Connor Harrell High School Football America 2021 National Player of the Year

this is the high school football America podcast for February the 18th 2022 I'm Jeff fiser the high school football America podcast is brought to you by gam Strat America's Premier sideline instant replay system with outstanding reliability faster speed than huddle sideline and they have great customer service and this is also great they have special pricing right now through the end of February have to act now and mention High School football America when you call to get your demo or sign up online and they will give you friends and family even a bigger discount to get a demo go to gamrat outcom or click on the gamestrat banner ad located on every page of high school football am.com coaches there's only 11 days left to nominate your player or players for the 2021 High School football America academic allam team it's our second annual one go to high school football am.com to get all of the details the cut off is a 3.6 GPA and the rest of the details are at high school football am.com heading to the state of Alabama time to celebrate the 2021 National High School football player of the year and he's got a couple of championships under his belt and he's off to North Carolina Connor Harold from Thompson High School back-to-back titles for Connor and his coach Mark Freeman is on the line here to talk about an incred incredible incredible career for this young man thanks for joining me coach hi it's my pleasure how you doing I'm doing well today I'm just going to read a couple of numbers here for the audience uh let's see completed 371 of 515 passes that's 72% 6,100 yards 81 touchdowns six interceptions over the last two seasons let's see rushed for 680 nine touchdowns and this is the one that stands out this is kind of uh a little bit like Kyler Murray high school at Allen Connor was 24- one as the starting QB I guess there's no guess why he's our national player of the year but when you hear those numbers what comes to your mind just you know the the enjoyment of watching Conor being a young guy when we got here seven years ago and just the way he matured and and um and just grasp you know he had some really good guys in front of him to Leah Tong Val was here and then s p was next guy in line then you know Conor was able to come in and and and and sit in the same room with those guys and watch how they prepared and um everything that went with with the position of here and and and all that and and I thought he did a good job it was just it just you know pleasing to watch him have success and and be the next guy that got the opportunity and how well the job he did here and what a great great person he is and Coach you brought up something I was going to ask you next which is patience I don't know that you can coach patience you can talk about it and all that but you had a a good lineage there of quarterbacks as you just mentioned um what did you see in Connor that knew you knew he was going to wait his turn if you will well you know when he was young I I think he could have been a a DB as well as a quarterback but he had it you know he was determined to play quarterback so we started you know we put him in middle school you know quarterback and and and freshman ball and JV and brought him along and I think he just contined to improve and his arm strength got a whole lot better and um you know a lot of the stuff he wed his way in the off season working and doing the things the drills and all the stuff that goes with being a quarterback that none of it really matters if you can't play when the lights come on you know you can be the best drill guy runner out there and if you can't play when the lights come on it it really don't do you a whole lot of good and but he did he developed a mindset and a tough mentality that when the lights came on he got better and uh just did a tremendous job and just you know the work he did in offseason to perfect that position and um I'm just proud of him like I said he I watched him come along as a young guy here and just keep working and to to taste success and see hard work payoff I think that's something to go for the rest of his life yeah talking Conor Harold our national Player of the Year Mark Freeman is has been his high school football coach at Thompson uh during that that run of two years leading uh Thompson to a number two r ranking in our high school football America 100 two years ago 14 last year um this is not just a football award the stats that I read earlier obviously stand for themselves but but Connor is a a great student as well he was an academic All-American for us uh last year probably will be again this year talk about how well you thought he balanced the the the student in the student athlete he did a great job and I'm gonna tell you something that he did that will go you know five years from now the will be lost in it he did some of that during covid uh which means a lot of the school was virtual school um a lot of stuff where you have to grow up I think there's a lot of good things to Virtual School for a potential College athlete um you know he he had to learn to manage his his schoolwork and um when you're in class when they're in class every day you know you monor them and you got teachers on site with them and and you know but he he maintained that grade average in his academic skills you know doing virtual school and um which is you know that can be a load on the wrong person but you know he was responsible enough he stayed ahead in his school workor and maintained you know above four average 4.0 average in that and so I mean he's just he was always aware of the academic side of it and it's like we tell the kids like we can't help those kids