Posted: Aug 03, 2016
VIDEO: Facebook Live Video of Ken Sparks participation in SAC Digital Media Day
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman head football coach Ken Sparks took time from his preparations for C-N's upcoming fall camp to answer questions in the South Atlantic Conference's Digital Media Day.
You can watch a replay of a Facebook Live video of the proceedings and read his answers to questions below.
Up next we have Carson-Newman head coach Ken Sparks. Coach, thanks for being here.
Thanks very much, pleased to be here.
I think the L-R game got our attention last year. We got a pretty good kicking over there. It embarrassed all of us and made us realize that we weren't functioning on a very high level. Our kids responded like they were supposed to. We started a journey of improvement after that ball game.
They are a very capable football team. We've played teams from that league in the past in Western Oregon and Cal Davis back in the semifinals. Those teams were better than we thought they were after watching them on video. They delivered in person. Humboldt has the best returning player in the country. They are an impressive football team. It has a lot of national significance to it. They're preseason number seven in one poll. We'll have our hands full, but look forward to a ball game like that to start the season.
You have a new defensive coordinator this year? Will you be running a similar system, or will this be a new defensive scheme?
Coach Slade has a scheme that will look the same, but it'll have some new things to it as well. I'm just excited to have Larry as a person on our staff. He brings so much to the table. He's a strong believer and a strong Christian. And I think he'll definitely add some material on the field as well.
We've got to establish right off the bat the backup quarterback. There are several places where freshmen and transfers can be a factor. We have Joe Harris from Miles could be a factor on the line. We don't know until we get on the field who will be a football player and who won't. We're excited about our roster. But it's still a roster with question marks.
SEALs training is pretty revealing. We've always said that your body will do most anything that your mind will let it. It's amazing how much we crack mentally. In the later parts of the day, we started to see some cracks in our thinking. It's amazing to watch corrections happen off that.
Back-to-back Rimington Award winners are pretty tough to replace, but we have two that we think are competing very well for that position. Ben Clark has been a backup for two years and knows the offense. Then Jordan Seal a freshman from Morristown East has a great physical and mental package. We're excited to see those two compete for that position.
And that will do it for Coach Sparks. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to talk with everyone. We appreciate you being here.
KenSparks_CN
Players move in the 10th. And thank you for having me!