Two seasons of Scout Team
In 2019 the Bomber football program faced a dilemma. While it wasn’t a major issue, finding a scout team quarterback was a central piece to developing a defense. For the first time in a long time the Varsity program only had one quarterback, Matthew Rueve, and the sophomore class only had two. The obvious problems revolved around finding a varsity backup, which would be one of the sophomores while continuing to develop the other sophomore quarterbacks within the system. Did it make sense to send one to the scout team quarterback to run the opposing team’s offense week to week which would clearly stunt their development or figure out a way to continue to develop them on the junior varsity and find another solution? Enter 2009 St. Xavier graduate Will Reilly. In a strange turn of events the “Will Reilly dance” began in the summer of 2019 and concluded with a state championship in 2021. At the age of 29, Will decided to “hang up his cleats” and retire...albeit from high school football.
As we get older, we often find reasons to say, “what if” or “if I had it to do over.” Will Reilly actually had the opportunity to answer these questions. In a thought-provoking article, Will explores the world of “what if” and the impact it made on his life. Bomber Football was indeed blessed to have the 29-year-old scout team quarterback, if only for a couple of years.
Two Seasons of Scout Team
“Dear God, please just let me catch the snap,” was the first thought I had when I lined up in my helmet and shoulder pads back in August 2019, rain adding an extra 12 pounds to the ball. It’s probably not an uncommon thought for a scout team quarterback, but as a 29-year-old alumni director moonlighting as a high school scout team quarterback, this pre-snap prayer felt like it had a little more urgency.
This is my story of two years as scout team quarterback for the St. Xavier High School football team at the age of 29. I won’t be able to reiterate it enough, I found extreme value in being a part of a highly functional team. I found the lives of teenagers in today's day and age to be incredibly complex and difficult. I am forever grateful for this experience. I am still very sore.
The job of the scout team is to run that week's opponents offense and to emulate their players to give the starters and backups practice reps against it. Against Cleveland St. Ignatus, at practice the scout team runs the Cleveland St. Ignatius offense against the St. X starting defense and so forth.
It’s usually reserved for a kid who plays quarterback but is unlikely to ever see playing time in a game. In 2019, offensive coordinator Andrew Coverdale requested his two sophomore backup quarterbacks, normally presumed scout team guys, remain with him to learn from starter Matthew Rueve '20 (Boston College). Coach Specht agreed but had to find someone to run his scout team offense.
“If you ever want your defense to get a faster, more accurate look, you let me know I’ll keep my cleats in the office,” I told Coach Specht in the halls one day, unaware of the vacancy in the scout team position. In retrospect, I was mostly unaware that they’d ever consider putting someone in their late 20’s under center.
“Can you throw the ball?” He responded.
“Sure?”
“I’m serious, can you throw the ball? Are you fast? How fast are you?” Specht continued. I was joking. He was not. My first thought upon Coach asking me if I was serious, was a sincere, “are you serious?!?!” My second thought? Hell yes.
Whether you were a great high school athlete and want a shot to go back and live your glory days, or in my case, never had the chance to suit up, a lot of people love to talk about what it would be like if they could go back now and try to play. I actually got that opportunity.
In fact, I can’t remember the last time I went to a high school sporting event and one of my pals didn’t bring up the question, “Think we could get playing time now?” or as age becomes us, “how many plays could we survive out there?” This was as close as any of use could ever get.
Specht asked my boss Tony Schad, who God bless him was almost as curious as I was. He then asked my father, St. X President Tim Reilly, who responded with a very serious, “and you’re saying that this will actually help you?” to which Coach Specht replied, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but yes it will.”
I was in. As someone who was too little of too many attributes in high school to ever strap on the X on Fridays, this was an experience I couldn’t pass up. I was excited to be a part of a team. I was excited to finally play football for St. X, albeit an extremely unique and bizarre route. I was excited for the juxtaposition I’d have. I was an administrator practicing high school football four days a week, full pads. Getting to experience those perspectives simultaneously is something I’ll always cherish. Mostly, I wanted to see if I could hang with what would turn out to be the 2020 Ohio High School Football Division 1 State Champions.
What Time is it?
I remember picking up my helmet and shoulder pads and heading out to Ballaban Field for my first ever varsity high school football practice. There was some subtle emotional turmoil as I stretched on the tuft with feelings of both ‘this is awesome’ and ‘what am I doing with my life.’
I headed to the huddle for our first team period where scout offense would go against the starting defense. The kids looked at me in the huddle with equal parts who the hell are you and why are you here? I told them I’d be running scout team quarterback with them. They smiled, shrugged their shoulders, and got back to doing their job. Teenagers are so good at being equal parts brave and clueless in their unwavering bravery.
“I am losing my mind. Where is the ball?!” Coach Specht started to yell, annoyed because the precise focus that has made St. X football so disciplined was interrupted by the mental error of forgetting to bring a ball. Oh man, whoever is supposed to bring the ball out for scout team is in so much trouble, what an idiot! My pedantic thought barely registered before realizing I knew exactly who was responsible for the ball. That person was the scout team quarterback, and holy s$#!, that person was me.
