WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

Starting this fall the Carver Yellowjackets football team will be led by new head coach Gregory Scales.  Scales is a former NFL player with the New Orleans Saints and was a standout tight end for the Eagles of East Forsyth during his high school career.

Scales has been coaching for two decades, with 17 of them at Carver as an assistant coach.  He is replacing Germane Crowell, who resigned earlier this year.  Scales said he was interested in the position of head coach because he wanted an opportunity to help the kids at Carver grow and mature on and off of the field.

“I’m the type of guy that when I see something that’s not going the way it’s supposed to go and the opportunity comes to change it, I do, so that’s why I decided to put my name in the hat,” said Scales.

“I’m a stickler for education and getting the best out of the athletes by pushing them to their limits.  I just want them to know that it’s people out there that care about them.” Scales says he knows what it takes to make it because he has been to the “mountain top.”  He said he wants the kids to know that if they want it, they will have to work hard for it.  Scales said he can relay the information to the kids about what it takes to make it to the NFL because he has made it there.

He said he left coaching a few years ago because he felt some of the kids did not want to put the work in it takes to be successful.  He says now he has the chance to help them grow.

“The biggest change I want to make is discipline because you need structure on your team,” Scales continued.  “Everyone needs structure, and I think more so with Carver kids. They need more structure and you have to be consistent with it.”

For Scales, he says after his kids graduate from Carver, he wants people to say “He is a good kid.”  He says it’s not really about today. It’s more about set-ting the kids up for success 10 or 20 years from now so their parents can be proud of them.

Carver had a tough time filling a junior varsity roster early in the season last year.  Scales says he wants to make himself more visible to the students in order to bring more athletes out on the field to avoid that issue this upcoming season.

He wants to run a wing-T and spread-T offense predominately to keep defenses off balance.  On defense he will run a base 4-3, but will have different wrinkles in there. He will adapt based off of Carver’s opponent.

“We are going to do everything to keep these kids motivated to be successful,” Scales said. “Carver is known for being successful and we are trying to get back to that consistent success.  And when people play us, they will say this isn’t the same Carver as last year.”

Scales said he brought in some new coaches, many of whom have roots at Carver.  He says he wanted to do that because coaches who have played at Carver tend to have a higher interest in the success of the team.

Based on the schedule, he says he expects to go 7-4 at the very least.  Best-case scenario he says would be 8-3.  He says he wants the community to get behind the school like they were once before and will do his best to make that happen.