Countdown to Kickoff 2024: Gulfport Admirals

since 2010 the Gulfport Admirals have made the postseason in all but two seasons the big problem getting out of the first round in order to get over that hump the team brought in former Ocean Springs head coach Blake penck last season as the program looks for more success in mid November since 2003 the Gulfport Admirals have advanced to the second round of the playoffs just twice to take the next step goport went out and hired Blake penck last season after he took Ocean Springs to the South State title game the year before with penck entering year two at the Helm of the Admirals there's a lot of excitement now that everyone in the program has a year familiarity under their belt it's really exciting going into year two anytime you get know year one in the program there's got a lot of new things now new faces new ways of doing stuff and so now you know s uh having the second year coming through it's a little more common everybody knows who the people are and what they do and all the things that make them tick and so it's been it's been a lot smoother transition this time year in and year out gulport has athletes all across the field the big difference with this group an established coaching staff at every position to get the most out of the players tremendous um you know especially for me and you know other players out here just having all the knowledge come together and really just teaching us you know the game it's teaching us from different point of views it really help has helps tremendously it's honestly awesome cuz I mean you don't have any doubt in your mind that they like don't know what they're doing so you go out there on the field like 100% confident in them and they know what's best for you well I think they take ownership they understand that they're going to be coached by the best and uh you know when you get that when you get the amount of walkthrough time and the amount of meeting time and all the things that we do and those guys they they're so passionate about the way that they coach I think our guys take a little ownership on you know having that opportunity to you know I don't really have any excuses at this point and so you know I think they're doing a great job they're really intentive they listen and do all the things they give great effort with our guys and so it's really exciting to see kind of how they mold and how those coaches also buy into our players lives it's been really fun Mama we say hey hey hey M hey mama hey mama despite losing a lot of seniors the ad RS are full of future Talent with a common goal in mind the group is ready to prove any doubters wrong in 2024 people don't really think that we're going to go far I've heard a lot of negative you know thoughts about us since we've lost all the seniors last year but this has got to be the best group I've been a part of since I've been here and I think we're going to go real far make it past the first round we we got the talent we got the coaching we got everything we need to do it's just on us players to make sure we keeping you know making sure all the details is is is in check and making sure we playing the game like we talked to you know one obviously we're in the school board business you know but we're also in the people business and so you you know you want to you want to go at the end of the day and have developed great relationships with our players and we want to see them be good men as well also for us as a as a as a Schoolboard deal you know as a team on Friday nights it matters you know and so we got to do a lot better for us I think it's closing out games where we we're going to obviously play a great schedule you play a lot of great teams on that and so we want to make sure that we close those games instead of just getting close cuz at this point with the investment that we've made close is just really not good enough anymore the Admirals open the season against Greenville Christian followed by three consecutive games on the road