What don't the coaches see?

                After the freshman football game on Thursday vs. Bear Creek I got pretty upset about how the coaches don’t even know about the talent that is not in front of them.

                First of all, we lost to Bear Creek 21 to 20. That alone upset everyone. Now we are 5-1.

                A lot of people on the team didn’t get to play that game, me being one of them. I am a second string cornerback. There are about eight corners. This game and the last one vs. Heritage were disappointing to me. There are two new cornerbacks that switched over from being receivers have been corners for three days by the time of the Heritage game. We had our first string cornerbacks in and we were doing fine on pass blocking. Then, all of a sudden the coaches sent in the two corners that switched. They messed up on about two or three plays and apparently that determines that all of the corners aren’t good enough to play. The coaches moved the other two safeties in as cornerbacks. I didn’t get in at all that game and neither did the rest of the cornerbacks.

                The game at Bear Creek was very much the same. We have been working hard this past week and it is all thrown away because the receivers on the other team were tall. The safeties played as cornerbacks again. None of the other cornerbacks got in either.

                This makes me furious. I have been working hard to be able to play in these games. When the first string corners cant even go in games, what does that say for the rest of us? What’s the point of working hard when it’s not going to amount to anything? If the coaches would have left the regular corners in, they wouldn’t be having this problem. They could just be trying to cover up for their mistakes. The only time second string players are put in the game is when the score is absurdly in our favor.

                The coaches seem to make a lot of promises that can’t quite be kept. They said that they weren’t going to do the same thing they did when we were vs. Heritage. They ended up doing the same exact thing. I have lost a little respect for the coaches in that aspect.

                I also see a bit of favoritism. When does it make sense that a new cornerback, who have been practicing with us for three days, plays in a game before the second string cornerbacks, who have been playing in the position for five weeks? Again, I have lost some respect for the coaches.

                Is winning too important? When the coaches think it’s too risky to send in the “dreaded” second string, or even the first string? It’s not right in my opinion. Before the game the coaches said “Have fun.” Standing on the sidelines isn’t fun. After we lost, the coaches said “Think about what you could have done better.” I can’t come up with a way to improve how good I am on the sidelines. I just want to get out there and show what I’ve got. I know that I can do that in practice but how am I going to prove myself in games when the first string corners cant even get on the field?

                There are only three games left. I’m going to do whatever it takes to convince the coaches that the corners are big enough to handle pass coverage and that I’m ready to step it up.