Thank you Lipscomb

Thank you Lipscomb

On April 30, 2013, I was confused as I sat in my home in Jackson, Mississippi. I was scared, lost and was overwhelmed with the feeling that I was stranded. It had been a few days since I sat in the parking lot of the church I played at in Starkville, Mississippi, while attending Mississippi State and legitimately tried to commit suicide. I was helpless and in a dark hole. I didn’t know what was next for me. I didn’t know where my life was going to go. There was a level of trust that I knew was broken with my parents and friends. It was going to take everything to earn that trust back. The girl I had dated for two and a half years had left me and had already replaced me. I gave up so many ambitions to go to MSU with her. I was hurt, upset, alone, and I didn’t know where to start. A year later I was sitting in a community college questioning everything. I had graduated high school a year early in 2010. I remember seeing people from my class of 2011 at the community college and asking me why I wasn’t in Nashville. The whole point of me finishing early was to come to Nashville and pursue my passion. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to say what really happened. I felt like I had failed so many people back home. I failed my school, my church, my family and friends, but also myself. I knew I wanted to get to Nashville. I knew music was my goal....
X’ s and O’s from a rookie quarterback coach: winning

X’ s and O’s from a rookie quarterback coach: winning

Well, holy cow. I write this as an assistant coach of a 3-1 team. We have won three games straight and look to continue that this week as we go into Ravenwood. It’s crazy to look back at that week one loss and look at where we are now. This past Friday we beat Brentwood 41-7, and our offense is finally gelling. People are buying into what we can do, and we are in great position going into our off week. We are winning. I was thinking about the word “win” the past few days, and what it means to “win.” Winning on the field is great, but when we only spend three hours during a game, how do we win the other 21 hours during the day, off the field? The unfortunate thing about life is that it is going to hand us losses like that week one loss against Centennial. You think you have everything figured out, and then, just like that, it’s gone. You can drive yourself crazy trying to figure out how or why it happened, but it did. But you know what? It’s okay to walk around and know that you lost. It really is. Sometimes a “win” doesn’t have to be some victorious ride in the sunset. Sometimes a win may not actually be a “win.” Many times a win is waking up in the morning and just doing your job. You don’t have to be okay with your circumstances, but as long as those circumstances don’t affect your day-to-day schedule, you’ve won. I know that I have not been okay with my...
X’s and O’s from a rookie quarterback coach: getting hit

X’s and O’s from a rookie quarterback coach: getting hit

So we lost week one in horrifying fashion. We left several points on the field, and Centennial scored 14 points in the final 72 seconds to win. It was definitely not the opening anyone would want. Their quarterback finished 9-25, and most of those completions came on the final two drives. I had a big “hoorah” blog lined up in my head for if we had won, but I wasn’t able to write it. For a moment, I questioned doing this. Is this really something I wanted to do? Do I really like football this much to go through everything we did simply to lose like that? Sunday rolled around, and we put it behind us. It happened. It’s over. Time to regroup. It made me sick the rest of the week, but, in a way, I loved that. I loved that I finally had some drive in me. It didn’t matter what happened because we are a team. We lost as a team. Everyone has to get better. Tuesday we had the best defensive practice I think I have seen. Offensively, our line was beginning to gel. Going into Riverdale, no one gave us a chance. Riverdale is full of athletes and extremely talented skill-guys. But we were prepared. Riverdale features many of the top recruits in the state such as safety Gentry Bonds, who committed to Georgia Tech. We put up 21 unanswered points, but they began to trickle back into the game little by little. We fumbled at the 1-yard line right before we could have scored. Those thoughts from the week prior against Centennial came...
‘Suicide Squad’: how can bad be so good?

‘Suicide Squad’: how can bad be so good?

After a brooding Superman, a brutal Batman and a Woman of wonder, DC’s brand new cinematic universe brings us a a squadron of highly dangerous, misfit criminals, aptly named Suicide Squad and chosen by A.R.G.U.S Director Amanda Waller. After the death of Superman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the United States government is looking for a contingency plan in case the next Superman is not on their side. With a new threat now facing national security, Waller finally convinces the Secretary of Defense to enlist the Suicide Squad, which is designated as “Task Force X.” With an interchangeable line up of the Suicide Squad in the comic books over the years, the film chooses many of the foes Gotham’s Bat has locked up in Belle Reve prison. Led by Colonel Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman), the team is highlighted by Floyd Lawton (Will Smith), a.k.a Deadshot, former Arkham Asylum psychiatrist Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Gotham sewer-dweller, Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and The Flash’s villain-from-down-under, Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney). Audiences had yet to be introduced to magic in the DC universe, until the Squad found its true enemy, the Enchantress. Suicide Squad is the first film in the DCCU not to be directed by Zack Snyder (Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice). Instead, heralded director David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury) leads DC’s gang of misfits into the most fun and colorful DC film to date. It hasn’t been a secret that many critics panned DC films for not having humor and being too dark (even for Batman), but Ayer constructs his characters differently then we’ve seen...
X’s and O’s from a rookie quarterback coach: being coachable

X’s and O’s from a rookie quarterback coach: being coachable

As Coach Carpenter, one of my main responsibilities is “coaching up” the freshman players. The first day we were on the field with them, Coach Webb huddled up the skill players and asked, “Who here is a quarterback?” No one raised their hand. He kind of snickered to himself and said, “All right, well, who here would call themselves a quarterback.” Finally two guys raised their hands. Ian and Josh. In eighth grade the year before, Josh was the starting quarterback and Ian was the backup. Coach Winfree and I went through fundamentals with them — quick catch and throw, three step drops, basic follow throughs on release and how to grip the ball — basic things just to get those kids warmed up. After so much fundamental work, we went to work with the wide receiver groups. We had them throw slants, hitches and seams — simple routes that will be incorporated in their growth. Holy cow were we impressed with them. They were young with a lot of talent, but Coach Winfree called them “coachable.” I thought that was the perfect way to describe them. The act of being coachable is very important. If you aren’t coachable we can’t help you. Coachability is the willingness to be corrected and to act on that correction. It’s humility. It’s being able to realize that you need the guidance of others to be better. In a way, I have had to be coachable the past two months as well — primarily because of how raw of a coach I am. I’ve sat to the side watching these coaches coach up...