1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Barry Thompson (Fairfax Football Academy): March 31st, 10:25am

Episode Date: March 31, 2022

Preparing his QB through the NFL Combine and the NFL DraftQuarterback competitionsPractice time, are you giving your defenders breaks?Definition of competitionAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

You're listening to One-on-One with DP. Presented by Beatrice Bakery. On 93-7 The Ticket and the Ticket FM.com. The autumn wind is a pirate. Blustering in from sea with a rollicking song he sweeps along, swaggering boisterously. His face is weather-beaten. He wears a hooded sash.

With a silver hat about it. head and a bristling black mustache. He growls as he storms the country, a villain big and bold. And the trees all shake and quiver and quake as he robs them of their gold. The autumn wind is a raider pillaging just for fun. He'll knock you round and upside down and laugh when he's conquered and won. That's just masterful. That's just masterful. It's just massive. Things done well, and we love it. Let's bring them in.

BT, Coach Barry Thompson. What's up? You never got to apologize for doing what you do. Man, you know, what I know is if you're not here, you're working. So. Looking in again. Yeah. I just ran a little bit over.

Yep. You've been working. And you're, there's a thing that, so Barry is helping a young man find his way. and through the combines and development and getting himself in front of other talented football people. And so you see the good, the bad, the in between, you see the indifference, you see the passion, you see where folks have been numbed,

even in their work that, oh, my goodness, I'm doing this because I love it, but I'm not really going to get any benefit from it and then having to talk them through it. what's the toughest thing for a quarterback preparing for his audition, his NFL, USFL audition? What's the toughest thing that a player has to go through? No, no, it's my first time through,

and so my experience is kind of solely based on, you know, working with guys. but judging the process I think believe it or not the most difficult thing when you're coming from a small school you're not being drafted is to get the opportunities to perform and in front of people that matter I think that's not an easy thing to get done and then the realization that you have to summon a performance. When you go out and play a game, you have an intention that always is playing as best as you possibly can. But you know that during the course of the game, when you make a mistake, you'll have an opportunity to overcome it to do something greater at the end or when it really counts.

Well, in these formats, you're being judged and being judged quickly. So if there's a mistake, it's really up, it's at the hands of the judge or as to whether they think they can overlook that or not. I think that's a tough standard. So I would think that that would be the hardest part so far. One, getting the opportunity and then two, preparing yourself in such a way that you can summon a performance on command. So there's some genius in what you just said. right, that these young people are being asked to conjure up the performance of a lifetime on call simply for the opportunity to conjure up another performance at a greater moment.

But what I know to be true about you and the way you prepare athletes is, nothing that Guy Myers or any quarterback is going to see or be asked to do, he it's not going to be new to him because you have prepared him and put him in that's the the definition of being prepared is that you have done the work for all things of the astor view when it matters DP you've been looking in again it's just it's so funny because that just came up on Tuesday was it the pro day that he had at the Shepard University we didn't have a script going in I didn't know exactly who was running and, you know, what was how they were going to do it. And so we had a discussion with them like before.

I said, look, I don't know what this is going to be, but I said exactly. I said, they're not going to ask you to do anything that we haven't done or you know how to do, whether it's under center or the gun or, you know, this type of throw. Or they went to run out of the pocket, you know, or an over, you know, just whatever it is. We've done it. And I think that in large part went to his confidence that he had on Tuesday. And I thought he performed well. And it was interesting.

A lot of people were making, talking a lot about Malik Willis and how he was engaged and making a big thing of that. Well, with Guy in his own way, because of the confidence level that he had, and the ease, which he felt, I was watching a similar. saying that the receivers were actually reacting to him, and he was gathering people when they're about to shut it down. He just really went into practice mode. There was a guy who dropped the pass, and God just reflects, he said, we can't end that way.

You know what I mean? They went back and ran a route. So that preparedness helps you a lot. Through workouts and circumstance, right? Sometimes it requires that you practice indoor. Some days it's outdoors when weather isn't good. Some days it's when you're short talent to work with. Some days it's things line up for you ideally.

