No offseason for Discovery football coach, Jefferson talks rivalry with Liberty
It is the start of summer but Discovery Middle School Football Coach Brad Jefferson isn’t taking any time off. For the last three months, many of his nights and weekends have been spent as the line coach of the Alabama Hammers. He is in his second year with the Professional Indoor Football League team coaching both the offensive and defensive lines.
The Hammers final home game of the season is this Saturday at 7 p.m. against the Louisiana Swashbucklers. It is replica jersey night.
As the indoor football season winds down, Jeffersonwill turn his attention to the summer training workout program at Discovery.
“Our first summer workout starts Monday morning from 7-9,” said Jefferson who is going into his seventh season as head coach at Discovery. “We will be doing conditioning and weight training. We’ll have close to 98 guys doing everything they can to get better and learning about football. More about being a young man and being dedicated to something.”
Discovery’s success on the football field has been unprecedented since Jefferson took over. In six seasons at the helm, Jefferson’s teams have posted a 45-3 record with Madison County and Madison City titles. Last season the Panthers went 6-2 and they won their biggest game of the season against Liberty Middle, 36-8.
“The rivalry is fun because everyone gets involved all the way down to the central office with Dr. Fowler,” Jefferson said of the Liberty-Discovery game. “The principals have got a little incentive if you win. It was a good healthy rivalry when both schools were going to Bob Jones. It is definitely a different attitude now with James Clemens beginning their program.”
The two teams played each other in a spring jamboree game in May and Liberty won 18-14 with new JCHS Coach Bill Stewart and his staff watching.
Jefferson said that he could sense a different attitude surrounding middle school football with the influence of the new high school. Liberty now becomes the feeder school for James Clemens High School.
“I take my hat off to Coach Stewart, he’s a great guy but you could tell in the spring that it (the rivalry) took on a different tone. They won the spring game and you would have thought they had won a championship,” Jefferson said of the Liberty rivalry. “Coach Stewart and his coaches were there. We hadn’t seen that over the years.”
“It’s going a different way, its going to be like an Auburn-Alabama rivalry with the players now going to competing high schools,” Jefferson added.
Jefferson knows something about rivalries having played at Alabama A&M for four seasons. He then played three seasons of professional football with the af2 Tennessee Valley Vipers during the franchise’s first few seasons. One of his teammates was current Bob Jones assistant coach Kelly Fields. The highlight of his playing days was playing for the Arena Cup against the Quad City Steamwheelers in the first championship game of af2. The Vipers lost a close game 68-59 played in Moline, Illinois.
Jefferson said that as a coach and player he never stops learning.
“Everybody thinks coaching is different at every level but it is always fundamentals. With these guys who played in college I still have to tell them how to block up front, how to sit down, kick step, and come off the ball. Even when I was playing I never got enough coaching.”
The Hammers fell to 2-8 on the season with a loss to the Richmond Raiders last Saturday night. Despite the record the team has made strides this season and has been competitive in most of their games. The offensive line has made progress under Jefferson’s coaching.
“He stresses a lot on our footwork,” Hammers offensive lineman Anquez Jackson said of Jefferson, his position coach. “We do a lot of technique and agility drills. It’s a much quicker game than outdoor football. If you get beat off the ball there is no time to recover. In the outdoor game you got a little time to recover or you got extra help from other linemen. With three down linemen and a fullback you are pretty much on your on.”
At Discovery, Jefferson teaches career technology and keyboarding. He is a 1998 graduate of Alabama A&M with a degree in early childhood education.
“I’m working on my Masters Degree in education and leadership so I can become a principal. I’ve been doing that for the last year,” Jefferson said.
