In this week’s Cardinal Podcast, Michael Hannigan sat down with Head Coach Sherard Poteete to talk about the open week and Saturday’s road trip to Blinn. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. in Brenham.
Open Week Reset
Coach Poteete said the week off was valuable for both development and recovery. Younger players had the chance to scrimmage in full pads, while other players were able to heal up.
“It’s been good to get a few guys that maybe didn’t have to practice as much last week,” he said. “Kind of get those days off to let those bumps and bruises go aside. And now we’re ready to roll.”
Conference Race
The Southwest Junior College Football Conference is once again highly competitive, with only a couple of games separating the standings.
Both TVCC and Blinn enter this week 1-1 in league play.
“It’s every week. You better come prepared. You better be ready to play,” Coach Poteete said. “If you’re not ready to play, I mean, you’re going to get passed up real fast.”
Scouting Blinn
The Buccaneers are led by longtime head coach Ryan Mahon and defensive coordinator Danny Palmer, a longtime SWJCFC coach. Their offense features a breakout running back in Jordan Hayes, who is averaging nearly 100 yards a game and has scored almost twice per contest.
“He’s a good football player,” Coach Poteete said. “They’ve done a good job of kind of spreading the defense out and then letting him be the one back in the backfield and come downhill and pulling a tackle and trying to get an extra hat back in the box and let him go be a football player.”
Defensively, Blinn is adjusting under Palmer after former TVCC standout Drew Coleman stepped away in the offseason. Poteete said they’ve shown a different look in each game so far, which has made preparation more challenging.
Cardinal Leaders
The matchup will feature two national stat leaders. Linebacker Lazavier Amos, who is averaging double-digit tackles, enters the game as the country’s leader in tackles per game. On offense, quarterback Kaden Brown ranks No. 5 in the nation in passing yards per game, averaging 244.
“He’s a gritty football player and a lot of the things I think that go unnoticed with him (leading to) the passing yards is just extending plays, making some negative plays into positive plays,” Coach Poteete said.
Road Trip to Brenham
Coach Poteete said Saturday will be the first trip to Brenham for most of his players, making pregame adjustments important.
“Nobody on our team probably has been to Brenham before,” he said. “So go walk the field, go run around the field, kind of get adjusted to the surroundings… just so you know you make yourself comfortable when it’s time to actually turn the lights on and play.”
This Week
Saturday, Sept. 27 – TVCC at Blinn, 3 p.m., Brenham.
