Spring Insider: Q&A with Coach Jeff Bailey

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One-on-one with El Dorado coach Jeff Bailey:

Question: What’s your impression of your team thus far?
Jeff Bailey: We’re real young, we’re real inexperienced. We’re really replacing a lot of guys this year. We’re learning. We’re seeing some positive things and a lot of things we have to work on. We’re replacing basically all the line. It’s going to take a lot of time, a lot of work, a lot of experience.

Q: What have you been looking to accomplish in the spring?
JB: We’re just trying to learn the offense, a lot of mental stuff. (We’re) learning how to be an El Dorado football player, meaning pride, character and discipline, those kind of things we feel are more important than any X’s and O’s to being successful. Discipline and accountability are some of the things the young kids don’t now about yet.

Q: What do you think about the new division and which are some of the teams you’re curious about?
JB: You’re going to see some new rivalries and some games in the playoffs that are going to be fun to be a part of. I expect it to be as tough or tougher than what we’ve been in before. I’d like to see La Habra. They got it going pretty good. Cypress and those Empire League teams have had a lot of success. Western is always a physical team. It’s a different animal than we’ve been facing. Trabuco and those Sea View League teams are tough. There’s no easy team. We’re going to have our work cut out for us no matter what.

Q: What are you looking for from your quarterback, Kane Wilson?
JB: We’re going to build around him. He’s a special player. He’s going to have to be a a leader this year. Last year we had a lot of good seniors that were leaders. It wasn’t all on him. This year he’s going to have a bigger role. There a few other kids that will help him out in that.

Q: Wilson was one of those rare juniors to win league MVP. Was that something you maybe expected to happen this year instead of last?
JB: He matured as the year went on and toward the end of the year was one of the reasons why we were having success. He was able to make plays throwing, make plays running. Those kinds of things are hard to stop. He’s got a new cast of characters. He’s going to have to mesh with them. That’s what we’re trying to work on. He’s got a young center and a young line

I knew he would be pretty good. He wills himself into good situations. He naturally does some things that I think special players like him do. He was able to make some plays that a lot of the quarterbacks I’ve had through my years of coaching couldn’t make.

>> El Dorado's 2007-08 Season Totals

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Contact the writer: amaya@ocregister.com