But as you have these discussions and lead these young people, if we paired that to Nebraska Spring Camp, the spring game is just a celebration of all the work done and all of the lessons that have been taught up to that Saturday. morning. Is that a statement of truth or no? Yeah, I think, you know, just judging and being around a few programs when they're in this winter, spring phase, you're working diligently on all these specific points. Whether, you know, Mel Tucker a while ago was just, they were harping on the fundamentals,

and that's what they were harping. So whatever they're harping on, and whatever is the point of emphasis throughout this thing, what you really want to see in the spring game is the application of that. You want to see that that foundational brick that you've built through the winter training and the spring practices that that foundational brick can go in the ground and become the cornerstone of what's going to come in the fall camp. I think that's ideally what you want to see. So there should be stated goals, state of purposes, and then a defined path on how to work with whether, you know, building the team, whatever it is in that spring game, you want to see the application, you want to see all that work reflected.

Absolutely. For quarterback play, so for Casey Thompson, for Purdy, for Logan's mothers, is the spring session more mental or physical? Well, I think it depends on where they are in the depth chart, but it gets back to what we were kind of talking about. You know, they've been in touch with football, but what it's been since November. So December, December, January, March, April,

since they've had the summon of the performance, right? So that now you've got to summon it and go perform. And that takes practice, right? So they'll get opportunities in August, They'll be, you know, many times you have to go out and perform. But this will be the first one under the light, you know, with the public watching and being on display. And so I think that it's time for them to just dust off their performance capes and go out there and perform and execute the way they should. I'll ask you this because I know the answer already.

So when reports come out that Jac Guaziant is mauling defenders, just mauling them, that so much to the point where you've questioned tackling and front seven defensive play, right? The line is, the pipeline looks improved and you've got a downhill runner. But then you have Ramir Johnson who can flash and pop with quickness. You're at spring practice, Barry Thompson. It's your offense. Are you giving the defenders a break? Are you?

Yeah. Well, not knowing the, first of all, no. Completely no. The best way to make a team better is make yourself better. And I do believe in the depth. you know, around my guys, and I do believe in a practice format, that it's true. There's at least two definitions of the word compete. One is, I win and you lose.

Everybody uses that definition in the fall. But when you're developing and you're trying to get better, I think the other definition is a more useful one, which means to buy with to get better. and, you know, so that if I best you, right in something, then it's your duty and your responsibility to say, oh, that was pretty good, but now watch this. And then that just builds on itself.

It connotes a different type of attitude as you're getting to do things. It's something that I keep with all my quarterbacks that, you know, we're here to buy with to get better. And so, no, if the defense is having trouble, they need to vie a little bit. Yeah. Well, we know we've been on the offensive side against defenses that were, you know, getting hyped and we're the focus. And then we would do a thing because we understood that if we found a defensive lamb, as we call them, right? Oh, there's a little lamb over there

That we also know that we don't help the team get better If we do not Highlight and focus on said weakness slash lamp How do you? In practice, yes. In a game, I had a habit of I would tweak that lamb just enough So the lamp to stay in the game.

I always wanted that lamb in my back pocket. You know, I always figure the one you know is better than one you don't know. Right. So I would go after it, but I would kind of go after it so I got hollered at and not pulled out of the game. But, yes, in a development format. The other thing, too, and you can tell me, I don't understand the value of broadcasting how good, you know, Yan is. I don't. Maybe I'm a little old school.

but, you know, if somebody had put a mic in from me, he said, how's it going? I said, hey, we're, you know, we're getting better. You know, our run game looks a little better. I don't know the interest in broadcasting it, but that's just me. Well, because they're going to ask. Like in this space, where there's 948,000 broadcaster reporters, bloggers, so-called media people, where everything, nothing is a secret. and you can't, right?

And then you get to the point where as a leader, you have to be honorable. You have to speak in integrity. And if the thing is true, you should be able to say that that thing is true and let other people respond and react to it rather than hiding in the cupboard and going, okay, this is my little secret, my pretty.

