Q&A: Falmouth coach Derek Almeida

In Saturday's installment of the MIAA's "40 teams in 40 days countdown," we made a couple factual errors in Falmouth's writeup, including incorrectly identifying the Clippers' starting quarterback. After some quick edits, we wanted to reach out to coach Derek Almeida to get the real rundown on the Clippers. On Monday, we spoke on the phone with Almeida and touched on a range of topics, from the state of his team, to some of his best players, and the art of teaching the option in high school. Here's an edited transcript of that conversation. MV: When I went down to the Cape this summer, I talked to (Mashpee) coach Matt Triveri, and he was the one who mentioned the quarterback (Kyle Connelly). I didn't ask for his name. I must have gotten the name from somewhere else. But (Triveri) was talking about how big and how jacked your quarterback looked. DA: (Connelly) was one of those kids we were lucky to have. Our eighth graders play with our freshman team. He kind of came in as an eighth grader, and you could already see he was one of those kids that was going to be a really, really strong thick kid. And, really, just naturally, without putting the time into the weight room, he'd be a pretty strong kid. But over the past couple of years, he's really done a nice job in our weight program, and also when he can, does a lot of stuff on his own. And he looks a lot different now than he did during our season last year. He was our starter from Game 1 last year. He kind of won the job in the preseason scrimmages. I really thought he was going to be more of a running back for us. In fact, he played some as a freshman at running back on our last Super Bowl team. But, we had an opening at quarterback, and obviously we've got to fill that spot before we fill our pitch-back positions in our (triple option) offense. He did a really nice job. You know, we struggled throwing the ball last year, but I think a lot of it was we just didn't have a ton of weapons on the perimeter. We weren't great up front early in the year, so we also had some protection breakdowns... MV: Well, you had lost a lot, right, from the year before, though... DA: Yeah, the Super Bowl team, that was really one class with a few starters in the two classes behind them, but we lost most of our starters on both sides of the ball. For a sophomore to come in and to play quarterback on an inexperienced team, that says a lot about Kyle. I was pretty happy with how we progressed throughout the year, and we probably played our best game on Thanksgiving really playing well against Barnstable, especially offensively. He had a huge game on Thanksgiving. But, yeah, he's only a (junior to be). That's who Matt was talking about because we do a little lifting competition with Mashpee in the spring and they come to our place, and they definitely have some nice-looking kids. But I think he saw our quarterback, and they were like, 'Wow, that's the kid they got playing at quarterback.' I mean, he's still young, he's done some camps. He did the Bentley camp. He did a one-day at BC. He competed in a couple of showcases and combines this summer. I think really he translates more into a running back or a defensive back at the college level. But for us, he's going to be our quarterback, because we ask that position to do a lot of different things. He has a strong arm, too. His arm is strong. I think we'll be able to throw it much better this year. MV: Do you have an accurate height and weight on him? DA: Probably 5-8, he might be pushing 185. I think he probably played at about 165 last year. I would say at least 15-to-20 pounds he's added. MV: How does he process his reads? How is that coming along now? DA: Well, what I'm hoping is, and just to kind of give you a background, going back to previous seasons, our quarterback that we had three years before him, (Nick) Couhig, he was a baseball kid and had strong arm; kind of had the same type of skill set that Kyle has. But, really, our quarterback position is very nuanced. It's all about timing, and your feet matching your hands, and where your eyes are. And Kyle, and, really Nick, too, when he was younger, they begin way too stiff. I think when you pitch and throw in baseball, you get very mechanical with your throwing. Your pitching motion doesn't change. In football, your throwing motion should always be consistent, but you are throwing from different angles, you're throwing on the run, you're stepping up in the pocket, whatever it is. So it takes time to translate a big arm into a consistent passer in football. The option game, it takes a lot of timing, a lot of finesse, and Kyle came in and did not have much experience at quarterback. He's a strong kid and I'm hoping this year he'll be a little more fluid, a little more free-flowing. We did a lot of stuff early in the year where we kind of simplified some reads for him, and had some of the decision-making process limited for him: a lot of called dive; a lot of pulling the ball automatically, and things like that. Later in the year we definitely took the reigns off and he took that challenge and excelled at it. We're not as good offensively when we can't run our true triple option play. I'm hoping that the timing and just that fluidness of the offense comes back this year with a little more experience. It's tough. It's hard to play that position with our schedule and the size and the speed of the defenses that we see. It takes game reps. You can practice all you want with read keys, and coaches standing there, and kids holding a bag, and this and that. But when you've got a Marshfield defensive end staring you down, it's a little different ballgame. You need to have really quick feet and quick hands, but also the timing of it all. Where are your eyes? Are your feet and hands in sync? Are you ready to get the