Today’s interviewee is Spalding coach Carl Kearney, whose team defeated third-ranked Perry 31-26 last week in a Class 4A game. Kearney had been the receivers coach at Griffin, his alma mater, when hired by Spalding in 2020. He inherited a 1-9 team and finished 1-9 that first season, but Spalding is now 5-1, matching its victory total of the previous three seasons combined. Kearney is a former standout wide receiver at Georgia Southern.
Carl Kearney, Spalding head coach
1. What did that win mean to the team? “It makes our kids believe in the program. We went into a very tough environment on the road against some talented football players who’d been flying around and beating the heck of out a lot of teams. We started out slow, but once we made some adjustments and settled down, we found a way to come back and win. When you come into a situation like I’m in now at Spalding, they’ve not been used to winning in a long time. We have to be able to compete, and competing has to be consistent night in, night out. That’s what I wanted our kids to understand.’’
2. What did you do against Perry that gave you the edge? “We made the plays that mattered. We were able to move the ball when we needed to and stopped them when we needed to stop them. When you’re in the place where you need to be, sometimes the football Gods will reward you. They were driving down to take the lead on the game-ending drive. I can’t remember if it was third or fourth down, but they were about to punch it in, and our guys got the ball out. Our outside linebacker Senquavious Alsobrooks and our strong safety J’Torre Talley forced a fumble. We recovered at the 1.’’
3. You’ve gone from 1-9 to 5-1. What’s happened? “There were things we weren’t allowed to do last season being in the middle of a pandemic. We couldn’t have seven-on-sevens or padded camps. We were fortunate enough to have those prior to this season. Having those reps and being able to compete every single chance we got allowed us to get so much better over the summer. I’m also blessed to have a coaching staff that believes in me. We’ve been asking players to do things they’re not used to doing or some things they’d never heard of doing. The kids bought in 100%. It started in the weight room. We had to get kids to understand we’re going to lift weights no matter what. We’re going to lift, and we’re going to get physical. My objective is to be physically stronger than the other team. We challenged them on the football field to be conditioned. We want to be one of the most conditioned teams in the state.’’
4. What attracted you to the Spalding job? “It was time for me to grow as a coach. I hadn’t had that opportunity just yet to be a head coach, and when it presented itself, I prayed about it with my Mom, my Dad and my Pastor. I felt it was time. The beauty of the situation I’m in now is that even though I’m not at my alma mater [cross-town rival Griffin] I’m at a place I’m used to being at. I’m still in the same town that I grew up in. Getting that opportunity here, I thought this would be a great job to be a head coach.’’
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