We had the chance to catch up with coach Johnny Boykin, at Ragsdale HS over in Jamestown today, just before his Tigers got ready to hit the weightroom and start up practice, with today’s Tigers’ workouts set to run from 5-8pm, and this was to the first day of full pads and full contact, so an important day in the Ragsdale Tigers’ football journey for 2019….
**********Here is our Seven-on-Seven Series/session of questions for Coach Johnny Boykin(Ragsdale High School):**********
1)For your program to reach the playoffs, what will your record need to be this season?
Coach Boykin: We are just trying to put together good days…We want to control what we do each day…We get an extra week before the first game this season and that allows us to have only played one game, before school is back in session, and that is a plus…
2)Who will be your team leaders on Offense, Defense, and Special Teams?
Coach Boykin: Offense we will have Devan Boykin and all things will go through him….On Defense we go with Ernest McCloud on the DL and at DB we have Wesley Misenheimer, a DB that is very fast with a 4.50 40 at the Shrine Bowl combine and we have Devan Boykin back there too, and Devan turned in a 4.45 40, at that same Shrine Bowl combine…For Special Teams we have Misenheimer as a “Super Punt Blocker”…He blocked 5 punts last season, and once he gets the punt blocked, he can recover and return the punt, as well…Devan Boykin returned 4 punts for touchdowns last season….
3)What do remember about about your football practice days, back when you were playing high school football?
Coach Boykin: I still remember those 6am practices…We used to get to the school at 6am and stay all day…We had those long “true” 2 a-day practices…The early practice would run from 6-9am…We won our first State Championship at Clinton, my senior year of 1990, and the school went on to win five more after that one…For our practices, we worked all day long and I remember those Salt Tablets….If the kids were taking all of those Salt Tablets today, it would probably kill them…Our coach was Bob Lewis, and I will never forget him….
4)Why do you love coaching football?
Coach Boykin: I just love the people….This is an opportunity to serve people in a people situation….Really enjoy being around the kids and helping be a small part of young people’s lives…Love seeing these kids become young men, and go on to do great things…
5)If you weren’t coaching football, what would you be doing?
Coach Boykin: I would be a Pastor or a Motivational Speaker….
6)Best team in the county other than your Ben L. Smith Golden Eagles?
Coach Boykin: Grimsley is the up-and-coming team and Southeast Guilford got there last year and they should continue to do big things…
7)What’s the first thing you do in practice each day?
Coach Boykin: We start out with a team meeting and then we hit practice time with individual meetings for 10 minutes, or if it is the appointed day, we will be in the weightroom…When we hit the field, we do a “Re-focus Period” to kick off practice and that is time of reflection and a moment to clear your head and get the day’s problems out of your head, and get focused on that day’s football practice…We do some early running on some days and some days we move the major part of our running to late in the practice..
++++++++++We thank Coach Johnny Boykin for his time over at Ragsdale High School today, and we will have his video comments up here for you, in just a few….++++++++++
Click Below for our video interview at Ragsdale High School, with Coach Johnny Boykin….