Jason Milgrom bleeds blue and gold. Milgrom graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas in 1993, and he is now entering his 13th year coaching at St. Thomas. Over the years, Milgrom has worked with wide receivers, running backs, and quarterbacks. Jason Milgrom currently serves as Co-offensive coordinator for the Raiders. As a player, Milgrom helped to anchor St. Thomas’ offensive line. He was a player in their first state championship team in 1992. He earned All-County and second team All-state as an offensive guard.
KL: What are your expectations, in growth, for your team this year? Last year’s team lost to Dwyer and how do you expect your team to respond to that?
JM: In honesty, our motto is always win the next one. We really preach that to the kids as far as we are not looking ahead. Obviously, the Dwyer game stings but we have to win the first one. That (playoffs) is a long, long time away and it is a long season for us. Motto wise for us is always win the next one.
KL: St. Thomas is known for having one of the best strength & conditioning programs in south Florida. What do the coaches do to prepare their kids?
JM: Rob Biasotti is our strength & conditioning coach and is also our dean of students. He is extremely eventful and is also proactive in the strength & conditioning community. He is always at classes and clinics. The program is based on three main parts. First, we are going to condition the body. For the first one, we do a lot of light weight and a lot of repetitions. For the second one, we will do a speed aspect. We will get them on the field and we will start incorporating speed work as far as running form and drills. In the second part, we will start do more of heavy weight lifting. Then the last one is, in all honesty, how fast our kids can move with some weight on them. We want to put good weight on them. We want our players to be the same player on play 1 as they are on play 60. It is broken down to a 90 day segment. We break it the three parts on a month by month aspect. We run it three months after spring football and three months leading up to the fall season. With the program, we see a big body change in the kids after the 90 days. Then during the season we incorporate the program as well on a limited basis.
KL: With Wade Freebeck going to Vandy, St. Thomas will be breaking in Jake Rizzo. I have heard great things about him, and I know you guys have high hopes for him. What are your thoughts about him as a player?
JM: We do have high hopes for him. We really do. He is a program kid and this is his fourth year in the system. He really developed last year playing behind Freebeck. He got a lot of reps in practice. Wade was actually hurt last year in the spring and Rizzo had to play the entire spring. He knows the system, he has been in the system, and he’s probably got the best arm we’ve ever had at the position. Maybe other than John O’Korn. He can really sling it. He can really throw it. Not as athletic obviously he is a different type of quarterback than John but he can really throw it.
KL: The new STA quarterback coach is Chris Cormier who used to be the offensive coordinator/quarterback coach at Archbishop McCarthy. He was a very good offensive coordinator when he was Archbishop McCarthy. He utilized Mike Armiento and Nick Jeanty very well.
JM: Yeah I coached Chris when he used to go to St. Thomas. He’s a great guy. Great, great coach. He is one of our kids (STA graduate). Chris has done a great job with the quarterbacks.
KL: On to the running backs, you guys have two great backs in Jordan Scarlett and Deltron Sands.
JM: Yeah we are excited about them. We have been lucky enough to have some great backs come through this program. Obviously James White and Giovanni Bernard. We had a two headed monster with them and we plan on using Deltron and Jordan the same way we used those guys.
KL: What are some things about Jordan Scarlett that you like that he does?
JM: First, he is capable of hitting the home run on any play. As a coordinator when you are calling plays, you got a guy that can pop off a 60 or 70 yard run and get you out of a drive and into the end zone. You love that. I love that about him. He can hit the homerun on any play and he is a downhill runner. I think the difference a little about Jordan is when he was at University school they ran a lot of the zone scheme and we are a little bit more downhill in the run game. Lots of power runs. He is a physical kid. He is a lot more physical than he appeared on tape with them. When we had him in practice we were pleasantly surprised by how physical he is.
KL: Your wide receiver group, in my opinion, is the most talented group on the team. You guys have Jawuan Harris, Trevon Grimes, Devante Peete, and Sam Bruce. Talk a little about this group and how you plan on using them.
JM: We have some sets where we will get all four of those guys on the field at the same time. With Trevon and Devante’s height they create mismatches on the outside. Then we have Jawuan and Sam who are a little bit smaller but when we work out in the slot they create mismatches as well. I agree with you there we are deep at the wide receiver position. All of those guys will get a lot of touches and be on the field at the same time together.