I'll pass it on the bill, bell of check. Well, you know, but that's the, that's the, but Barry, that's absolutely. That's absolutely the fair part, right? Is that Popovich and company, there are groups who have said, you know what, I'm not going to dance with you in this space. I'm just not going to do it for the very reason that you said what it was. Like you're absolutely right.

We coach from a place in space where we never have to validate what we do or how we do it. That's not the case here. That's not the case here. Right? And that it's the same thing that mom and dad or an assistant coach at a high school program of somebody that you work with where you're working with them for 10 months out of the year. And you see the good, the bad, and indifferent, right? You see them as they really are than a high school coach who gets them all with the benefit of your work. Right?

They get a polished diamond rather than the piece. so cold that it was, and then they want to question the fact that you turned it into a diamond instead of respecting the fact that you, that you, you, you in fact, created the diamond. I ask you that because I want to ask, as, as competitions happen, right? The quarterback position always, and no matter what program it is, what team, what level, the quarterback competition, in air quote, is an important thing because it, it, it, it, It just lets people exhale in knowing that we have a leader. We have that the other.

How important is it when you go into a season and you're going to do this, right? So you'll see your guys in the spring and then it'll determine who's going to play quarterback in one of the great public school programs in the state of Virginia. You know what you have. Right. Is a full competition possible? Yes, but you have to have an understanding when the competition starts. It doesn't start in August.

So the people that are involved, it's funny that you bring up this subject. Just a quick aside and we'll get back to what I'm facing. We're doing a middle school, QB school. in Memorial Day weekend. It's going to be six hours on the field, and I'm putting together great staff. And what we're doing in that format is we're kind of in a progressive way going to expose these rising seventh, eighth, and ninth graders

to the things that they need to be good at to understand to be the one, right? And get them to understand where the standards are because you're trying to be the one. every other position on the football field, you have multiple chances to get on there. In most normal circumstances, as a quarterback, you only have one chance to get on. Kickers, linebackers, running backs, receivers all have rotations and different ways that you can get onto the field, you know, special teams and so forth. But as a quarterback, you generally only have, there's only one. And so back to specifically this spring. The guys that I work with, they understand that, and they come to understand that.

And to the school that I'm going to, I haven't seen all the QBs, but they should have an understanding that the competition has already started. It's not just going to be, you know, what they do in front of me. It's some of what they did last year, right? And as you look at that, you know, I'm coming into it with those eyes. You know, are those things correctable, are they not? But at the end of the day, everybody wants a quarterback in that position who is a leader, who is a guy that you can trust to get the ball from point A to point B

and to make good decisions when it's not like it is, not like it's drawn up on the chalkboard. So in a nutshell, that's the competition. Who can best ascend to that? that role. We're talking to Barry Thompson, Fairfax Football Academy, QB coach. The word trust is used often. But I think in competition, as we talk about it, that the player who earns the trust of the offensive coordinator is the guy that will win the job.

Is that not fair? Yes. Yes. The answer is yes. And that trust is not, you know, I'm going to give them the keys to how. The trust is built through how this young person carries themselves. You know, we've talked, and it's something that's going to come up in this middle school camp that we're doing. You know, to talk to them about the two and the 22, you know, to understand that if you say you want to be this person, then it is an all-day sucker.

You know that your decisions, your attitude, how you handle things, and the 22 hours that you're off the field are going to directly impact the type of teammate and player that you're going to be. And you can't view it any other way. So there's a way to go about your life. There's a way to manage your time. And the more that you're striving to be the best version that you're going to be, the more likely you're going to wind up being that trusted person. And that's true for 99.1% of the human beings out there. Are there others who can act horribly and they're so talented that they can get out there and do that stuff? Yeah.

But for most of us, we have to go the other route. We have to. It's an all-day sucker. It's just something that you're pursuing daily. And you enjoy doing it. That's the other part. It cannot be a pain to you to try. to try to get up and do the best

that you can every day. That has to be some type of challenge that you embrace daily. And that stuff, it's not as, it's not as hard to discern over time

as people would think. Because not everybody's willing to do that. You know, I saw something that I think is, you know, these things get pop up from time and time. But bottom line, it, It takes what it takes.

