Removing the question mark has been the key to helping Ola point its football program back in the right direction.
After a dismal 1-9 season a year ago, coach Jared Zito told his players that they would be required to earn everything. There were no automatic starting jobs. There was no guaranteed playing time. They had to show up, work hard and be rewarded for their efforts.
“In the off-season we decided we were going to evaluate what we were doing,” Zito said. “And we asked our guys to earn everything.”
It began in the off-season workouts when every player wore a shirt with a question mark on it.
“That question mark was basically asking, ‘Who are you? What are you willing to do? What’s your role going to be? How are you going to impact our team?’” Zito said. “Everybody had to earn the right to put on our logo again.”
Once a handful of players had regained the right to wear the team’s logo, those players were given ownership of the process. The players got to decide when their teammates could shed the question mark and return to the Mustang.
“We kept that going into to the spring and probably practiced the best we’ve practiced since I’ve been here,” Zito said. “In terms of tempo, sense of urgency, focus, attention to detail and holding each other accountable.”
Zito, in his sixth season at the Henry County school, said this team has been fun to be around and coach. He also appreciates the competitive nature, one reason the question mark shirts worked so well.
“They’re highly competitive, they’re very intense and they’ve been a lot of fun to watch compete,” Zito said. “And they love to win.”
The team’s leaders include quarterback Hunter Kautz, linebacker Baylen Sanders, offensive tackle Chandler Durham, running back Karl Kennedy and defensive end Jonathan Puckett.
“Last year was a bad year, but at the end of the day we looked at ourselves in the mirror,” Kautz said.
The results have been good. Ola has won its first two games for the first time since 2016. The Mustangs opened with a 58-21 win over Eastside and followed that up last week with a 24-14 win over Chapel Hill. Ola will travel to Whitewater this week for its first road game.
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