LJ FB: Logan Lee comes a long way to coach QB's

 

Logan Lee, new

QB coach under

head coach Tyler Roach.

By Ed Piper

Logan Lee, who was a four-year starter at quarterback for Allegheny College, a Division 3 school north of Pittsburgh, attended his first La Jolla High football practice Mon., Aug. 5. His role will be to coach up junior Hudson Smith, sophomore Emerson Rota, and anyone else as the new quarterback coach under head coach Tyler Roach.

Lee grew up in Corvallis, Oregon. and graduated from high school in 2015. He attended a prep school, St. Mark's, in Southborough, Massachusetts, before matriculating at Allegheny in Pennsylvania.

He will be working closely with Roach on the offensive side.

Meanwhile, Kevin Hurt claimed he was the "senior member" among the assistant coaches, beginning his sixth year coaching the kicking and punting game for the Vikings. His top charge will be junior Julian Zavala.

LJ FB: Return from Big Bear for preseason practice

Photos by Ed Piper

Beautiful hibiscus flowers at the corner

of Genter and Fay during Fall preseason

football practice Mon., Aug. 5.

It's all "no guts, no glory" as Viking players

face off in one-on-one to get the blood running

early in practice Mon., Aug. 5.

Assistant coaches Chris Macy (L) and

Felipe Alayza, both Viking alumni,

observe the beginning of practice

as players go one-on-one in blocking

competition.

Players work through defensive drills under

the direction of assistant coach

Brandon Harrison, promoted from

his position under former DC Ryan

Price.

Viking team members get some liquids on the

sidelines in an early hydration break before

the 6 p.m. hour.

LJ FB: Q&A with Hank Hansen

Senior Hank Hansen,

before practice and before

boarding the team bus

to Big Bear camp

Friday morning,

Aug. 2.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Hank Hansen is a senior wide receiver/free safety on the La Jolla High football team. He is the veteran of multiple team camps at Big Bear in his sophomore and junior years. These comments were shared before morning practice Fri., Aug. 2, before the Viking team left on the big yellow bus for Big Bear, as Hank's father took players' temperatures in their pre-trip check-in to board the bus.

Big Bear camp: What are you looking forward to?

(in his very low morning voice) Spending time with the team away from La Jolla, really connect with them on a deep level. We get our phones taken away, so we get to bond more.

Is this your second or third one?

Third one.

And what do you remember most of previous camps?

(As a seagull squawks in the background on a light standard or the roof of the equipment room) Like, the hikes. The hike is always fun.

Where do you hike?

Some mountain. We hike up the high place, look down, then we hike back down.

How's the food?

It's all right. It gets the job done.

Well-said. Have a great time.

Thank you.

LJ FB: Alum Max Smith '21 drops by Vikingland

 

Max Smith '21 (far left) chats with head coach

Tyler Roach, whose eldest son Marshall stands by

next to the LJHS football field.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Max Smith, the Viking alumnus who authored a snag of a hiked ball in mid-air against Scripps Ranch to enable La Jolla to come back and beat the Falcons in the closing seconds, dropped by Vikingland Fri., Aug. 2, to chat with head coach Tyler Roach and members of the La Jolla High football team.

Smith enters his junior year at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, having spent a year at a prep school right out of high school, then successfully advancing through his freshman and sophomore years at the academy.

"I moved over to rugby," said Smith Friday, sharing with Roach that he broke his wrist scoring a try (equivalent to a touchdown in rugby) in a game in which he scored a total of two tries. He originally committed to play football for Navy.

The former Viking star exhibited a solid 5'9", 193-pound frame in his brief visit to the LJHS campus.

During his years at La Jolla, Smith created a legacy that is the stuff of legends. As a freshman in high school (he said he weighed 165 pounds back then), Max came up to the varsity in Fall 2017 to be the long-snapper.

