UNDRA MITCHEM, JR. SHATTERS MIKE NAPIER's 41 YEAR OLD REGULAR.....

UNDRA MICTHEM SHATTERS MIKE NAPIER's 41 YEAR OLD REGULAR SEASON PASSING RECORD www.leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com

Leesburg's Freeze picks Lenoir-Rhyne

April 20, 2007 Adam Minichino

LEESBURG - Leesburg High School football coach Charles Nassar admires Luke Freeze too much to call him a "pipsqueak."

Freeze, though, doesn't hesitate to use that word to describe his size and appearance three years ago.

These days, thanks to Freeze's hard work in Nassar's weight training system and football program, he has matured into a 5-foot-11, 235-pound senior standout.

But Freeze's accomplishments are only part of the story, and they only begin to illustrate why Nassar is so proud of his senior offensive lineman.

"Luke is the absolute model for what we tell our guys," Nassar said. "If you're good enough to play in Central Florida and start on a district competitive team and you take care of your business in the classroom, you're good enough to play somewhere."

Freeze realized that goal last week when he signed a letter of intent to play football at Lenoir-Rhyne College, a Division II school in Hickory, N.C. He made his decision official Wednesday, on his 18th birthday, at Leesburg High School.

He said he also considered Maryville College (Tenn.), Averett University (Va.) and Charleston Southern University (S.C.).

Freeze was a mainstay at center this past season for the Yellow Jackets (7-4). He also played some at linebacker early in his career at Leesburg.



Next season, Freeze figures to compete for playing time at both positions for first-year coach Fred Goldsmith, who inherits a program that went 3-8 in 2006 and loses 10 seniors from this past season.


Freeze said he visited Lenoir-Rhyne College last year during spring break. He said the coaches seemed very interested at that time, and he remained in touch with the program through the change of head coaches.

Freeze, who has a 3.8 grade-point average, plans to study sports management, with the hope of becoming a coach. He said he is just as proud of his work in the classroom as he is of his maturation as a football player. He thinks both played significant roles in helping him land a combined academic and athletic scholarship.

"I am kind of small, but my academics are good," Freeze said.

Nassar said Freeze has "worked his tail off" in the weight room to play at Leesburg and to realize the goal to play college football. Nassar said Freeze's bench press has improved 200 pounds and his squat has increased 350 pounds in three years. He said some of that is natural, but he said someone doesn't get as strong as Freeze is without being dedicated.


Nassar said Freeze's attitude about his work in the weight room and his studies are similar. He said Freeze's skills in the classroom helped him attract attention from nearly 20 schools at a college recruiting fair in February at Lake Wales High School.


"A lot of people think the high school coach has way more to do with the process of the scholarship than he actually does. The role of the high school coach is to introduce the player to the college," Nassar said. "Our job is to expose our athlete to those colleges where we think they best fit. Luke's academic prowess finished the deal. Anybody who starts for us or Eustis or Tavares, etc., is good enough to play college football somewhere."

Freeze said Nassar made him and the Yellow Jackets believe in him and his program. He said the belief in Nassar and his system helped him realize a goal to play in college that he has had since the first day he strapped on his pads.

"I came in a little scrawny and like a pipsqueak, and now I am bigger," Freeze said. "Investing in his program got me where I am today."

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Jackets' Lewis, Smith on to Texas

LEESBURG - Leesburg High School football coach Charles Nassar never has believed he is the only person responsible for helping his players get into college.

Nassar believes in setting a high standard for his players and challenging them every day to surpass those expectations.

The result, Nassar hopes, is players will realize how hard they need to work and then do all of the legwork to realize that goal.

A talented and driven senior class helped Nassar and the LHS football program realize its goals in 2005.

Thanks in part to years of diligence in the weight room, Leesburg finished as the runner-up in Class 4A-District 6 and earned its first playoff appearance since 2001, and its first in Nassar's four seasons at the school.



Michael Lewis and Mark Smith were at the forefront of the program's maturation.

As seniors, they set an example in the weight room and served as leaders in the Yellow Jackets' 8-3 season.

Lewis' and Smith's leadership and play on the field gave them an opportunity to continue their football careers in college.

Lewis and Smith will leave next week for Ranger College in Texas, where they will prepare for the first day of the football team's training camp on Aug. 6.

"Mike and Mark have grown up with us," Nassar said. "They played all four years at Leesburg. It has been nice to watch them mature from high school boys to young men.

