In this Q&A with Alcovy head football coach Kirk Hoffman, we talk about Hoffman’s role in coaching a young team, Tigers’ quarterback Bubba Hickson, the team’s strengths/weaknesses and more.

The Covington News: I know we’ve talked a little bit about this. You’ve told me that you have a young team. How does that affect the way you coach?

Kirk Hoffman: I think the thing is when you’re young, you gotta be a little bit more patient. Because you’re gonna see mistakes, and they’re not made because it’s lack of effort it’s just a lack of the system and just being young.

CN: You’ve also told me that you feel like by the time you guys get to region-play you’ll be able to be rolling. How do you go about getting your team to that point where you’re not making as many mistakes?

Hoffman: The biggest thing is we gotta be patient and keep making sure that you prepare for the next game. After 30 years and doing this for a while you gotta realize that you can’t overload your kids. You gotta get very simple and just keep getting better and better and better. And hope by the middle of the season that you’re playing your best ball?

CN: What’s gonna be the team’s offensive identity this season?

Hoffman: To be able to move the ball, we’re gonna have to go what’s given us. If we need to run it, we’ll take the running game when it’s there and if we need to pass, we’ll throw the ball when it’s there. I try to be real stubborn about we’re just gonna jam it down your throat, if is not there then we just gotta have the ability to go to another phase.

CN: How do you feel Bubba Hickson factors into that?

Hoffman: He does an outstanding job. Throughout the summer, he’s just gotten better and better at being able to read routes and understanding our system. So because it comes to that we feel very comfortable that if we have to go to the air we can throw it.

CN: What do you think are the strengths of this team?

Hoffman: Offensively, our offensive line has a couple of kids back, so they’re gonna have to take a leadership role. Defensively, I’ve been real pleased with our effort. Our kids have practiced hard and when you’re young that’s one of the things you worry about is kids making mistakes. When they do that they quit running as much and they start thinking. We haven’t had that. I think effort has been outstanding as a strength of this team.

CN: Where are some of the spots that you feel like you goes can improve?

Hoffman: I think offensively we’ve gotta keep getting better in the blocking game. We’re guarding the right people, now we just gotta get a little bit better technique and stay on block. Defensively, it’s just make sure we’re following our responsibilities. If it’s a gap responsibility, we ought to be gap responsibility and that all comes back to being disciplined and the older the team the more discipline you’re gonna have.

CN: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Hoffman: I’m kind of excited to be taking this group in to see what we can build and see if we can get better every week.