Larry Beckish

• Summer workouts provide essential training
  After Battery Creek's spring football game ended, my mind filled again with thoughts that summer is as important to a football program as the season and spring practice.

• Dedicated teammates fill variety of roles
  After observing new Battery Creek football coach Jim Shuman's 10 spring practices, I am impressed with his practice organization and the assistants' coaching abilities, and I'm convinced Shuman and his staff will be able to develop the young men into sound fundamental players who execute winning offensive and defensive plays.

• Ol' coach helping out Battery Creek these days
  Last year at this time, I had a wonderful time helping Whale Branch High School head coach Rob D'Amato build the Warriors' new football program.

• Add Battery Creek's Shuman to my list of favorite coaches
  Some of the most important people in my life are football coaches, many of whom were players I coached in college. Some of my current favorites are Alabama A&M's Anthony Jones, a former Wichita State Shocker, and Columbia's Norries Wilson, a former Minnesota Golden Gopher.

• Some NCAA rules just deserve to be broken
  Folks who regularly read my columns know my thoughts on the issue of paying college football players. It's disappointing that so many scholarship players have recently been involved in theft crimes.

• A little pocket money could help college problems
  It was sad for the ol' coach to read last week about four players on Auburn's national champion football team who were arrested for robberies and burglaries and dismissed from the team. One of the players arrested was a starting safety for the Tigers, two were freshmen, and one a junior. This is very distressing, because it seems crime has become too prevalent among college football players over the past 10 years.

• Let's hope cutbacks don't spoil sports experience for kids
  Reading last week about the Beaufort County Board of Education's decision to trim the budget for athletics grabbed my attention as if I just got fired.

• Working with young QBs is one of the ol' coach's favorite things
  From way back, I have to admit I was always partial to quarterbacks.

• Offseason workouts crucial in football, but don't push it
  Driving home after a recent golf outing on Lady's Island, I wanted to hear about Beaufort High's plans for the 2011 football season, so I decided to visit head coach Mark Clifford. I coached Mark at Clemson in the 1970s, and I deeply respect his coaching ability.

• College recruiting can be tricky, but very rewarding
  Throughout a college football season, winning a rivalry game, a conference championship and a bowl game are crucial for coaches, players and fans.

• Busy this bowl season, with mixed emotions
  My first bowl game experience came in 1961. I was a sophomore at Wichita State, and we played Villanova in the Sun Bowl. To this day, I'm still disappointed the Shockers lost to the Wildcats.

• Bulldogs plenty impressive despite heartbreaking defeat
  After recently visiting my mother at an assisted living facility on Daniel Island, I stopped at the Citadel to leave some of my thoughts and diagrams on the option offense for the Bulldogs' head coach, Kevin Higgins.

• Attitude, pride, character more important than athleticism
  Seeing Battery Creek High School fall to 0-7 last week, and then watching Clemson drop to 2-3 with a loss at North Carolina, the ol' coach began to reflect on a lesson learned years ago: Athleticism isn't the only factor that makes a young man a winner and builds a team.

• Football weekend provides many joys and disappointments
  Last week, my wife and I traveled to Tupelo, Miss., to visit our younger son, Chris, and his family. The weekend there provided the ol' coach with a number of football joys and disappointments.