian players are sprinkled in to make it competitive.

After a week of a couple practices and gym sessions, the weekend arrived. Italians LOVE the weekend and that’s an understatement.  Some of the players took us out to the bar that is own by one of the coaches. They introduced me to a few Italian drinks I have never heard of and we engaged in some football conversation. 

I am lucky to find that most of the players are able to speak English well, but there are plenty of  moments when we have no idea what each other is saying. I must also point out that the women in Italy are beautiful, but the language difference makes it difficult to hold a full conversation, and it makes it that much more fun.

The first week in Italy has been interesting and exciting. These are just a few snippets to my overall football Americano experience so far.  I already feel I could write a chapter of a book.