Hornets, New Coach, Counting Down the Days Until the Start of Football Season

Are you ready for some football? The start of the 2011 season can’t come soon enough for Hinsdale South and new head coach Mike Barry.

The IHSA gives coaches 25 days of contact with players during the summer, and Barry—named in March—has utilized each allotted day. On Friday, the Hornets concluded their second three-week segment of four-day-per-week practice sessions that started at 6:45 every morning.

“It’s practice in terms of offense, defense and how we want to accomplish playing the game,” said Barry, who in his final season at Evergreen Park last fall posted a 5-4 record. “We’re teaching fundamentals, techniques and the finer points of the offense.”

Oh yes, the offense.

When the Hornets (3-6 in 2010) open their 2011 campaign at Romeoville (also 3-6) on Friday, Aug. 26, they’ll unveil an offense that might remind fans of the wide-open offense for which Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz is famous.

The Hornets have immersed themselves in learning Barry’s no-huddle, four wideouts, shotgun offense throughout the summer. And Barry is pleased with the progress they’ve made.

“They’re picking it up great,” he said. “Our upper-level kids, it’s been a real smooth transition. We have some talented young men. DJ King, Jeremy Ferguson—those two guys are really good. We have Justin Ward who’s another big body at receiver, so some of the talent we have is going to be perfect for what we want to do.”

Junior quarterback D.J. Deolitsis, the Hinsdale South sophomore team’s QB in 2010, has the responsibility of running the new offense. Barry likes how Deolitsis is picking up the offense, and learning his reads and responsibilities.

“He’s doing great,” Barry said. “Where he started to where he’s at now, he’s learning how to read defenses, he’s learning how to read what we do offensively and he’s progressing nicely.”

“It hasn’t been too difficult because the coaches like to keep it simple on play calls,” Deolitsis said. “I think we’re doing a pretty good job of it (picking up the offense). We’ve got a really fast team and we’ve got a lot of athletes on the field. I think we can run it and be very successful. We’ve got a lot of weapons on offense.”

Since the Hornets’ offensive unit will be going every play without a huddle, Barry has put an emphasis on conditioning throughout the summer.

“That’s what we run every single day, and we drill that,” he said. “You watch our defense; they’ve been practicing against us, obviously (during the summer). That’s a conditioner in itself when we get done with our team segment because we try to work at such a fast pace. The conditioning aspect for what we do is huge.”

The Hornets had an opportunity to run the offense for the first time at West Suburban Conference’s inaugural 7-on-7 league in June. How does Barry think his players fared during that competition?

“It was our first time getting out there and we had a real good showing,” he replied. “We executed really well. We had a couple of other 7-on-7s with other teams, but not tournament-wise. We really focused a lot on the learning of the offense, learning the defense and learning the program.”

Everything’s new defensively, as well. The Hornets have been learning a defense that will utilize 3-5 and 4-3 formations.

Hornets senior linebacker Zach Hynek not only embraces the new defensive schemes, but he’s noticed a complete turnaround regarding the team’s mindset this season.

“Everyone’s learning a lot more,” Hynek said. “We have more coaches for every skill position, but from the seniors and the captains, we have a lot more leadership. Everyone really has a huge desire to win and do whatever it takes to do that.

“Everyone has been a lot more excited. Before, we were accepting defeat and everyone had a losing mentality and now we’ve sort of really brought that around and everyone is really focused and ready to go. Practice is awesome; it’s fun. I love coming to practice.”

Keonate Hall, a senior tailback, agrees.

“It’s great,” Hall said. “The intensity is 10 times better than it was last year. Everybody is working hard. Coach is on our butt; we’re disciplined and we’re just working hard.”

When practice concludes on Friday, Hornets players and coaches will enjoy a more than two-week break before sessions resume on Wednesday, Aug. 10.

“I can tell you that I definitely think we’ve improved over the summer from the first day to right now,” Barry said. “The kids are working hard in the weight room and on the field. The talent has improved, so I’m remaining completely optimistic.”