Things are vastly different
CGA, 1st-year coach C.C. Grant trying to make most of fall without a season
New London — First-year Coast Guard Academy head football coach C.C. Grant held a team meeting last week via video conference. Then, the following day, he had a meeting with the 22 members of the Bears' senior class.
"They were just looking for information," Grant said. "Are we practicing? When are we practicing? How many practices are we going to have? Are we going to be wearing helmets and shoulder pads?"
They were valid questions, with the academy — and the entire New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference — canceling all athletic competition this fall due to COVID-19.
Only once Grant's team took the field for its first practice Monday and then again Tuesday for Day 2, things seemed a little bit more natural, despite the players all wearing masks throughout their drills. The offensive segment of the players wore blue, the defense orange.
"It was good," Grant said Tuesday, speaking of the opening day of practice the afternoon before. "It just feels good to be on the field. It just felt great to be out there. We were only out there an hour and five, an hour and 10 minutes. It was almost like you didn't skip a beat. There was a lot of talking through stuff.
"I think the joy from being on the field (is enough for now), just being able to do football activities, just being out there together, the band of brothers. This is a place the freshmen don't get to hang out with the seniors; they can't go get a pizza."
It's one of the things Grant spoke to the seniors about. Leadership. And it didn't take much convincing.
Although there has been no decision of whether the NEWMAC or the Coast Guard will allow any spring football, it seems unlikely due to the makeup of the academy. Some athletes, as well as coaches, will be involved with other sports. Some cadets will be unwilling to take the chance of suffering an injury so close to being commissioned as ensigns.
And yet Grant made it clear that the seniors could still help this team should they choose to practice with the underclassmen.
"It definitely took a little bit," senior wide receiver Justin Moffatt said of getting over the sting of losing his final season.
Moffatt, who has 164 catches for 2,163 yards and 12 touchdowns in his career, was just shy of breaking Christian Lee's all-time receiving record of 2,356 yards at Coast Guard.
"Christian Lee reached out to me. He's a great guy. It made me feel better," Moffatt said. "At the end of the day, I think every football player (everywhere) is getting affected by this. I know my role when I come out here. I'm sort of a coach when I come out here.
"When I leave here or wherever I go, I want to tune in, see the progress, see them beat Kings Point. I left a lot out on the field. (By practicing), I get to meet the incoming freshmen and welcome them to the brotherhood. It's just cool. I remember looking at the juniors and seniors when I was an underclassman and thinking, 'I want to be them one day.'"
Grant said at some point this fall the Bears will have face shields attached to their helmets, which will allow them to play without masks. He's planning for the players to put on helmets and shoulder pads.
Grant asked offensive coordinator Ray LaForte to find a way to run the ball more. And Grant has been busy recruiting, which has been an interesting undertaking with many high school players across the nation not taking in-person classes.
"Right now, we're getting the freshmen and sophomores up to speed, especially the ones that didn't get to play last year," Grant said. "This is a place that academically, once you get behind, it's hard to get caught up. This is good (for the freshmen academically) in that there is no football every day, every day, every day."
Grant thought the seniors, whom he said make up a "great class," would be amenable to practicing even though their careers may technically be over.
"They can still be leaders," said Grant, an assistant coach for 21 years under recently retired coach Bill George. "They're still going through the things that captains do."
"Absolutely, we really missed being together," junior Damaso Jaime said of the return of football. "Allowing the fourth class to meet the team ... this is the closest thing at the academy that we have to being together. It was exciting. Your really miss it. It didn't hit me until I stepped out there, 'This is what I do every day.'"
“I know my role when I come out here. I’m sort of a coach when I come out here. When I leave here or wherever I go, I want to tune in, see the progress, see them beat Kings Point. I left a lot out on the field. (By practicing), I get to meet the incoming freshmen and welcome them to the brotherhood. It’s just cool.”
COAST GUARD ACADEMY SENIOR JUSTIN MOFFATT