April 21, 2006

Washington, D.C. - Georgetown University Head Football Coach Kevin Kelly and his staff visited with members of the Gridiron Club on Thursday afternoon at La Panetteria in Bethesda, Maryland. Kelly, who took over as head coach in January, met with a group of fans and former players during the afternoon visit, hosted by former Hoyas Rory Coakley (B'82) and Don Garrett (C'98). He took time to introduce his entire staff and talk about the day-to-day happenings in the program since his arrival.

"I had been asked to come out when I took over in January and this was a great visit," Kelly said. "I've had the chance to meet with a lot of former players and people who follow the program since I started and it's been great. I think people see how excited we are to play games."

The two-hour visit at the restaurant was highlighted by a discussion from Kelly on the state of the program. He first took time to introduce the entire staff: Jim Miceli, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks; Rob Sgarlata, Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Backs; KiJuan Ware, Assistant Coach/Receivers; Brad Dunlay, Assistant Coach/Offensive Line; Carlton Hall, Assistant Coach/Defensive Line; Luke Thompson, Assistant Coach/Linebackers; Dassin Blackwell, Assistant Coach/Running Backs; Kevin Gilbride, Assistant Coach/Tight Ends and James Vollono, Defensive Assistant.

After the introduction of his staff, Kelly talked about the incoming class of 31 student-athletes and how recruiting has gone for the staff so far. Kelly spent a great deal of time talking about the off-season conditioning program. In his first year at the helm of the program, he instituted the theme, "Fanatical Effort." "It was a buzzword I've used over the years," he explained. "The way we taught that was with Fourth Quarters- our Tuesday and Thursday morning agility drills. The idea was to push them further than they thought they could go."

The Fourth Quarter drills, a series of sprints that Kelly had done during his time at Navy, gave the coaching staff a glimpse of the effort the hard work the team would put in during spring practice. They were held at North Kehoe Field in the early morning hours during February and March. "I think they did a great job with it," Kelly said. "I think they improved tremendously from the first set to the last, which was similar to the experience we had at Navy. It was a team unity thing. You can find out who the positive leaders are, who was going to take the bull by the horns and who you want with you in a foxhole during the season."

Kelly also spoke about how the team's spring practices went, the staff's first chance to see their players in live action. "The theme there was `Tempo,'" Kelly said. "They were learning the base concepts, our spread offense, the 4-2-5 scheme in a 3-4 defense and how we'll work on special teams."

At halftime of the team's Spring game, Kelly announced the two players who had been chosen team captains for the upcoming season, defensive end Alex Buzbee (Chester, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) and offensive lineman Liam Grubb (Massapequa, N.Y./Chaminade). "The first meeting I had with the team, I talked about the leadership aspect," Kelly said. "What I wanted them to do was watch their teammates through the off-season conditioning program and in the weight room to see who the leaders would be. We had a lot of guys who got ballots, which is positive because they perceive that there are leaders on this football team. We started to see a lot of guys stepping up, especially in those Fourth Quarters."

Kelly also hit on the academic game plan for the program, going over how the team will conduct study hall, assistant coaches involvement and different aspects that will aid the program. "It's critical," Kelly said of the importance of an academic game plan. "That's the first thing I talked to the team about. Our first game isn't Holy Cross on September 2, it's an academic game."

He closed out by talking about the team's plans for the summer, as the coaches are assisting student-athletes in earning internships and that the majority of the team would be spending the months in Washington, working out together during breaks from class and work. "We've got a lot of plusses at Georgetown, chief among them being at the best institution in the league," he said. "We want to create a tradition in the Patriot League here. We know it will take a lot of work, but we're committed to doing it right."