athletically if they don't help us academically and so he he always you know was a you know obviously the Forefront of his classroom and and among the top academic people in his class and so he was just a combination of a really really smart um young man that knew he had to get his education and education came first and he prepared himself there just like he did off the field so it'll carry him like I said North Carolina is a high Academic School he's at yeah no no doubt about that hey coach um I I mentioned at the top you know Kyler Mur Murray you know was almost undefeated in high school as well and and you look at Connor's 24-1 Mark that one came at the end of 2021 in one of the toughest regions in the nation as you guys battle uh you know you got Hoover Hoover took down the the that put that loss there and then you got hu at Trussville two teams that are you know annually in our top 100 along with you guys how much did that L put a fire not only in Conor's belly but the entire program including yourself to to three peat like you did well the the not that he got the the loss you know he he broke his throwing Thumb in the first the end of the first half and I think that's the game you're probably talking about I think we lost I I can't keep up all that but I know we had a 2110 Le you know when he left the game we had a 2110 lead and um you know supposedly hanging our hat on what a great defense we had and and we got they come back and beat us 24-21 and um you know I know I hear coach talking about you know you learn from your losses and stuff and and I I'm not big on um you know we hate losing I probably hate losing more than when we really enjoy the winning like you he but the loss I think we'd won gosh I don't know Jeff we we went over 20 25 maybe 27 something games in a row and I think there's an expectancy to win rather than a a uh desperation to win and I told our kids I said you know the the one thing that can come out of this is you can anticipate winning and and it don't it don't always happen but if you're desperate to win you got a chance to win and I think our kids which is a good thing they anticipated we were over G to find a way to win these games and they found out that we wasn't good enough to finish that game up at night and we lost and I think it did return the desperation of of you know the the joy of winning again and so I hope it was but it was a lesson that we learned about you know you gota you you have to be desperate to win you can't anticipate winning solely and so I think that we did learn from that yeah and and I I think that loss that's in his record there is probably not a good one considering he didn't have a chance to to finish out that game uh and and you mentioned North Carolina the academic side of things um you know it's always hard to project right but what type of college football player do you think Conor is going to be when he when he gets his feet wet and and getting to uh to to be the the guy that goes from the the two-time starting quarterback of a state championship program to just another guy that's trying to fight for that number one spot qb1 well I think that I think you have obviously the way college football is right now um I mean the reality of it and that's all we can go by is reality I think if those the same offensive coaches stay at North Carolina who have a great chance to play because he went there um I think academically scho suited him well but they they run a lot of the same offensive schemes and um ideas and RPO stuff that we do here so I think he felt really comfortable with the system but honestly I think if the coaches stay there long you know offensive coordinator there and the offensive guys he'll have a really good chance um to to to really be impact and and a good player there because he's going to be familiar with a lot of stuff they do um and you hope they do but the way that world is right now them guys come go pretty fast in the colge ranks yeah no doubt there's some uh some factors that uh go into that like you just said there Mark Freeman on the line from Thompson High School we were talking Conor Harold our high school football America National Player of the Year and you know we're we're what Midway through February and i' I've already started all these interviews with coaches going I'm peeking ahead toward 2022 so my question peeking ahead is you you've got that pedigree there at quarterback you've had some guys that have lined up behind uh Connor that have been very very good what uh what do you have in the uh in the offing for 2022 you got some uh you got some Talent there I would assume so well we got we got um young man Zach Sims that took over in the Hoover game that night and and got a lot of experience in that game and he got to play two more games after that both being playoff games um then ironically the the state championship game first series thought of goes down to an ankle injury and uh Zach had to go in um first series and um you know Conor had to go to locker room get his ankle looked at all that and missed the entire first half I think and and um Zach was able to go in there and gets the 14 nothing lead and so he he got a lot of valuable experience and and uh he's a little bit bigger than Conor um and he's a I'd say he's comparable to Lamar Jackson his his uh athletic skills and and I think he's going to be a really good one he's he he'll just be a junior and I I brought him up as a ninth grader and then we we got two really good uh quarterback prospects that that will be potentially on the ninth grade team this year and rather M sit down I'll probably pull one of them up with us and the most mature and the one that can take it um pull one up and get the other one a lot of reps it's the way