ball out quick? So I think with experience, I think his game is really going to take off. But he's certainly a heck of a ballcarrier. We don't have to teach him how to do that. He's tough to tackle. He's very vertical when he's running. He's a north and south-type kid. He'll make you miss, but he'll get vertical right away. He's not going to dance and run sideways, and he can break through a lot of arm tackles. So I think he's going to carry the ball a lot. Hopefully, we can find some balance so we don't have to put all the weight on his shoulders. We certainly have some other backs on the team that can run the ball. . . . But it's exciting to have a young kid back like that. MV: Can you tell me a little bit about (defensive end/tight end) Kyle Cardoza? From what I've seen . . . He started as a sophomore, right? DA: He did. Again, using the same example, (although he's a year ahead of the quarterback). we had him as an eighth grader, as well. He comes in, and he's an absolute manchild as an eighth-grader. He definitely (had a man's) body (Cardoza is listed at 6-foot-4, 240 pounds), but still was an 8th grader at heart. We have had some growing pains and things like that but he really is a nice kid and a hard worker. You know, that year, we had him practicing a little bit with the JV and varsity. But we kept him for the most part at the freshman level. But I knew, going into his sophomore year, that he was probably going to play a role with that Super Bowl team. And actually, we kind of moved him out of position. He's a natural, tight end, defensive end type kid, but we were fortunate that year to have a lot of athleticism on the perimeter. And we had running back-type kids playing defensive end. So we moved him down to the three-technique to give us some athleticism inside, and he made a ton of plays there for us as a sophomore. He really was also our backup offensive lineman. We were all seniors that year upfront, and he was basically the backup at all five positions up front. And that was really out of necessity. And he was good about it. And I said, 'Look, you're going to end up playing tight end/receiver for us, eventually. But if you develop as an offensive lineman first you're going to be a much better blocker going forward.' So he kind of knew that for the rest of his career that he probably would move away from offensive line like we did last year with him. He played a lot of tight end. Even last year, we played him mostly at defensive end, but we still moved him down inside, because he does a good job against double-teams and if you want to run some movement inside, he's tough to block. He's got good hands. He's long. I think he has probably, don't quote me on it, but probably north of 25 sacks already in his career, just in two seasons. He probably had, at least, 16, 17 last year? There were games he had four or five. So he can make a lot of plays. I remember as a sophomore, he picked off a screen pass and ran it back for a touchdown in the playoff game. MV: Yeah, he's a stud. I've been able to watch a little bit of him online and when the Super Bowl games were on TV and stuff like that. He's tremendous. DA: I think what he really does best, and to me the best film to watch, was his film against Catholic Memorial last year. He blocks really well on the perimeter. So when we put him, and sometimes we put his hand in the ground, but a lot of times we detach him as kind of a flexed end, and he just owns people out there. He's just so big. His hands are so big. He's so long and strong, but he's got great feet. So he gets you on the perimeter, he's driving kids on the sideline, he's 10 yards, 15 yards downfield, making blocks, and he blocked some pretty good Catholic Memorial kids. And really that's the only success we had, was running the perimeter to his side during that game. MV: Yeah, I'm actually just throwing it on now and watching it, and, yeah, he's opening holes. DA: He made some great blocks and those are no slouches. Those are kids that can play. MV: He really moves terrific. Is he getting college attention, and where do you see his potential at the next level? DA: I think probably at tight end. I think a team that isn't afraid to detach those guys a little bit, too. He does play well in space. I certainly think he has the type of ability to go somewhere. He got some interest last spring. some schools came in and talked to him. He is going to have another huge year for us and a strong year academically and then I think there will be some opportunities. A prep year might not be out of the question either. But he's been great for us. He's been a captain for us. He's a team guy. He's not a me guy. He's been texting me all summer. He's so fired up for the season. He's got all these ideas, and you can really tell it means a lot to him. I tell ya, he's a really good basketball player, too. He does a nice job in basketball, again, because he's so long, but he's thick and he's strong. His feet are great. We're going to line him up at wide receiver at times. He can run routes. He can track a fade ball. We're going to throw the ball up to him and let him make a play, too, in some situations. He was killing teams this summer in 7-on-7s, just throwing the ball up to him against some really good competition. We've got to find some ways to use him a little better, too. I think that was definitely an issue last year. Our passing game just went south really quick. We just, we never got it going. I think once that happens, you stop dedicating the time that it needs. And maybe that was what was best for us at the time but going forward we will use him a lot more as a receiving threat. MV: Isn't it kind of tough in this state, too, to install as much as you want when it comes to your passing game, and you dedicate so much in your program to perfecting something so difficult