KL: Sam Bruce just transferred over but what are some characteristics and abilities that you like about him?
JM: First is his attitude. He is all business. He comes out to the field and he treats it like a job, like a business. He is a serious and he wants to learn. He is very competitive. Obviously, all of our kids are competitive but he wants to be the best. He has another gear about him. I do not know how fast he is in the 40 but in a quick twitch sense he has that extra gear. He is a tough matchup for anyone covering him.
KL: How do you feel about Devante Peete as a prospect?
JM: Devante is a freak of nature. I compare him to like a Leonard Hankerson for us. Obviously, Leonard is in the NFL with the Redskins. Devante is 6’5 and a nightmare matchup for anyone. You have to double him. He is a great route runner, physical in the run game, and he works extremely hard. He is hungry. He has a bit of a chip on his shoulder. For us, with him out at the X he is nightmare matchup for us. We are really excited about him and the other three as well.
KL: You guys are losing a few senior offensive linemen such as Nick Linder and Ryan Crozier. How do you feel about the new crop of seniors that will be replacing them? Do you believe they can keep the load up?
JM: We are definitely excited about them. We got Colin Byrne (Syracuse commit), Philip Parchment, Samuel Clausman (Syracuse commit), Richerd Desir-Jones (FIU commit), and our center Daniel Evers. All of these kids played an extended amount of time last year and got a lot of reps. Losing Nick Linder hurts. He was our center for three years and made all the offensive line calls. It definitely hurt; Miami got a great one in him. These other guys got extended playing time last year so we are excited about them.
KL: On to the defensive line. St. Thomas is losing Anthony Moten from last year’s squad, can you talk about the type of player Miami is getting in him?
JM: Moten is high motor, full of energy. He is a nightmare on the line. He can probably play inside at the college level as a 3 technique. He is fast enough to play on the outside as a 5 technique. He is going to be a solid player at the next level. I think his best football is ahead of him as he develops. From his freshman year to his senior year he became a man. From 18 to 22, he is going to become a great player in college.
KL: On the defensive line this year you guys have Nick Bosa, Colin Nace, and a few others. What are the expectations for this group?
JM: They give us nightmares in practice. We can of always tell our offensive lineman that we are going up against the best defensive front that we are going to see all year. If we can block them in practice, we should be ok with anyone we play in the games. Our front 4 is really good. Christ Hart and Wyatt Ray (Boston College commit) are those other guys that will be in the mix down there as well.
KL: Do you believe Nick Bosa has the potential to be as good as Joey?
JM: In all honesty, yes. He is another kid that has been getting bigger and stronger every year. He has been with us since he was a freshman. He is really coming on and reminding me a lot of his brother. You saw the maturity of his brother when he went from a freshman to a senior and now Nick is a junior and he is on the same path. His best football is coming up right now.
KL: Now on to the linebackers. You guys are losing a few linebackers like Jake Stewart, Denzel Hatcher, Hunter Goldberg, and Daryl Williams (son of Daryl Williams former UM DB who is now the safety coach at STA). Who will be featured in this position group?
JM: You will see Claudeny “CJ” Jeudy will probably play in the middle. Chris Hart is one of the guys who is like a SAM linebacker but can also walk down to the line of scrimmage like a rush end. The linebackers are all guys who have been in the program and who waited their turn. I think one of the great things about our program in general, is that the guys compete at a high level at practice. That is why our guys are so successful at the collegiate level. Guys are playing behind D1 players and competing against them every week in practice. So when these guys step up, they are ready to play and compete.
KL: Lastly, the defensive backs. You guys have Damon Arnette and Rashard Causey among others. I know you guys are losing players like Kamal Hardy and Al Harris Jr.
JM: It is a pretty good group. We are deep in the secondary. There are a couple of young kids coming up like Frank Coppett who is Fred Coppet’s brother. Fred used to be our starter at running back and he is now at Bowling Green. James Oliphant is another kid who can probably be a starter at corner as well. I think our secondary is pretty deep as well with the young kids coming up and the guys that we got. We have Tyson Cisrow and Lance Deveaux at safety.
To keep up with coach Milgrom follow him @moose_coach
http://www.aquinasfootball.com/coach-milgrom.html