we have done things here and um so we got two young ones so we got a gap between Zach and the other ones they're young so we we got to develop Zach and find somebody to come in and and uh help Zach get us through next year but man I'm really Zach Sims could be one of the most talented ones we've had here he's already got a Louisville offer um and great great wonderful wonderful young man and just I Coast that position and and uh just get to spend a lot of days with Zach and just I think Zach Sim will could be one of the best ones we've had come through here wow Lamar Jackson that's a that's pretty good analogy there no doubt about that last question coach is as you go away as I said at the top you guys have spent a lot of time on our national rankings we're glad to have you there you built the program to the point where number two two years ago 14 last year obvious viously depth makes a difference in the high school ranks especially these days sounds like you had that what my question is for you going away is uh because you've got the threee and and just the the constant appearances in the state championship what do you talk to the kids about in in the off seon um as far as you know the bullseye is there the bullseye keeps getting bigger and by the way 2021 is over with yeah you're exactly right and coaches most of them been women for a while and you know it's it it it gets to be heavy up there when you're when you're you know every Friday night you're you're a measuring stick and and you're going to get probably 10 10 times you're going to get a team that can get up and try to give you their best effort and I think our kids have to understand our coaches have to understand I you know I don't think we can get our kids mly peaked 10 times a year year um two or three maybe and so we have to build it from a consistency standpoint and and our e our deal is just we we just we just work you know today finished up uh week seven for us in our offseason we got through early December state championship gave him the rest of that month we started back in January and today ended up when we live here today at 4:30 we will have got 63 workouts in already wow so we're we're week seven we get nine workouts a week we go at six o'clock in the morning four days a week and we go every afternoon at 215 and uh so we lift and all in the mornings and then 2:15 we had speed agility and position specific drills so you know what we work and we work and we work and I I just think that they the kids put in so much work um and they understand that that uniform was made before any of them really got in high school we're in that point now that um that class had just graduated Jeff they every year from ninth grade up they play for a state championship and that's just hard that's hard to imagine much less do it and um so I think the way we do things we don't you know we just we just work and they have to understand that Jersey you know is their time that Jersey are they going to be the one that lets the community the themselves and the program down by not working and being able to sustain success so I don't think there's a secret I think just hard work hard work pays off there's a reason people say that no doubt about that coach hey thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule and congratulations on on Connor be a national player of the year uh when I when I spoke to you when I told you that he was winning you said you know there was no no better guy to do that so I appreciate you taking some time to to shed a little light on who Connor Harold is and and and what we'll see at the next level and and again congratulations on all the success you've had there in in in that program because uh you you guys have been consistently good and that's hard to do in in in this day and age so thanks for your time well thank you and thank you for everything you and you guys do for for High schol football obviously and we appreciate you and God bless thank thank you thank you coach Freeman one of the best in America and again congratulations to Connor harrold our 2021 High School football America National High School football player of the year the award award is given in partnership with the National High School coaches association Connor as you heard during the podcast interview was a member of the 2020 2021 High School football America academic All America team our inaugural one and we're putting together number two you've got 11 more days to register coaches get your players registered the uh GPA cut off is 3.6 how to register just go to high schoolf foam.com in the nav tab just click on academic all American and there you will get all the information on how to email us and the information that we are looking for we are just so excited for this last year we honored over 3,000 players we're going to do even more this year boy I would love to double that number uh again the 28th of February is the deadline the cut off for getting their nominations in and it must come from coaches parents we know you support your kids but we're doing it through the coaches so we're able to verify GPA the high school football America podcast is brought to you by gam Strat America's Premier sideline instant replay system with outstanding reliability faster speed than huddle sideline plus gam Strat has awesome customer service and right now until the end of February just like with the academic All America team and the nominations ah you got to get in on the special deal that gam strat's doing through the 28th of February to get that special deal go for a demo by going to gamestrat dcom or you can click on the gamrat Banner ad located on every page of high school foam.com that's today's high school football Amer podcast and I'm Jeff fer