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North coach Dillon impressed with Kelly, Wilson and Ussery
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Todd Dillon is the 15-year head coach of Lodi High School and led the Flames to the Final Four of the 2011 Sac-Joaquin Section Division I Championships. A former professional football player with Houston (USFL, 1984-85), the Canadian Football League (1986-93) and a record-setting quarterback at Long Beach State (1982-83), Dillon was Most Valuable Player of the 1980 Lions All-Star Classic. Dillon and his staff will coach the North in Saturday’s Lions game in Stockton. Before Wednesday’s practice, Dillon talked with sports reporter Allan Mandell—Editor UD: Coach, what have you seen from Sonora’s Ryan Kelly so far? TD: Ryan Kelly? Tough. Strong. He is good. Very good. I’m real excited about him. I’m very impressed. On offense, he moves around real good at guard. But from what we’ve seen of him so far, he has been such a standout on the defensive side. At outside linebacker, he is fitting in nice there. He looks real good there. UD: So, he’ll be playing both ways? TD: I’m hoping so. I hope all of our players that have the capabilities of playing both ways, like Ryan, can get in there on both sides of the ball. UD: How about Monti Wilson? TD: As far as first impressions go, what you see from Monti on the very first play is the exact same thing you will get from Monti on every single play after that — everything he has. The kid is solid. He’s a successful kid. You can tell just by the way he carries himself, his demeanor, that he’s a lot of fun. UD: In our area, we call him “Monti The Missile” for the way he hits at safety. TD: Oh, yes, absolutely. We were just going through a walk-through one time and Monti doesn’t understand the word “walk-through.” It’s full speed to him and everybody better be ready to go with their chinstrap on because he’s gonna knock the heck out of everybody. He has a brand new helmet and he’s gonna put it on everybody here — at least once. He’s a lot of fun. Yes, “Monti The Missile.” That’s good. I like that name for him. UD: Coach, do you see a role for Monti on offense, too? TD: Right now, we’re getting him a lot of reps on defense because he does fill. He’s got that speed you’re looking for to fill. We’ll try and get him in the rotation at tailback. Right now, that’s a committee thing. But definitely he will start on defense, and we’ll definitely try and get him in some reps on the offensive side. UD: What are your impressions of Chris Ussery? TD: He’s tough. He’s got great hands. He’s fast. He’s strong. He’s a stable kid. He can run routes really well. Really good feet. Right now, it’s looking like he’ll be playing more on offense than our secondary only because that’s how things have played out so far. But we have confidence in Chris in anything we ask him to do on this football field. What’s nice is there is zero drop off on this team just because kids went to smaller schools rather than bigger schools. Chris will line up against anyone at anytime. UD: You played in this game ... oh, a couple of years ago. TD: A few. (Smiling) Just a few. UD: How does it feel to come back and coach in this game now? TD: It’s a lot different. The grass is different — turf. The food is better. The kids are bigger, stronger and faster. I don’t even know if I’d have made this team. But I can see that it’s still a lot of fun. These guys are getting a great experience. The experience I had in this game 30 years ago was special. The practices and the game provide a special environment. These guys are coming together. They’re starting to become a team. They’re breaking down the barriers of not knowing each other. Now they’re working. Once they stopped being apprehensive, they’ve had some fun and have put in some good work. It’s a real special game. There are still guys back when I played in this game that I became friends with and I’m still in contact with them. This game is still a real big deal and I’m glad for that. UD: Finally, Coach, how much have you talked to this group about winning this game on Saturday night? TD: You know what? We do talk about “having fun.” Let’s make sure we “have fun.” Having a good time. And you know how I describe “having a good time?” That’s to win. To have fun is to win. It is not fun losing. Everything can be fun with the way you go about your drills. Are you having fun in your drills? If you’re not having fun in your drills and you somehow think that it’s laborious, it will lead to setbacks down the road. So I’ve told our guys, “Enjoy what you’re doing now in our practices and it will carry over into the game.” Then winning, which is what we all want, will take care of itself. |
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