as the option? And you only have so much practice time . . . DA: Yeah, and you're talking about kids that usually play both ways. But it's really on my shoulders. I've got to find every opportunity that we can. We don't run a lot of plays, so, yeah, some of our base plays may take a little bit longer to get good at executing than some others in some other offenses. But our playbook is very small. We've really got to do a better job of perfecting our passing game, because that's why we were really good the year before. We could throw the ball downfield. We could throw the ball underneath. We could convert some third-and-longs when we got them. We took some shots. We kept teams off balance. (In 2017), we really became way too one-dimensional. And when you play a good team, that's not going to be successful. But that's on me. I've got to make sure that our practices are at a good tempo and we get through things quickly and efficiently so that we can spend more time throwing the football. MV: Did you want to talk about any other kids in particular? DA: Yeah, you had mentioned online about Trevor Nunes. I made the comment, no, he's back (laughing). (MassVarsity tweeted about Nunes possibly being a post-graduate student while watching the Springfield College one-day clinic) MV: Yeah, it was funny, because the (sheet) had the names of the kids, and I'd recognized his name, but it didn't have the schools. DA: Oh, I gotcha. MV: They had cut it off because they didn't want you to see the comments about the kids on the sheets. So the sheet that they gave me, I was like, 'Trevor Nunes. Huh.' And I recognized the name and I knew he was a Falmouth kid, but I didn't know if he was just still there with you guys or if he graduated last year. DA: No, luckily, I have him back for one more year. He's done a great job for us. He really came on for us last year, not just as a ballcarrier, but at the cornerback position, too. But he played on the Super Bowl team as a sophomore as well. We had an injury to one of our good slot backs, Sam Koss, on the Super Bowl team. And he was out for what I believe was five consecutive weeks. And Trevor came in as a sophomore, and that was kind of the end of the regular season and into the playoffs. So here you are as a sophomore playing on the best team that Falmouth has ever had, and competing against some of the best teams in the state. It's not like he jumped in early in the season when the stakes were not as high. So he wasn't scoring and rushing for a ton of yards that year but he did all the little things and we didnt miss a beat. But when we did call his number and he made a couple really nice plays, and he's also great blocker on the perimeter. Now, last year, he just really blew up. He might be, as far as running a pitch play or a sweep play, he might be as good of a runner as I've ever seen. There's other kids that can do things better than him, but catching a pitch, and really finding a nice seam and getting vertical, and making good cuts. He's as good as I've ever seen at that. He's a great blocker at that position. We cut block a lot on the perimeter and he does a nice job with that. And he really stepped up his leadership role last year. He was another captain as a junior. So, this year, like I said before, I hope we have a little more balance on offense because later in the year, I think teams were really gearing up to take him away. So hopefully during the beginning of the year, we can continue to use a little more balance so we can pop him on some big plays. If he can get to that second level, he's not the fastest kid in a 40 time, But as far as putting that foot in the ground and getting vertical, he's so quick. He does that really well, he can get from point A to point B as well as anybody can. MV: Is there anybody else you feel like talking about? DA: Well I would like to see, our offensive line, just as a unit get recognized, they took their lumps early in the year last year as first-year starters, but we have mostly everybody back. We lose one of our tackles, but we have everybody else back, including kids that were the backups. MV: Do you have their names? DA: Yeah, I can give you their names. David Doherty, he's going to be a senior. He would be 6-1, 250. Chad Lennox, and he's probably about the same thing: 6-1, 250. Those are our two offensive guards. Our center is back. He's a little on the smaller side. . . . Terrell Roballo. He's really about 5-11, 215, 220. He's going to be a senior. And then Colby Davis, and he's about 6-1, 210, 215. He's a starting tackle. And he's a senior as well. All four of them are back. And I'm not positive who that fifth one's going to be. Like I said, there were kids who got quite a bit of time. But those are the four returning starters up front. And hopefully we can lean on those guys. That's one thing, early in the season, with our offense, because of the timing of it. It does take a lot of repetition. And sometimes the timing isn't quite there early in the season. So we're going to lean heavy on our offensive line. We've got to be physical. We've got to get some push and establish the line of scrimmage. So even when things aren't perfectly timed up in the backfield, we'll still be able to make some plays. So I'm really excited about that. I think they're going to be much better in the pass protection game so we can throw it a little bit. But those kids have really worked. It's probably the best group we've ever had in the weight room with that offensive line. They're all kids that have been very, very dedicated in the weight room, got a lot stronger. MV: Any of those kids college players at all? DA: I think every one that I mentioned has that potential. They are all getting interest from the local schools . . . UMass-Dartmouth, Springfield College, Mass. Maritime, and other schools at that level.