Liberty football has moved on, waits for next head coach
JACKSON – The football players at Liberty lined up in rows of four and jogged a lap around their practice field.
“Tech life! Tech life!” That was the chant they yelled in unison as they struggled together through their final bit of conditioning before the Crusaders broke for two weeks for the TSSAA’s dead period.
The lap ended a tough practice in which members of the local National Guard recruiting centers put the Crusaders through a boot camp-like workout.
“It was something that we needed, and I think some of the boys and we have found something out about them today,” said Scott Akin, the Liberty interim head football coach. “We’ve found out a lot about this team over the last couple weeks.”
Attention to detail, doing the little things right, teamwork, encouragement, leadership … all of these subjects were covered in the military workout. They were also exposed as weaknesses in the Liberty practice.
A couple players walked off with apparent intentions of quitting. Others had to overcome their own physical adversities to get through the workout. But everyone made it through, and that’s how Akin views how the team has made it through the last two weeks since former head coach Tyler Turner announced his decision to leave for Olive Branch, Miss.
“When it happened, we were hurt because we love that man and all he’d done for us,” said junior defensive lineman Jeremiah Fitzhugh. “But we had to move on from there.”
Stephun Bush will be a junior linebacker this season and was an integral part of what Liberty did last year en route to the Class 3A state championship game.
“Last year was my first year at Liberty, and I learned how to be a better football player,” Bush said. “Now it’s up to us to carry on and continue to play at a high level and continue what’s been done here the last two years.”
Akin and Anthony Wallace are the only two full-time coaches with the team right now, leading about 45 athletes through summer workouts.
“What else were we supposed to do?” Wallace said. “The coaches, we’ve dealt with times like this before.
“This is one of those times where we have the opportunity to teach the players what to do in times of adversity when you might not know what it is you’re supposed to do.”
There wasn’t anger toward Turner for making the move for his family to a bigger program. There wasn’t even necessarily a time of emotional pain that some might feel when a coach “rejects” a program for their next job.
“Our job is to get ready for the season – work hard and lift and run,” Fitzhugh said. “That’s what we had to do.
“Coach Turner got a good opportunity somewhere else, and he made his choice. Now it’s up to us to continue to work to get better here at Liberty.”
That’s what all in the Crusaders’ locker room continues to do. The team won’t be allowed to meet with the new coach until July 10 at the earliest because the TSSAA mandates no contact between coaches and no work for athletes on campus during the two-week dead period.
“What happens next isn’t my decision,” said Akin, who admitted he’s applied for the job. “The kids know we’re here for them, and I’m committed to this program no matter who the coach is.
“That’s what we expect from the kids, and that’s how I’m approaching this. But I like how the team has developed and players have come together to form a unit of one in the face of adversity. That line with how they ended practice around the field … I want them to keep that same mindset going into the season no matter what else happens this summer.”
Reach Brandon Shields at bjshields@jacksonsun.com or at 731-425-9751. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at jacksonsunsports.