Lake Stevens head coach Tom Tri has been selected to serve as an assistant coach for the East team in the prestigious U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Saturday, Jan. 9 in the Alamodome in San Antonio.
The game, scheduled to kickoff at 10 a.m., will be broadcast live on NBC.
“I’m really excited,” Tri said. “Get a chance to see some of the nation’s best kids and athletes and get a chance to coach them. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Tri will serve as offensive coordinator for the East squad, where he’ll get to coach his prodigious quarterback one more time. Lake Stevens quarterback, and The Herald’s Offensive Player of the Year, Jacob Eason was selected to play in the game on Oct. 15 and Tri is hoping his signal caller can help get the East team ready for the game in a short amount of time.
“The thing I have to learn is how do we simplify our offense,” Tri said. “We have to put in a run game, a screen game, a pass game in five days of practice and then go try to perform it on a top-notch level. I’m going to be relying on Jacob as an extra coach. I’m certainly excited about it. But I’m excited to watch Jacob get a chance to share his knowledge with other teammates.”
Players are selected to a team, East or West, based on where they will attend college. Eason is currently committed to the University of Georgia – although the quarterback has also taken trips to Florida and Washington in recent weeks – so he and his coach will be on the East team under two-time Army All-American Bowl head coach Bill Kramer from Naples High School in Naples, Florida.
Other coaches on the East staff include Elijah Brooks (DeMatha High School in Maryland), Chad Grier (Davidson Day in North Carolina), Rob Hinson (Timber Creek H.S. in New Jersey), Paul Horne (also from Naples High School), Jermaine Smith (Cedar Grove H.S. in Georgia) and Bret Stover (Upper Dublin H.S. in Pennsylvania).
Tri hopes to pick the brains of his fellow East coaches and see how some of the top coaches in the country run their respective programs.
“Just getting a chance to just work with people from different areas of the country. Not just players, but coaches,” Tri said. “I don’t even know who’s on the staff yet but I’m sure they’ll be from all areas of the county. I look forward to collaborating with them and talking X’s and O’s and see how they’re running their programs.
“It’s a good chance to evaluate ourselves as a program. See how they run their practices and how they execute on Friday nights. I’m curious to know what other programs are doing that are successful and try to build off that.”
Tri is excited to get to coach one more game this season – and spend one more week of practice with Eason.
“I think that’s going to help him in the long run expand his skills and leadership,” Tri said. “I’m excited about all of it. What a great opportunity to represent Lake Stevens High School again. We’ll go down, have some fun and try to win a football game.”
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