"It speaks to the maturity of these young men that they have done the finishing legwork to get themselves somewhere."

The former Leesburg High School standouts signed paperwork for their financial aid in late May and hope to help the junior college program grow just like they helped Leesburg's program grow.

"We had to build a program at Leesburg and look how it has turned out, with the weights and everything," Lewis said. "I am not really worried about what it is going to be like. I know I just have to go out there and give it my all."

Lewis, a 5-foot-11, 223-pounder, played running back and linebacker last season for the Yellow Jackets.

Smith, who is 5-9 and weighs 176 pounds, played quarterback and in the secondary. Both rushed for more than 600 yards.

"Football is my life," Smith said. "My (grade-point average) in ninth grade was real low and Coach (Nassar) told me I wasn't going to be able to play football if I didn't raise my GPA."

Smith played safety with the varsity team the final three games of his freshman season. He said he raised his GPA above 2.0 between his freshman and sophomore years. He said he had a 2.5 GPA as a senior.

Smith said the importance Nassar placed on academics helped him mature on and off the field.


"Coach is always talking about setting an example as a student-athlete, not just an athlete," Smith said. "If you're just an athlete, people in the school will think you're a dummy. Everybody just watched us and we showed them how to get the job done, and they followed."

Smith also credits Nassar for helping him understand doing well in the classroom is just as important as doing well on the football field.

"Now I know when I go to college I can't play around and I have to get my school work taken care of," said Smith, who plans to study criminal justice or business.

Nassar said he started to contact college coaches about Lewis and Smith in February after National Signing Day. He called former Leesburg High School defensive coordinator Jeff Brown, who is the defensive coordinator at Ranger College.

Nassar said Brown was immediately interested after he saw tapes of the two players.

"I just remember them having good heads on their shoulders and being good athletes," said Brown, who coached at Leesburg in 2002 and '03. "We recruit guys we feel will be good for our program on and off the field."



Brown said both players will be in the mix to earn playing time. He said competition will be strong at every position as the team prepares for its season opener Aug. 26 against Highland Community College.

"I think these kids may have slipped through the cracks," Brown said. "I think there are a lot of schools between here and there that would like to have them."

Brown credited former Leesburg High School standout Anthony Saincilaire, a rising sophomore on the Ranger College football team, for helping to bring Lewis and Smith to Texas.

Former Leesburg standout Maurice Shuler also recently signed to play basketball at Ranger College.

Lewis said having friends in school will help him and Smith adjustment to being away from home.

Nassar is looking forward to getting a lot of positive feedback about Lewis and Smith.

"Ranger College offers them a chance to start over academically," Nassar said. "They both worked very hard (academically), and this gives them a clean slate to work themselves into a position to go to a four-year school."

Lewis and Smith join a growing list of Yellow Jackets in college. Tory Harrison (Southern Mississippi) and Randall Sullivan will try to continue their football careers this year. Nassar said Sullivan declined several football scholarship offers to take an academic scholarship to Florida A&M. He said Sullivan will try to walk on to the team.

Playing Is a Full-Time Job When You Play For Coach Randy Trivers

Despite his staggering numbers both on the field and in the classroom, Northwest quarterback Josh Volpe is having difficulty finding a collegiate program that wants him. (Jonathan Newton - The Washington Post)

Playing Is a Full-Time Job

As a High School Quarterback, Northwest's Volpe Spends About 40 Hours a Week Working on His Game
By Eli Saslow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 17, 2006

Josh Volpe has heard legends about the perks of his position, but he's never had time to experience them. He's a record-setting senior quarterback for the undefeated football team at Northwest High School, and he calls his social life "almost nonexistent." He's never had a steady girlfriend. He avoids parties. Volpe turns 18 next month, and he has yet to obtain his driver's license.

Volpe grew up believing the pop culture myth that playing quarterback facilitates the perfect adolescent social life. More often, he said, it actually inhibits one. Volpe spends about 40 hours each week under the direction of his football coach, usually practicing, playing or studying opponents. He tries to go out with friends one night each week, often after his games Friday nights. Even then, Volpe typically goes home early, since he has to report to practice Saturday morning at 7.

His career has been indicative of a new reality in high school football: Most quarterbacks who aspire to lead a team to the playoffs must manage a professionalized athletic schedule no longer reserved just for top prospects on renowned high school teams. Volpe's average speed and unimposing physique have deterred recruiters, but he has compiled one of the most remarkable statistical seasons in Maryland history because he bought into what he calls the No. 1 rule of playing quarterback.


