New Coach Calling Audibles at Whiteford

ANN ARBOR – At a scrimmage in Ann Arbor Friday, that team in the maize and blue uniforms with the winged helmets looked very familiar. But it sure didn’t look like the Bobcats.

Led by Matt Garno, the first new head coach since the 1980s, the 2010 Whiteford football program is undergoing major reconstructive surgery. Change is everywhere you look.

Most noticeably, it’s the appearance. Gone are the blue uniforms and white helmets. In their place are the new maize and blue uniforms and the University of Michigan-style helmets. The makeover is sure to shock some long-time Bobcat fans when they return home to host Blissfield in week two. Garno, who played high school football at Madison, remembered Whiteford having a light blue uniform with yellow trim. But in recent years, the team moved to a navy blue uniform.

“We wanted a look all our own. If we were going to come with a new program, I wanted a look that would go well with it,” Garno said. “I thought the navy blue would go with the Michigan look. Then we started playoff off the theme with ideas about ‘earning the wing’ and it all started to gel,” said Garno.

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For some players, it was an easy sell.

“I like the helmets. It shows me he’s trying change stuff around. I think we needed a change,” said senior co-captain Cody Donnelly.

The other captain, Derek Marckel, wasn’t as easily persuaded. Marckel, an Ohio State fan, admitted a small part of him died when he first put on the helmet.

“The helmets look good,” he allowed.

But the change is more than cosmetic. Ice packs in Ottawa Lake have been getting a workout this summer, as Garno has increased the workload for his boys.

“Last year was more of a breeze than this year,” said QB Forrest Grosteffon. “We’re all supportive of it.”

Garno made his intentions clear when taking the job in March. He told the Bobcats that the kids at Blissfield, where he was assistant to Ron Estes for years, were 36 lifts ahead of them. So he immediately started a 6 a.m. weightlifting program for the team. When summer began, Garno cranked up the intensity. Unable to bring the boys to a Sauk Valley camp like Garno used at Blissfield, the Whiteford coaches kept the boys at school overnight. To get their attention, he woke the kids in the middle of the night and led them into the field for an exercise. Each day, the Bobcats rose at 6 a.m. for intense physical workouts. And then they had the two-a-days.

“The idea is attitude. It’s a word we’ve always talked about,” Garno said.

Donnelly thinks the tough workouts helped the team gel.

“I think it’s bringing us together as a team and that we’re closer as a team than we were last year,” Donnelly said.

The Bobcats are also running a new offense, moving away from “the veer” and adopting the Delaware Wing-T.

“It’s similar to what we had in Blissfield, but it’s more under center. I didn’t want to jump into any of the gun stuff, especially with this being a new system,” he said. “I didn’t want to overdo it.”

For Grosteffon, it’s been a learning experience. He’s spent his entire football life playing the veer and admits adapting has been difficult at times. But he’s bought in.

“It’s pretty good. But it’s a lot different,” he said.

Donnelly, the slippery and powerful running back, said he thought the new blocking scheme would help the offense.

After months of workouts, camps, practices and scrimmages, the Bobcats are anxious to see how all the changes play out on the field.

“We’re going to take it one game at a time. We’re focusing on Pittsford and not taking anything for granted. We want to get off to a great start and come out hitting,” Garno said.

And in that respect, football hasn’t changed that much. His quarterback, who also wants to play at line backer, agreed.

“I really want to hit someone,” Grosteffon said.