Friday Night Lights: Oak Hills

Welcome to our brand new Friday Night Lights series! Every Friday from now until November, we will be posting an interview with a different high school coach. This series will highlight different high school programs around the country, with an attempted focus on high schools that are recruited by Mountain West Conference schools. The hope is that through this journey we all understand a bit about what goes into coaching at the high school level, what teams do similar and different from one another, and also learn more about the teams that recruits are coming from each year.

We are staying in California again. This week puts the spotlight under the Oak Hills Bulldogs. MWCConnection spoke with a few coaches actually but did a Q&A with the Bulldgos Defensive Coordinator Robert Metzger. Is that one of your favorite high school programs? Don’t know much about Oak Hills? Either way, that’s why they are being featured.

How would you describe the culture or identify of your program? What do you think might make you unique compared to other schools?

At Oak Hills, we try hard to build that tight-knit cohesion. We are a very family oriented program. That’s our goal and I think we accomplish that.

What styles of offense and defense do you play?

As the DC, I’ll mention defense first. I would describe our scheme as very aggressive and a blitz-heavy defense. On offensive, we try to feature as much variety as possible, so I would say it’s a multiple-style of offense.

What are some specific ways your program develops players or helps them improve from freshman to senior year?

We constantly monitor grades and discuss A-G, focus on year-round lifting and technique as far on the field type of stuff goes. Also, we have a NCAA counselor that works with the student athletes. Something else that we emphasis is that we put a heavy focus on nutrition. So we try to hit every aspect of development.

What’s something about your team/program that not many people know about?

We were the CIF champs in 2015.

How do you as a team balance the current high school season with players being recruited by colleges or how might you help a high school recruit with that process?

We have counselors who help monitor the A-G academic process. We have a portfolio of every kid to give out to the recruiters. We have coaches on staff who build relationships with schools and really push our kids to the next level. So as much as our season and winning games is a priority, we also put an emphasis on helping our guys with their goal of playing at the next level and preparing them for that.

Who are some of the prominent players from your school who have gone to D1 programs and where have they gone?

• Chris Richardson UTEP
• Dempsey Robinson Texas Southern
• Brad Kistner Tabor University
• Brandon Porter Northern Arizona
• Arimi Aldredge Northern Arizona
• Kevin Davis UAB

Who are some of your top players this year getting D1 looks or offers?

• OL Jason Rodriguez committed to USC (after his recruitment absolutely blew up over the winter/early spring).
• 2020 DL Nofoafia Tulafono (who was the MVP at one of the recent Boise State satellite camps)
• OL David Ibarra
• Sione Moa

And with that, another segment of Friday Night Lights is in the books. Come back next week, same day, same time, for a brand new high school program.

Want your team to be part of a future Friday Night Lights series? Contact @Mike_SBN or @MWCConnection on Twitter.