"Work at it all year, all the time," said Volpe, who has thrown for 29 touchdowns and no interceptions for No. 4 Northwest, which hosts Gaithersburg in the first round of the playoffs tonight. "The season is pretty much continuous work. It's not like you can be carefree. You're under more pressure than anybody else."
On Thursday last week, while most Northwest students congregated in a noisy cafeteria, Volpe brought two sandwiches, a Powerade and a Twix bar into a classroom on Northwest's second floor. He settled into a desk in the center of the front row and readied for what some of his teammates call Football Class. Coach Randy Trivers walked to the front of the room and pulled down a film screen, which showed recent game footage of Northwest's final regular season opponent, Richard Montgomery. When Trivers dimmed the lights, Volpe sat up in his desk and bit into his Twix. "The sugar keeps me awake," he said.

Volpe had arrived at school at 6:55 a.m., as Trivers requires every morning, so he could spend 30 minutes studying game strategies before first period. Then he had attended three classes in the morning before arriving here, at the varsity team's daily sequestered lunch. The rest of Volpe's day called for three more classes, followed by a mandatory, one-hour study hall for football players, followed by a three-hour practice, followed by a 30-minute meeting for quarterbacks, running backs and receivers.

During the football team's 50-minute lunch, one of Volpe's teammates launched a Milk Dud across the room that hit Volpe in the head. He hardly noticed. Even Volpe's teammates sometimes tease him for his focus and single-mindedness. In the two seasons he has started for Northwest, Volpe has never missed a football commitment. On game days, he cradles a ball in his right arm during school. He made his bedroom a shrine to the Dallas Cowboys, from the deep blue carpet to the wallpaper to the comforter and bed sheets. "If you want to be a good quarterback," Volpe said, "you really have to love thinking about football."

It's a mind-set many of his peers consider mandatory. Dunbar's Nathan Bussey practices with his team until about 6 p.m., and then goes straight to workouts with a personal trainer designed to improve his grip and arm strength. River Hill's Daniel Hostetler runs through plays in his living room to keep them fresh in his memory, and he sometimes finds himself dreaming about them.

"You can't even go out during the season 'cause you're so stressed and tired," said Paul VI Catholic's D.J. Mangas, who said he felt a little relieved when his private school season ended two weeks ago. "I tried a few times, but I just wanted to sleep."

Volpe's coaches call him a throwback because of his uncomplicated, boylike devotion to the sport. Extensive weight lifting has made his 5-foot-10, 175-pound frame appear almost stocky, especially in uniform. Famously impossible to fluster on the field, Volpe sometimes jams his hands deep in his pockets and blushes when girls approach him. His parents never gave him a curfew, because they can't imagine him needing one.
"Football keeps him in check," said Jim Volpe, his father. "We know he's not going to do anything stupid, because he cares too much about playing."

Even though he takes three Advanced Placement classes and his unweighted, 3.71 grade-point average could earn him admission to most colleges, Volpe has limited his list of possibilities to schools where he could continue to play quarterback. He dreams of walking on at Towson, but he would settle for a Division III school. "I'll go any place that has uniforms," he said.

At Northwest, Volpe found a football program to match his dedication. Trivers spent two years as a graduate assistant for Maryland before he applied to become the first football coach at Northwest, which opened in 1998. He vowed to model his team after elite college programs. His players lift weights four times and run five times each week during the offseason. Each varsity player must sit in the front row of every class.

An English teacher, Trivers breaks down film until 1 a.m., scripts the first eight plays of each game, laminates his team's stat sheets and monitors weekly grade reports for more than 60 players -- all for a coaching stipend of about $5,000.

"If you don't commit 100 percent, you can't be successful in high school football anymore," Trivers said. "It's like running a college team, but on a smaller scale."

Trivers, 33, led his team to a state championship in 2004 largely because he refuses to tolerate even the most menial distractions. During a team lunch last week, a few players told Trivers they had not received their report cards because they had unpaid fines or outstanding library books. The coach shook his head and pounded his hand on his desk.

"I'm telling you right now, I'm not dealing with this crap next week," Trivers said. "Get this taken care of. Now. Next week is the playoffs. It's straight football. I'm telling you jackasses, if you don't get this taken care of, your practice Monday will be three hours of straight-up, physical torture. We will run you until you physically cannot move anything in your body, with the possible exception of breathing."