Right. You know? And some people just don't want to do what it takes. It takes what it takes. Well, that leads. You talk about the 2-and-22, and every major Power 5 conference program speaks to the 2-22. But I think they miss taking the next step,

which is informing people. I ask you this question, and I think the answer would be, would identify a lot of what we're talking about. that most student athletes more likely determine their outcome in the two during the 22, that they will either fail and succeed because of the 22 as much as the two.

I'd say more than. Yeah. Except we know there's freaks out there. Well. Right? You can do all kinds of things, and then, you know, to go to the extreme, there are versions of a Dennis Rodman out there, right,

who can throw caution to the wind And so there's a very small percentage, but everybody else, yeah, they're going to stumble in the 22. They're just that, you know, when you're talking about being one, right? You're just talking about being one. And you are going to be the person that are going to get the keys to the car. When you're talking about being that person, it requires a discipline. It requires a commitment. And it requires a huge level of persistence, of relentlessness, right, in pursuit of this thing.

And it almost becomes part of the DNA because it's a relentlessness and a persistence that's never really satisfied. It's not as if you get the prize. They give you keys of car and you take your hands off the wheel, right? That doesn't work. That doesn't work at all. Right. Right. It's this thing that, okay, I got it.

Now I want to stay with the car analysis now I want to drive it now I want to take it on another trip now I want to upgrade You know now I want a bigger model now I want to add some things to it It's it's that kind of perpetual Can I get better thing and once the wheels start rolling on that It kind of has its own momentum and the great thing about working with young people in this position is it's a momentum that Will carry them through to life no matter you know how far they go and just a quick aside. We had a kid that was offered today.

He got an offer from Delaware, and then he got an offer from UPenn today. And I was talking to his dad, and I said, you know, my goal is for these guys to have options at the end of the high school career. Well, if he doesn't draw another offer, he's got two heck of options. Delaware matches him a lot with academics and the offense they run.

And then now he has a choice to go off and play football. Paul if he wants to get an Iber League degree. Yeah. Imagine that. Yeah. Imagine that. Having that sort of focus and presence. Ah, kind of sir.

I don't know if you're cooking or just eating. What do we do? We're eating. We're eating. We're eating. There's a, my brother was kind of near me. He's in New Hampshire, but he was kind of near me. Shout him out.

Shout out the former Husker. Yeah. D.T. Are you with me? So any of those guys in stories your way that he used to hang with, and I told him, y'all put you in touch. But we met this place. He was in Delaware. I was in Virginia, and right across the Bay Bridge is a place called Harris' crab deck.

It's kind of early, but we love these blue crabs. And we went in and had about a dozen of these jumbo blue craps. And I'm telling you, they were absolutely freaking out. and delicious, and we didn't leave anything but cartridge. So it's always great this time of year in our area to kind of, you know, it's kind of the onset of, you know, spring is coming. Yeah. And getting crabs in this area.

Later, first of May, it'll be crawfish boiled and things like that. So we're turning spring, and that's one of the kind of rights of spring around here is go get some crabs and maybe have an adult beverage. Are the blossom is going to be out? The blossoms are out And they're out They're probably going to get blown You're hitting town

You'll be able to see them Absolutely Yeah It's still up Yeah it's going to be the first thing You're following Reagan We'll pull out and see the blossoms All right brother

I will see you in a few hours Can I sir? Yes sir All right Thank you brother Love you That is Barry Thompson Fairfax Football Academy

Again When you talk about All the stuff behind creating these athletes and coaching and putting systems together and schemes together. There's so much to it, but when you have a plan, it becomes pretty simple, and he's very successful. So we'll close out one-on-one and get you all set up for the captain's show when we'll come back. Watch live on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitch. You're listening to One-on-One with DP on 937 The Ticket and the Ticketfm.com.