Sprayberry Coaches Learn at GHSA Coaches Clinic

head football coach Billy Shackelford and several members of his coaching staff spent Friday night in Flowery Branch participating in the Atlanta Falcons’ fourth annual GHSA Coaches Clinic.

Hosted by Falcons head coach Mike Smith, the four-hour clinic featured Georgia State head football coach Bill Curry, University of Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and Falcons tight ends coach Chris Scelfo, among others, and provided four separate learning stations for the coaches to glean knowledge from.

According to Shackelford, events like this provide high school coaches with incremental learning points rather than sweeping changes.

“From clinics, what coaches are typically looking for is a little nugget of information, maybe a drill or maybe a new concept or maybe just a word of knowledge, that type of thing,” Shackelford said. “We’re not trying to replace anything.”

For example, Shackelford plans to incorporate a heavier role for his tight ends into his offensive scheme next season.

“I’m looking forward to seeing coach Scelfo. We’re going to implement some tight end stuff this year. So I’m going to go in and maybe find a new drill or a new concept, a new way to attack a defense with a tight end, and coach Scelfo does a great job with their tight ends so I’m excited about that,” Shackelford said.

Shackelford generally attends three or four clinics each offseason, but this one stands out because of the quality of the instruction and the bang for the buck.

“I would put this one up at the very top just because you’ve got some guys that are real professionals in the profession and just class act people,” Shackelford said. “They’ve got a lot of knowledge. And they do it as a service to the coaching fraternity. They don’t charge us. They give us a great meal and a great atmosphere to learn football in, so I would say it’s one of the top ones.”

The event was Mike Smith’s brainchild, largely because of his ties to the area. In fact, Smith recruited Shackelford out of Sprayberry as a player, and Shackelford played for Smith at Tennessee Tech.

“Obviously I had a real fun career under him and his tutelage, so when he opened up this opportunity for high school coaches I jumped on it, one, because I’ve got a lot of respect for him as a man and also for his knowledge of football,” Shackelford said.

Smith says that the clinic is a way for the Falcons to invest in the local coaching community.

“We want to give back to the high schools and the high school coaches are really at the core of setting the foundation for football players,” Smith said. “I think it's very important that we can interact with them and let them know how important their jobs are, in not only developing football players, but developing good, solid citizens.”