Published: August 28, 2007 06:15 pm            

Turner knows challenges await in 2007

SPRINGTOWN — Springtown Porcupines head football coach Brad Turner enters his second season in northern Parker County with some challenges and some things that are easier this year than they were last year.

Year One is a year of building and preparing. Year Two is when a program begins to take on a life of its own, as pieces are added to the foundation laid down the year before and it continues to build and grow from there.

“It is easier this year and it will be easier next year,” Turner said. “You just have to get your program where the numbers — we try to hang our hats on getting kids out and keeping them out. We have 31 seniors right now, we may not end up with that many, but that is how many we have as of [Aug. 14], if you can have 30-plus seniors each year, you are doing something right.

“We are a small 4A school, but we have really good numbers. I think the kids enjoy being in our program all the way down. I think the young kids, the peewee-ers, look forward to being in our program.”

Turner attributes that success to the players who came before him, who created a legacy that others want to follow. A legacy which is brought back into the community as the fathers who created it see their sons go through their trials and tribulations of high school athletics.

Developing a program takes time and over the course of time, Turner has come to lean on his son, Logan, as another coach, a true field general who understood the plan of attack as well as the originator of the plan.

One of the challenges Turner faces this year is adjusting to not having his safety net next to him on the field with Logan graduating and moving on to play quarterback at SMU.

“It has been very challenging,” Turner said. “I tell you, ole Dad had a lot of trouble with it. That first Monday morning, it was not a whole lot of fun. I have been coaching him for a long time and for him not to be there, it was hard on me. Not because of anything any other player had done or not done.

“I miss him being here. Certainly, his athletic ability and his talent on the field are going to be missed, but I just miss him as a dad. Even through the offseason, knowing he was not going to be here, but he was still in my office every day, and through the spring, he helped coach the quarterbacks and he was around and then all of sudden he is not. It is going to get easier, I know, but it has not been a whole lot of fun right now.”

Part of what makes Logan’s absence even more noticeable to Turner is the absence of his two favorite targets last year. Jesse Hodge and Jonathan Silvey came out of nowhere and took the state by storm. Hodge and Silvey were No. 1 and 2 in receiving throughout the Metroplex area. Losing a quarterback as talented as Logan was no surprise, but Hodge’s and Silvey’s performances shocked everybody. Now, it is not just replacing Turner’s son. It is replacing two standout receivers, as they were both seniors.

“To have Hodge and Silvey do what they did — I expected Logan to have a great year,” Turner said. “I knew what kind of ability he had, but for those two receivers to come out of nowhere and do what they did is certainly a blessing.

“Unfortunately, we lost them. One of my challenges to our players in the spring when we sat down and looked at goals and expectations, I said, ‘Who is going to be the next Jesse Hodge?’ He had never played a down of varsity football. He had never even played receiver. Then, all of the sudden, he is the best receiver in the state of Texas. The next one is in this group. Who is it going to be? Those kids see that and I think that is a great thing because one of those guys who maybe had not been very good or had not played enough — they know if they stick with it, they could be the next one of those.”

        

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