Only two years removed from winning a region championship, the Grady football program is starting over with a new coach. Kevin Clark, who has been a successful assistant coach at several high-profile stops around metro Atlanta, has been tasked with putting the Grey Knights back on the winning path.
This is the first chance for Clark to be a head coach. Most recently was on the staff at Mays, which has been the top football program in the City of Atlanta. He also worked at Milton, Northview, Mays and Central Gwinnett. He has contributed to some outstanding programs and brings a fine pedigree to the job. He decided to pursue the Grady job when it came open.
“Grady has a great combination of academics and athletics,” Clark said. “I think it’s the ultimate job to have in Atlanta Public Schools.”
Clark inherits a program that went 2-7 a year ago (the game with Ware County was cancelled due to a hurricane), but lost three games by a touchdown or less. The Grey Knights were 10-2 in 2016 and won the Region 6 championship. Coach Earthwind Moreland was at Grady for four seasons and went 24-19.
Clark doesn’t find himself in a complete rebuild, but Grady will has plenty of fresh faces.
“We’re going to be fairly young,” Clark said. “I think we’re going to be OK, but we’ve got to get our returning players to understand what varsity football is like. We’ve got to make them grow up early.”
The secondary may have more experience, since many youngsters there were forced into the rotation a year ago. The Grey Knights have some experience on the line and at linebacker.
“I’m not really sure because I wasn’t there, but there appears to be a good mixture,” Clark said.
Clark will bring a defensive mindset to the program. Don’t expect to see Grady playing passive football this fall.
“We’re definitely going to get after people on defense,” he said. “We’ll be in attack mode. We’ll run a 4-3. We’ll blitz and challenge teams. We’re not going to sit out there and let them dictate what we’re going to do. We’re going dictate what they can do.”
Grady will run a multi-faceted attack on offense, one based around the spread. They will use a variety of wrinkles, from mixing in an H-back, to running power and some midline.
“We’ll do a whole lot of running and a mixture of passing,” he said. “We’ll take what the defense gives us.”
But don’t think Clark will try to overwhelm his new team. He promises a simple blocking scheme for his linemen, even if it sounds complicated.
“You still have to have the basic premise of blocking,” he said. “It all boils down to basic football at the end of the day.”
Grady will begin spring football practice on May 7 and finish with a spring game on May 18 at Johns Creek.
About the Author
