Strasburg v Skyline Week 1 Interview with Rams Head Coach Tripp Lamb

so glad you're with us High School football is back another matchup we are looking at now as the strawsburg Rams hosting the skyline Hawks out of Front Royal Virginia now joining me first year head coach of the strawsburg Rams trip lamb uh coach thank you for your time first and foremost it has been quite some time since the last time we've spoken in person just take me through how the rest of your Camp went any scrimmages you had um just all together how have you liked the progress your team has made from that point up until now um the kids are coming you know with the right attitude every day um I would say that we are you know kind of right where we expect to be at this point in the year um which is a long way from where we need to be um but you know the guys are coming in working hard every day the staff's putting in the work the kids are putting in the work and you know for leading up to the first game I feel like you know we're right on par with where we want to be um I would like to see us be a little bit more physical than we were in our second scrimmage um we went down to riverheads and um you know they they definitely showed us what championship football is is all about and um they punched Us in the mouth and um I'm hoping that we can kind of you know learn from that and be a little bit more physical here in week one so just huning in on the two scrimmages you had um as your first year as a head coach for this Rams team um sort of what was your evaluation Pro uh process um within those two scrimmages and sort of some things that really stood out to you that you want to F tune and expand on um come week one and the rest of the regular season well in the first scrimmage uh it was a a little jeree with brinville and um Buffalo Gap and I definitely felt like you know for the first scrimmage we um we executed pretty well um there was obviously you know mistakes that made but we didn't make a ton of mental errors um we didn't really uh run a whole lot of plays we just wanted to run some plays that we were we felt like that we could compete with and some plays that we felt like we could execute at a high level and I think we did that we got a lot of look lot of looks at a lot of different guys at a lot of different positions so that's always really good to get you know kind of get a feel for who can do what and where they can be um and then um last week against riverheads you know riverheads kind of did to us what um they've been doing to just about everybody for about the past 15 years um and it was 21 to seven at halftime um and you know it's a it's a scrimmage so it's a learning EXP experience and they did to us exactly what I think we needed to have happen to us and that was just get punched in the mouth and you know so we could get a look at where we want to be um our kids know that you know obviously what riverhead's going on has going going on um in the past you know 15 years or so that's what everybody's wanting to be and um you know it was good for us to see that live and see that in person and throw that you know us to get punched in the mouth because uh I think we'll definitely grow from it so looking ahead to your uh matchup this Thursday against um Skyline um it it must be good knowing you have some veteran leadership on this team in uh Braden huff at your quarterback position Lucas Martinez as well um having those two guys and maybe some other returners in there that I have not mentioned what is that like to have them sort of your core group of guys there for you to help out when needed sort of Coach up the younger guys um I if you will what is that like having them going into week one well we were we obviously lost a lot from last year's team numbers wise and you know um we lost a lot a lot of quality players last year um but we were really senior and sophomore heavy last year so it was almost like you were either a senior or you were a sophomore I think we only I think we only started two or three Juniors last year off the team so um the sophomore class last year is now the junior class this year so even though they're still under classman a lot of those guys have a lot of experience um and some of them three or four of them even started as freshman I think we have three maybe four guys that are Juniors that started as freshman um and they're all on the line so I would say that the line has really been the group that's that's been leading us um so far um because you know we're returning four or five starters up front in the back and although I think we're definitely deep at the running back position um you know none of those guys started last year at the running back position so um actually Lucas started last year but the rest of them you know we got six or seven guys that we going to be rotating in at running back um and only one of them started last year so you know there's a lot of there's a lot of Youth in the back field and I think up front's definitely um you know the people that are going to lead us and then at signal caller obviously like you mentioned Braden Huff being there um you know he makes the right checks he can change the plays he can do the things that we need to do in order to be successful and uh he can run it at a high level and that's what we're looking for so that's definitely a good thing as well you mentioned the offensive line and the style of offense you run having um the most experienc up there um if if you will um you know the offensive line key part to your offense because predominantly a runey offense the strawsburg Rams um do um I would imagine you're sort of relying on the offensive line to help out with to continue the effectiveness of your running game yeah you know obviously we're you know 90 95% run um so our offensive line is a is obviously the the key cog there and and our success running the football um you know we try to use some quick hitters um we try to use some misdirection and things like that to try to fool the defense But ultimately it comes down to how well that those guys up front are going to be blocking and how physical they're going to be and especially making you know mistake-free football because you know football's the Ultimate Team game you've got 11 guys and if you've got 10 of them doing exactly what they're supposed to do it only takes one guy to make a mental mistake to screw the whole play up so it take you know there's a lot of moving Parts especially up front and uh you know we're glad that um you know we've got the guys that we have because they do a really good job so looking ahead to the matchup at Skyline uh week one is interesting I've heard from other coaches in this area because you're not quite sure what the opponent brings to the table but being skylined they're sort of a local school out of Front Royal what what have you seen and what are you maybe trying to stop them from doing come Thursday um the thing that jumps out to me on film and watching them is um how explosive they are at the skill positions especially running back and uh receivers um you know they're going to have two or three receivers that are extremely extremely skilled and extremely athletic their running backs very skilled and very athletic and he catches the ball really well um so you know I would say um you know keeping the explosive play Under Wraps because they're they're a team that they you know any given snap they got three or four guys that could um you know switch ends of the field real quick and for a long touchdown and um you know just keeping the Long play the big play Under Wraps and that's kind what we've always kind of kind of identified at defensively is trying to make the other team put together a really good long drive and if they can do that then you know they're probably pretty good and you know at some point you got to step up and make a play but um trying to take away the big play and trying to make them make long drives is kind of you know what we're going to try to do which is what we've always tried to do absolutely so last but not least coach um obviously you've been with the Rams program um under coach roller for quite some time but now getting the head coaching nod this is your first season are there any sort of emotions going through your mind uh before your UH first regular season game as head coach leading this Rams football team just making sure that we're prepared I mean I haven't had time to really think about anything other than just trying to from you know trying to get us prepared from preparation standpoint that's where all my focus has been I really haven't thought much about you know anything as far as anything else other than just making sure our team's ready I mean that's where my focus has been and um I'm sure at some point you know after the season I'll look back and you know think about some things but like right now I'm just focused on making sure that we're ready to play on Thursday night once again football is back one of the matchups on Thursday strawsburg hosting Skyline once again trip lamb the head coach of the strawsburg Rams coach really appreciate your time looking forward to working with you all season sir thank you very much e