Northwest players respect -- and sometimes adore -- Trivers because his relentlessness makes them better players. Volpe transferred to Northwest from Washington Christian Academy after his freshman year because he wanted to play big-time high school football. He ran the 40-yard dash in an excruciating 5.4 seconds. "They called me bucket feet," Volpe said, "because I couldn't even run right."

Trivers told Volpe to run track, and the quarterback gradually improved his 40 time to 4.7 seconds. Volpe lifted weights to improve the distance and speed of his throws. He met with receivers to play catch twice each week, even in February. "I just had to learn that Northwest football is a year-round game," Volpe said.



What resulted is an eerily flawless senior season. Despite throwing as many as 30 times each game, Volpe has yet to throw an interception. His 29 scoring passes are believed to be a Montgomery County regular season record -- the old mark of 25 was set by Einstein's Rick Eisenacher in 1966 and tied by Sherwood's Deontay Twyman last fall.

On the field, Volpe rarely scrambles. He stands in the pocket until the last possible second, unafraid of suffering a big hit. Volpe dislocated a finger on his throwing hand in a preseason practice, and he walked to the bench and asked Trivers to pop the finger back into its socket. Trivers refused, instead sending Volpe to the hospital. "His whole finger was basically hanging off," Trivers said. "Some of my guys would have milked that for at least a week off."

Volpe returned from the hospital and rejoined practice in an hour.

Acumen is his greatest asset. He takes AP Statistics, Literature and Composition, and Honors History of the Modern World. And since he arrived at Northwest, he's mastered an offensive strategy that includes possibilities for more than 1,000 plays and requires fluency in a complicated language.

For example, if Trivers calls for "Gun Spreads Tight Flip 190 Special H Leak Out of Jaguar," Volpe knows, instantaneously: He lines up in shotgun; two receivers stand on each side of the offensive line; the slot receiver, who will drag across the middle of the field, should come open about four seconds after the snap.
"It has be to total instinct," Volpe said. "You have to tune out all of the pressures and distractions."

Before his final game of the regular season, at the center of this whirlwind, Volpe found it easiest to retreat. He sat on a bench in the locker room, bouncing his knees up and down, and stared at the wall in front of him. "I just go into my own zone," he said. And it lasted through four touchdown passes in Northwest's 53-7 win.

After the game, Trivers gathered his players around him. Volpe knelt at the front of the huddle, his eyes fixed intently on his coach.

"Undefeated. Ten wins, no losses. That's one hell of an accomplishment," Trivers said. "Enjoy it, but also know this: This success alone is unfulfilling. The work doesn't stop now, men. The work never stops. And for the next month, we just work harder and harder."

Resources

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Eustis Kicker Battles On After Injury

Lake Sports - Monday Morning Quarterback

September 03, 2001


By Joe Williams, Sentinel Staff Writer

Lost among all the hoopla of the season-opening game between longtime rivals Leesburg and Eustis Friday night was that two of the better kickers in Lake and Sumter counties may have been on the field in Eustis' David Schmidt and Leesburg's Stephen Malinda.

Although the game never came close to coming down to a kicker -- Leesburg was the winner 48-20 -- it would have been interesting if it had.

Schmidt showed resilience, bouncing back from what seemed like a serious injury to his left knee in the second quarter to kick an extra point after Eustis' lone touchdown in the second half. It was late in the fourth quarter.


In the second period, Schmidt had to be helped off the field when he took a hit to the inside of his left knee while playing in the Panthers' secondary and making a tackle.

IT'S A KICK

Eustis managed to nullify the punt returning abilities of Leesburg's Jermaine Orr through much of the game Friday night by kicking away from him most the night. But on the first play of the fourth quarter, Orr finally got a chance to field a punt. He caught it on the left side of the field, sprinted to his right, got the corner and was gone untouched for 66 yards and a touchdown.

It is the fifth time in the past 12 games -- 11 last year -- that Orr has returned a punt for a touchdown.

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Tavares at Leesburg

Leesburg football coach Charles Nassar resigns

April 28, 2010


By Joe Williams, Orlando Sentinel
 
LEESBURG – Spring football practice begins on Saturday but Leesburg High School is without a head coach.


Charles Nassar, who has been the Yellow Jackets head coach for the past eight seasons, turned in his resignation Tuesday morning and said he was "worn out" from the duties of being a head coach.

Nassar informed his players during a fourth-period meeting.

