Scott Keyes
Sports Scene
When new Saginaw High School football coach Mike Colbert took over the Trojans program, he vowed to bring change and bring back a winning spirit to a once-proud program.
Through the first four games this season and the long winter and summer workouts, Saginaw student-athletes are buying into Colbert’s teachings. Prior to press time, the team was 2-2 and coming off a tough 42-26 loss to Bay City Western.
“The bottom line is the players have to be taught football, and the football basics,” Colbert said.
“In their minds, they have an idea of what they believe. So we’ve had to go in and change the mind-set about football, being competitive, playing with pride, and most of all discipline.”
Colbert admits that through the summer months, the team seemed to be just “going through the motions.” Now he feels that the kids are starting to believe in what’s being taught, but more importantly, they are starting to believe in themselves.
“We are not where we want to be right now, but we just want to get better as the days go on, and the kids are buying into the system. We definitely want to improve on both sides of the ball. On offense, we have struggled with our run game. Our offensive line is young, but we have to get better as time goes on. Defensively, we’ve shown some positives; we want to improve on being aggressive and improve on tackling and not allowing the big play to happen.”
With the graduation of a player like DeAnthony Arnett, who is currently a freshman at the University of Tennessee, Colbert was a hoping someone would step up this season and emerge as a leader of the team. That someone is Darius Price.
“The coaching staff as a whole has been impressed with Darius,” Colbert said.
“During the summer months as well as August practices, he has shown great potential to be a leader for our team. He has a great attitude, a great work ethic, and places the team before himself. I believe if he continues to do the things he’s done (which is lead by example) begin to exhort himself and teammates, speak his mind more, I think will greatly impact our team in a positive manner.”
Other players that Colbert has leaned on heavily this season include sophomore running back Keyon Addison, who has great speed and vision, and Julian Henderson, a junior defensive back who went down in the Bay City Central game, but who has been a tremendous help to the defensive unit.
“Hopefully, Julian is healthy now and able to return quickly,” Colbert said.
As far as the Saginaw Valley League goes, Colbert said there haven’t been any major surprises, and he feels the conference is probably one of the most competitive in the state.
“We knew that teams like Midland High, Midland Dow, and BCW were going to be tough competition for us,” he said.
“If this group of 25 or so players can stay focused on football, continue to dedicate themselves to just football, I believe we will continue to do some great things, that’s if we stay focused on FOOTBALL.”