He made waves even then, because he could tackle and he would physically sacrifice himself, if needed, to make a stop or whatever else required a collision on the football field. Teammates grew to respect him, then revere his physical makeup, while opponents had to bear the brunt of a head-on meeting with the wide-ranging linebacker and running back.

In the aforementioned instance, with La Jolla trailing against Scripps (the alma mater of Roach's wife, Leslie Roach), Smith lined up on the left with a clear view around the box of Falcon linemen. He timed his start at the instant the ball was hiked, and intercepted it in mid-air to take possession for the Vikings.

It was a startling but phenomenal play that turned around the entire result of the game, and Scripps head coach Marlon Gardinera says even now that "we don't pronounce his name around here" in an interview this reporter conducted with Gardinera a few years ago.

LJ FB: Leave for Big Bear camp

Soph Emerson Rota (L) has his temperature checked

by Hank Hansen's dad before Vike footballers

boarded the bus for Big Bear Friday morning,

Aug. 2 (Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Fun. Enjoyment. Anticipation. You could feel the building excitement among Viking football players Friday morning, August 2, as they went through check-in's for Big Bear team camp before a last practice on the LJHS campus.

The practice was scheduled for an early 7 a.m. At that time, roster members were lined up for temperature checks from Greg Hansen, father of Hank Hansen, current senior, and Dane Hansen, his older son who played for the Vikings earlier this decade.

Several of the players were first-time camp attendees, others coming back for a repeat of an earlier team-building weekend they experienced in their sophomore or junior years.

The big event is the hike, up an incline and among team members on Saturday afternoon. Various assistant coaches and players had stories to tell about their treks up the mountain in earlier years. You'll hear about those later or elsewhere.

The food is decent, the recreation includes basketball and other sports. The hike, reportedly, is a competition of who gets to the peak first--but there is debate on that point.

Some "heavy" talk is scheduled with the intent of getting real and getting close, as seniors, juniors, and sophomores seek to get closer and build some cohesion to face the upcoming Fall season.

LJ FB: Vikes play Chula Vista in preseason scrimmage

Chris Macy, skills coach (far left), and Viking players

take a break inside from the 87-degree heat

at UCLA June 23 after a guided tour of the

Wasserman Football Center on campus.

The tour came between the two games the team

played in the UCLA passing tourney.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

La Jolla faces Chula Vista in a San Diego Friday Night Lights Kickoff Classic event, though on a Saturday night, Aug. 17, at Valhalla High.

Viking coach Tyler Roach was preparing for Fall opening practice Thurs. evening, Aug. 1, at 5:30 p.m., when he texted a local reporter about the schedule during the afternoon.

LJ FB: Vikes to leave for Fall Camp

New LJ safeties coach Eric Burrell (R), a former

NFL Saint player, gives junior Carson Diehl

the soul shake before the Vikes' second game

in the UCLA passing league tournament

June 23. (Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Even though the school website indicated official practice would begin at 7 a.m. this morning (Thurs., Aug. 1), the Viking football team begins workouts in the afternoon--5:30 to 7 p.m.--then leaves for Fall Camp at Big Bear tomorrow, Fri., Aug. 2 after a 7 a.m. workout.

Head coach Tyler Roach's squad, in his eighth year at the helm, is seeking to build on a strong summer in which new junior starting quarterback Hudson Smith and gang competed in the UCLA passing tournament June 23--something the program has never participated in--following a two-day jaunt in the SDSU 7-on-7 tourney the week before.

Roach, as Offensive Coordinator as well, has elevated a new counterpart to the Defensive Coordinator position on the other side of the ball, Brandon Harrison, the former safeties coach. Ryan Price, last year's DC and former head coach at University City, is now head coach at Point Loma, one of La Jolla's Eastern League rivals.

The head coach also added former NFL player Eric Burrell to the coach staff over the summer. Burrell played for the New Orleans Saints. He takes Harrison's place coaching the safeties.

Rising sophomore Nico Bardaro takes in a short

completion from QB Hudson Smith at the beginning

of the Vikings' first game in the UCLA tourney

June 23.