Lee Fobbs: The Man With The Plan (Part Two)

By Semaj Marsh
bluedeathvalley.com
June 30, 2007

Bluedeathvalley.com: Coach, these last few months have definitely been eventful. As we stated earlier, you’ve brought in a lot of new players this offseason and you’ve also experienced some major changes to your coaching staff. One of those changes involved your son Jamal, who was a volunteer assistant in 2006. Where is he coaching now?

Lee Fobbs: “He’s at Southeastern University in Hammond, Louisiana. You know, J is a terrific football coach and a terrific person. He did a great job when he was here and I really hated to lose him. But in this profession, at some point in time you have to go and do what you do. He had an opportunity and I felt like- and he did to- that it was a good opportunity for him. You never know when jobs like that come knocking. Of course now, he hated to leave A&T. I’ll tell you that. He really loved it here. He did a great job coaching our kids. He did a great job up top (in the booth) recognizing what we can do on offense. I thought our offense really was about to ...well I’m not going to go out on a limb and say burst out ... but we had flashes. We never could get into that rhythm that we wanted to. I think turning the ball over was out biggest enemy and that’s something we worked a lot on this spring - turnovers and takeaways. And not to make any excuses for that - you’ve got to take care of the football and our kids need to learn that - but (Jamal) did a great job here and we’re sad to lose him. He’s down at Southeastern now, coaching wide receivers.”

He definitely wore a lot of different hats while he was here last year. I guess his primary job responsibility was coaching quarterbacks, and you still have a stable of young quarterbacks on this roster. How important is it for the guy who’ll replace Jamal to be someone who can really mentor those young guys?

Lee Fobbs: “Its really important, and fortunately J and (Coach Dwike Wilson) worked closely together. (Coach Wilson) coached receivers last year and the quarterbacks and receivers work together in practice all the time. He worked with the wide-outs this spring and now we’ll just move him right over to the quarterbacks. He’s also our passing game coordinator and he’ll do the same thing that J did last year. Of course, I also just hired Mack Vincent from East Mississippi Community College and he was an All-American receiver at Louisiana Monroe. Mack will coach our receivers and he fits right in perfectly with Dwike. It’s working out pretty good.”

Have you decided which assistant coach will be up in the booth this year?

Lee Fobbs: “Well, I always wanted to the O-line guy on the field. Coach Ray will be on the field because he likes to be close to his players so he can make corrections and things like that. Actually, we’ll decide all that when we do our two-day retreat in July. I think I have a pretty good idea and its based on what our guys feel comfortable doing. I think Dwike feels more comfortable up in the box, but we’ll hash those things out in July.

This offseason you also lost your strength and conditioning coach, Kerry Harbor, who I know you were really expecting big things from. How devastating was his sudden departure and who have you chosen to replace him in that role?

Lee Fobbs: "It was big losing Coach Harbor because he always talked about setting a foundation. He came in and he set it. The strength, the mindset, the mold of a player that you’re looking for - it all takes place in the weight room first then it filters out to the grass. And he did that this offseason for us. I want to thank him for working extremely hard. There was no such thing as a time limit with him. The one thing that he used to tell the kids all the time was “I have no life and that’s what I expect from you guys.” And they kind of adopted that attitude, because when they walked in the weight room they knew they’d better have their blinders on and be focused. He didn’t (accept excuses) and everyone was straight on board. The guy that we’re replacing him with - and I have to be very careful not to call any names because everything is not final - but he is in that same mode (as Coach Harbor) and I’m very confident that he’ll do a great job for us. Of course, their personalities are somewhat different but what we’re looking for is the same.”

Do you expect the new Strength and Conditioning coach to come in and utilize some of the same training philosophies that Harbor had in place?

Lee Fobbs: "We were talking last week and agreed that we didn’t want to disrupt anything at this point. Kerry had started a plan to get the kids stronger and they’re still getting stronger. We want to maintain that, to keep pushing that, but his biggest role right now will be to get the players in great running shape by the time we report in August."