As I ran to the sidelines to grab a ball, I looked over at Coach Specht who by this point had also realized the mistake was made by his 29 year old quarterback. He was half laughing, half wondering if this would work. Here we go.
For two seasons I’d go to football practice with St. X for a few hours a day Monday through Thursday and I learned a lot. Often, my mouthpiece would fall out because I couldn’t stop smiling. At one-point defensive coordinator Jake Brodbeck (2011) and the safeties asked if I’d start using a cadence (green 18, green 18, set, go!). It was so outrageous I laughed out loud the first time causing a bunch of false starts, and coach Specht to give me that, “get it together, we’re trying to practice,” look. Another time I mistakenly lined up under the left tackle because I was trying to think through Colerain’s triple option offense. There were some growing pains.
Taking a snap from under center? I had never done that in my entire life. The foot work for an RPO (run play option), much more difficult than I thought. The timing for a 2 step drop and going through your progressions? Precise. Running through 2019 first team all GCL safety Tucker Hundley. Impossible. Your youngest cousin (linebacker, Sean Reilly, 2022) picking you up and throwing you to the ground three plays in a row. Humbling. Gabe Dubois, Wiles Dolle, Drew Klas, Eli Kirk, Drew Britt talking trash after one of their many interceptions. Frustrating but mostly hilarious, because it’s hard to take things too seriously when you’re 29 playing high school football.
There were also successes. Special team’s coordinator Tim Banker (1995, Miami University) worked with the scout team and we had our moments of triumph, which would be met with fist bumps in the huddle while the defensive coaches taught hard lessons to the starters on the other side of the ball. Wheel routes to our running back out of the backfield emulating Indianapolis Cathedral’s offense. 200 different route combinations using Elder’s playbook. Scrambling and throwing verticals downfield like Springfield’s quarterback Te’Sean Smoot (maybe not EXACTLY like him). It was awesome. Being part of a team, competing, being coached. Awesome.
Too few times in adult life do I feel like I’m getting better at things. Maybe the landmarks are too few and far between. I find myself only making note of the more traditional life indicators, a lot of which I haven’t personally experienced. Graduating college, promotions, raises, relationship steps, buying your first house, becoming a parent, kids graduating from college, and so forth. It can be an easy habit to only measure your life based on the monumental, scrap book worthy moments. I think a great thing about sports, is their ability to grant us easy access to the joys of small improvements.
There was immediate gratification in getting better over the course of a week. The routes that are a little sloppy on Monday are a touch more crip on Wednesday. The play action became a little more difficult to guard after we’d run it 30 times. I’d like to apply that to my everyday life a little more. High School football was a great reminder of how enjoyable it is to feel like you’re getting better at something, regardless of the spot it takes on the spectrum of cosmic importance.
Football at St. X is a huge commitment for everyone involved, but you could literally see the players who bought in get better day to day, week to week regardless of how much playing time they saw on Friday nights. It was incredibly satisfying to see such commitment have such tangible results. From record setting, Penn State committed wide receiver Liam Clifford (2020) to the last guy on the roster, to the old man playing quarterback, there was improvement. I could see why people dedicate their entire lives to teaching and coaching. You’re a part of growth, and isn’t growing the best we can hope for?
“You’re going to let a 28-year-old who's never played football get around you to the outside like that?” Coach Tim Banker said in 2019 to a defensive end who I just beat around the corner for a 17 yard gain. I flicked the ball at the defense to talk a little trash. The next play, that defensive end (Charlie Eckert, 2020) contained the outside I tried to cut underneath only to be detonated by linebacker TJ O’Malley (2020, University of Dayton) at the line of scrimmage.
After recovering from the, “OH MY GOD I’M NEVER GOING TO BE ABLE TO BREATH AGAIN, THIS IS THE END” signal from my lungs, I looked back at coach Banker and the defensive end high fiving and laughing. I forced a smile with the little air I had left. A snapshot of growth. And like all growth, it caused a little bit of pain but was worth every wince, every ice pack. I have a million of these small anecdotes of growth. This certainly isn’t how I dreamed of playing for St. X while growing up in Westwood, but in a bizarre twist of fate I was glad I was finally getting the opportunity.
Now!
At the end of every practice Coach Specht asks the team, “What time is it?” and they respond with a resounding, “Now!” I’ve always found this to be a great calibration of the importance of living in the moment. I was really grateful for a lot of these moments, and I can’t over emphasize the drop in my blood pressure and anxieties after going through three strenuous hours of high school football practice where I didn’t think about anything other than trying to survive.
Whether it’s sports or yoga or the outdoors, a hobby, trivia at MLT’s on Thursday’s, or in my case playing high school football, I think there is immense value in being forced to focus on the moment in front of you for a few minutes or hours a day. To reset your hierarchy of needs. Finding a routine that required my attention to the moment helped me more calmly navigate the immense uncertainties I currently have in my life. I think it does the same thing for our students at St. Xavier.
