American Christian Academy Head Football Coach, Chris Smelley, joined The Gary Harris show this morning to talk about his Patriots. Smelley discussed his goals of winning a state championship, his two top players, several rule changes and how his time playing for Steve Spurrier has impacted him as a coach. You can listen to the entire interview on our Soundcloud or Tide 100.9 Youtube Page.

"When you play high school football in the state of Alabama that's [state championship] like the top prize, it's hard to get there. We're excited about giving it another shot this year and we feel like we've got a good solid team coming back and we're really just ready to get to work. Hopefully things open up for us here in June and we're excited to get started," said coach Smelley.

Smelley highlighted two of his best players, Kamari Lassiter and Cam Jeffery, and talked about their importance to the team and their college aspirations. Lassiter and Jeffery are both three-star recruits and each have double-digit college scholarship offers.

Coach Smelley is able to help the two players navigate the recruiting process as he went through the same process as a high school athlete. Smelley advises them to find the program that they are most comfortable with based off the way they connect with the teammates that they will be playing with and the program that feels like home.

Lassiter and Jeffery play both ways in high school but project as defenders in college. Smelley is able to use their athleticism as a weapon on both sides of the ball in 4A high school football.

ACA graduated Lawson Pratt from the quarterback position so Coach Smelley is excited to have a quarterback competition this summer and fall.

"We haven't really had a true quarterback competition in a while. I'm looking forward to that, and the competitiveness that it will bring to the team. I'm really just watching how the team responds to those two guys as they're kind of battling for that spot," said Smelley.

Smelley then talked with Harris about several new rules that were passed by AHSAA with regards to football. They talked about eligibility rules, practice rules around spring practice and options for coaches to work with more players at a time.

Listen to the entire interview on Soundcloud or Youtube. You can listen to The Gary Harris Show each weekday from 9-11 a.m. on Tide 100.9 FM or stream it anywhere using the free TIDE1009app.

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