Coach, I know one of the biggest things that you worry about during the offseason is player retention. Last week, a unofficial 2007 team roster was circulated which had a few notable names missing from it. On of those names was Wayne Campbell, your starting quarterback for most of last season. Can you comment on what Campbell’s status with the A&T football team is right now?

Lee Fobbs: "Well you know, we’ve always got that summer school. Wayne- he has some work to do ... and I think he’ll get that done. He knows how important it is, so we’ll find out all that once summer school is over. But he’s a guy who I think will rise to the occasion; he’ll respond. Wayne views himself as a great athlete and you can’t take that away from him. His mindset is just that way. But I think he’ll respond to what he needs to do."

In the event that Campbell is not eligible for this upcoming season, how does the quarterback position look now?

Lee Fobbs: “I’ll tell you, I really feel good because of the athleticism that’s there. (Herbert) Miller has really grown up, he’s maturing. God, he’s like a bull now. I mean, he's just unbelievable with his workouts and his habits and things of that sort. You can tell when a kid starts to mature. Say (for instance ) you take a freshman and over the summer he just shoots up and sprouts - that’s what I’m seeing with Herb right now. His body’s changing, he’s doing a lot more things on his own, and we can’t keep him out of the weight room. I’m really pleased with the way he’s coming along. He’s throwing the ball well and working extremely hard. You can just see the change in him - he’s trying to become a leader.”

I think it was evident to most fans who attended this year’s spring game that, of all the quarterbacks who played that day, Miller displayed the most command of the offense.

Fobbs: “That’s exactly right. That’s what I’m talking about. It was different from when he stepped in the huddle last year - totally different. When he stepped in the huddle last year as a red-shirt freshman, you could tell he was a red-shirt freshman. This spring when he stepped in there, you knew he was the leader. It was totally different and it just continues to carry over. I’m really pleased at the way he’s coming along. Shelton Morgan, who was a red-shirt freshman last year, is another guy who’s going to be in the picture. He’s an athletic, talented kid who can do a lot with his feet. He throws the ball pretty well, but he can do a lot with his feet. I think having that type of athletic guy back there is pretty important. He understands (the offense) and he’s a competitor; he wants to play. But I think what we will do is take (Miller) and say, ‘hey, its yours to lose.’ At some point you’ve gotta show that kind of confidence in them. You’ve gotta say, ‘hey, we believe in you, we know you’re the guy, we’re behind you' ... and hopefully his confidence will continue to build. I just truly felt like this spring is when his confidence really began to show.”

One thing that will likely help whoever is taking snaps behind center this year is a strong running game. With the offseason signing of Demerick Chancellor from Clemson University and the return of last’s year rushing leader Michael Ferguson, this is shaping up to be a pretty formidable position.
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Lee Fobbs: “Yeah, I’m ready to turn those guys loose. [Laughs] You know, we’ve got our conference summer meeting coming up in July and we’ve been voting on preseason favorites and those kind of things, and I didn’t realize that Ferg was third or fourth in the conference and played in only like six or seven ball games last year because he was injured. He had over 700 yards and in one of those ball games he wasn’t even fully healthy. I was leery that game (of playing him). I told (Running backs coach) George Ragsdale that I didn’t want him to get hurt again and lose him for another couple of weeks, because at the time he wasn't really healthy. But he really played that game, and he is one guy who has really busted his fanny this offseason. Oh, you wouldn’t believe it - his body has changed, he’s much stronger, much bigger. He working on his flexibility. You would be really, really pleased to watch how our kids work out. You’d be really pleased.

It sounds like there’s going to be some fierce competition in camp this summer.