"It is tough because spring football is right around the corner. There never is a good time to leave. If you leave in December, it is hard. If you leave on April 27, it is hard," Nassar said. "I just got worn out. I didn't get worn out by the game. I didn't get worn out by the kids. I just got worn out by the stuff that goes along with being a head coach."



Nassar had a 41-42 record at Leesburg, leading the Yellow Jackets to the playoffs twice and to a bowl game victory over Colonial. Nassar, an English teacher, will finish out the school year as a teacher and will look for a job as an assistant coach.

Leesburg principal Bill Miller said Leesburg assistant coach Tom Valenta would run the team during spring drills and he hoped to have a head coach hired by June 10, the final day of school.

"We had a conversation this morning," Miller said. "Charles, I think, has realized there are other things in his life that are gaining importance, such as raising his son. Charles has made a decision that is in the best interest of his family and of serving the kids on the football team.

"The ever increasing demands of an education-based football program I think wore on him. He has given this school every ounce of energy and passion he has. Now, it is time for him to redirect this energy."

Nassar said it was extremely difficult to face his players and tell them he had resigned.
 
"I can't even describe how difficult it was," Nassar said. "I don't want to overstate this, but I haven't felt the way I felt today since my father's funeral. I felt like a part of me was dying. But it would have been that way, no matter when I did it."
 
Nassar, a former football player at Bishop Moore, was going into his 18th season as a football coach. He began his coaching career at Kissimmee Gateway and also has assisted at Dr. Phillips, Lake Brantley and Apopka before spending three seasons at Lyman.
 
What Nassar was most proud about was the cumulative grade-point-average of his team. Since 2003, he said his team has never had anything lower than a combined 2.85 GPA.

"We have gotten a countless number of kids to their diploma, who would have possibly dropped out if it wasn't for football," Nassar said. "And, we have gotten a good number of kids who have gone on to play football at the next level. After our first season, we never fielded a team that wasn't competitive."
Miller agreed with what Nassar said about his football players.
"The conduct of his football players on the field and in our hallways has made us proud," Miller said. "We are thankful for the influence he has been able to affect on his team. His kids take education seriously. They strive to have solid GPAs. They stay out of trouble. He has instilled those qualities in those kids.

"His kids normally make the right decisions. He has fostered that."
One former Leesburg player, running back Tory Harrison, has finished his playing career at the University of Southern Mississippi and has signed a free agent contract with the Green Bay Packers, where he hopes to make the team as a running back/special teams performer.

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Leesburg Yellow Jackets

August 22, 2008

CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Charles Nassar (32-31, 7th season)
LAST TERM: 8-3 (5-0 in 4A-6), district champion
PARTY NOMINEES: FB/LB Darius Lightfoot (Sr., 5-11/212); WR/DB Dontra Matthews (Sr., 6-3/185); RB/DB Danny Hardaway (Sr., 5-7/155); RB/LB Marques Austin (Sr., 5-10/185)

 
EXIT POLL: Leesburg has holes to fill, including LB Danny Trevathan (Kentucky) and QB Rod Cosgrove (Susquehanna University). Leesburg's triple-option will be much the same, and the team's strength is its quickness on defense.


S5 @Tavares



S12 B'ville Central



S19 @East Ridge



S26 Lake Weir



O3 Eustis



O10 @Vanguard



O17 Lecanto



O24 @Ocala Forest



O31 Belleview



N6 @Eastside

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Leesburg Standouts To Play College Football

July 09, 2004 | By Joe Williams, Sentinel Staff Writer

Three Leesburg High School football players signed recently with colleges, including two offensive linemen. Joe Perry, a linebacker/fullback for the Yellow Jackets, signed with Ranger (Texas) College, a two-year college where he was recruited as an outside linebacker. Perry, 5 feet 10 and 200 pounds, was one of Leesburg's captains and had 60 tackles, caused two fumbles, recovered two fumbles and had one interception last fall. He also had 25 carries for 142 yards.


The offensive linemen who were signed were Nathan Cornell and Evan Hayden.

Cornell, 6-1, 250, signed with Chowan College in Murfreesboro, Tenn. He played tackle for the Yellow Jackets. Hayden, a 6-1, 245-pound center, was a team captain for Leesburg. He signed with Methodist College in Fayetteville, N.C.

Leesburg Coach Charles Nassar said the players' parents were heavily involved in the recruiting process. "A big, big part of the recruiting process, particularly with small schools, is that the parents get very involved," Nassar said.

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