While at times overwhelming, the overall narrative is that these are good stressors and I believe the greater good far outweighs the devil we sometimes find in the details. I really believe in finding something that allows us to be present. High School football did a great job of that for me, and I’ll be searching for a replacement. Whether that focus is a minute a day, one day a week, or once a quarter, I’ll make sure that I find something that allows me to practice the habit of being in the now.
When it’s hard for people to describe how we feel, I think we resort to the simplest of words, and the only word to describe two seasons of scout team quarterback? Joy. Pure, unadulterated, what a time to be a live, living the dream, joy.
I don’t want joy to be confused with pleasantness and being happy all the time. There is little pleasantness in being tackled dozens of times a day by Matt Devine (2020, United State Air Force Academy) and Gio Albanese (2020, undecided). I’m a competitive person and I’d get annoyed if I had a bad practice. I felt guilty when I’d throw an interception or make a bad read or drop a snap. I’d get frustrated if my line wasn’t giving me any time or when receivers wouldn’t finish their routes or when I’d disagree with coach Banker about why a play didn’t work.
But what a gift it’s been, especially in 2020, to have an instrument to play out some frustrations and anxieties that doesn’t REALLY have consequences. What a gift it’s been to exercise with a group of people. To share in the celebrations and the defeat. What a gift it’s been to be somewhere without cell phones. In an age of screens taking over our lives, at football practice for a few hours a day, people are able to live by the yards in front of their feet not the screen inches in front of their face. I cannot reiterate enough how refreshing and positive that is.
I’ve learned a lot about the incredibly complex lives of teenagers growing up in 2019/2020. I have nothing but admiration and respect for their tenacious patience with figuring out both who they are and where their place is in the world around them. If you’re a student reading this, don’t look down, keep at it. Endure. There are an incredible amount of people who love you, make sure you are one of those people.
I remember coming home from a practice in August, reheating leftovers, sitting down at my computer and finishing up some accounting homework for one of my MBA classes at Xavier. Before I could start to feel tired at the fullness of my schedule, I thought about the kids who were still at film and wouldn’t get home for another hour. It can be easy to exaggerate our own youth. Walking uphill both ways to school in a snowstorm, type of nostalgia. I’m confident in saying it’s harder to be a high schooler now than when I was one in 2009. If you have the chance to make a high schooler’s day a little easier, happier, and more joy filled I implore you to do so. They all deserve it.
During my scout team experience I found that being a teenager today is as hard, if not harder, as it’s ever been. I’m inspired and impressed by kids ability to go to school all day, go to practice, then film, come home, eat, learn a heavy course load of school work, all while trying to navigate adolescence with more distractions now than at any time in human history. That last part I think is especially true. If you need inspiration for focus, discipline, and the ability to grind, look no further than your modern high school student athlete. They do it all. Often with unsinkable pluck, moxie, and laughter even when they are struggling, and a lot of them deal with very real struggles.
How was my high school football experience at the age of 29? I’m in much better shape now than I was in August. I’ve been sacked and intercepted. A lot. I’ve gotten a unique perspective on both coaching and playing high school football. I got to play a small part on the journey of a championship team. The magic in a state championship run. I’ve had to balance football practice and homework and other obligations. I’ve gotten just a little bit better.
I think most importantly I’ve been reminded of the importance of being present and living in the moment. That it’s much more fun to do this with other people sharing in that experience. If I’m going to be a recipient of endless support, I owe it to myself and everyone around me to leave things better than I find them. When is the best time to practice gratitude? When is the best time to love one another? To do my best? To lean on each other when times are tough? To look, listen, learn, and love? The time is now.
Writers Note:
They say it takes a village to raise certain people, I can’t imagine what they’d say about the number of people it takes to survive 2 seasons of high school football. To my boss Tony Schad for okay’ing this crazy experiment. To the St. X medical staff, Mike Gordon, Ken Rushford, and my Uncle Kevin Reilly (1986) who took care of my aches and pains with love, care, and sass. To my finance teacher at Xavier Julie Cagle, who never rolled her eyes when I came into class sweaty and with ice packs on my arms. To my friends who laughed and critiqued the occasional ‘highlight’ I would send them. Who humored me when I wouldn't stop talking about high school football practice, especially the Berning brothers (2005, 2008, 2009, 2011,2013), Kevin Chase (2009),Stephen Cummings (2009), Kevin Speed (2009), and my brother Patrick Reilly (2002). To the coaching staff, especially Coach Specht, Coach Banker, and Coach Brodbeck, who took time and energy to clue me in on what I needed to do even though I was a little above the age bracket they signed up to coach. The only think harder than being a teenager is coaching them. We are incredibly blessed to have them forming our future. The world is a better place because of every player that is coached by them. To my parents and siblings, thank you for being patient as I continue to come of age 3 decades in.
To the students on the St. Xavier High School football team, my pseudo-teammates, who inspired me, made me laugh, bleed, shake my head, and most importantly - grow. Even after you leave the hallowed halls of St. Xavier and officially join the long blue line, I am here if you need anything. They say it’s better to be lucky than good, but I can only attest to the first part.
Will Reilly ‘09