Lee Fobbs: “And that’s how you win games. The competition that takes place within camp is how you win games during the season. And just like you mentioned our running backs, we also have Trey Green who has always been a steady force at fullback. Trey does a lot of things for us; wears a lot of hats. He snaps for us, comes in and get the big blocks, get the tough yards inside. And we’ve got a couple of other guys. (Chaz) Truesdale does a great job for us - he’s a tough, hard-nosed inside runner. With Fergie and Chancellor and David Robsinson - who’s quick as a hiccup - it gives us the speed that we were so lacking last year. Hopefully we can combine all this together along with our guys up front. Now, I do have some concerns. You know, I do want to be much better up front than we were, offensively. With the kids we recruited and the kids we have coming back, it all depends on how fast a couple of those kids can really adapt to the system because we think some of them can come in and play for us. But we got to make sure that they understand the system up front. And Coach (Kenneth) Ray does a great job with that. But with (Desmoine) Ware coming back and some of those other guys improving ... along with some of those freshman coming in, I guess you can say that’s the biggest question mark for me."

You were pretty outspoken after the spring game, saying you felt the offensive linemen’s development was not quite on par with other aspects of the team.

Lee Fobbs: “Yeah, and that’s because Coach Ray and I were talking ... and we feel like, with what we have in the backfield now, we’ve gotta get going. We’ve gotta come out of the chute better than we did last year. We do feel like the ingredients are there ... but those guys just have got to get going.”

On a less positive note, I understand that your highly-touted freshman tight end Spencer Spane recently decided to transfer from A&T. The word is that he got a scholarship offer from a major 1-A school.

Lee Fobbs: “Well you know, Spencer felt like that was the best thing for him. He was struggling a little bit in the engineering department and he’s very prideful in his academics ... which was one of the big reasons we recruited him. So we sat down and talked about it. We tried to give him a couple of days to think about it, but he felt like that would be the best thing for him to do- - to go back to a junior college. I respect his wishes. Life moves on for Spencer and life moves on for us too.”

Spane was considered a steal when you signed him late last offseason. So now, who do you think will step in and fill his shoes?

Lee Fobbs: We got several guys who - and I prefer to not call any names right now because I want to keep that battle going - but we have what we call our ‘20 personnel’ which was really productive for us this spring. We really wanted to open up more but still have three wide-outs and two backs. You’ll probably see some H back/ tight end kind of guy in there a lot.. We’re not blessed with the 6'5 - 6'6 tight end at this point in time. We’re still trying to recruit him; we’re still trying to find him. But you’ll probably see us in what we call our 20 personnel. W ‘ll still have two backs in the backfield, but we’ll still keep three wide-outs to spread the defense and give (our running backs) a little bit more room to operate. But we’ll also still have the ability to go with the true conventional tight end at times, and we have a couple of guys who are kind of battling right now.”

So its conceivable that we might see Ferguson and Chancellor on the field at the same time this season?

Lee Fobbs: "Yes, that could very well happen."

Well lastly, what can A&T fans expect for 2007? I guess you might can say we’re all gluttons for punishment because despite last year’s outcome, a lot of Aggies are chipping at the bit right now, waiting for the season to arrive.

Lee Fobbs: [ Laughs] “Let me put it in a few short words: I’m ready to start practice right now. I’m excited about this bunch and if (the NCAA) allowed me to practice right now, I would. I think the kids would too - they’re ready to go. Of course, we still have a little time left but we’ll be teeing up before you know it. I’m just excited about the year and a chance to recruit another class, get another class in here, and also set some goals for myself. You know, you always have to look in the mirror at yourself too. When you start re-evaluating your team, your coaches and things of that sort, you’ve got to re-evaluate yourself. A lot of things that I did last year as a head coach, I sit back and look at and say ‘was this the best thing for preparing the team?’ They way we traveled, they way we did this and that - just going back over all those things and making sure I’m right in what we’re doing. I’ve gotta be right first before it filters down to them. But we’re excited and I know our fans are too. We’re excited about our schedule. It’s exciting to go and play Winston and then fly out to LA. I think that will be a tremendous experience for our kids to play in the Los Angeles Coliseum. I know some of the kids have seen it on TV before but they’re still going to be overwhelmed. That’s why we want to practice on Friday there before we play on Saturday - so we can get all of that awe out of our system. We’re excited about the season; all our coaches are ready to go and now its just about making some finishing touches. I know our fans are excited and I know they certainly want us to bounce back from last season ... and we do too. We’re just making all the preparations we can to ensure that sort of thing doesn’t happen again.”

Read part one