b'they want to own their own business, they can. Fact of theAs far as year one is concerned, Travis Mikel wants his players to matter is only 3% of kids go play college athletics. What theyfocus on what is just ahead of them and not look too far ahead.have to learn is that this is not just about football, but it isIf you look at the goal from its smallest sense, we want to about life. To have an effect in their lives is something thatget better everyday and we want to be present. When we are should not be taken granted by an adult. It should be some- in first block, I want my kids to be present in first block. In thing that is cherished. Independence Head Coach Travisschool, football should not be on your mind. It is whatever Mikel that class period is. Get better in that class and move forward Getting the most out of kids and setting them up for success isthroughout the day until we get to football, but once we get priority number one for Mikel when it comes to determining hishere, it is not about practice, practice, practice. It is about the success in running the program at Independence. meeting. Everyday we have a special teams meeting and a We want to win a state championship. We dont talk tooteam meeting. If I am at the special teams meeting and thing much about it. We want to win a district championship, butabout the team meeting, how am I getting better at special we dont talk too much about that. What we talk about isteams? If I am at the team meeting and thinking about what how good can we be today in the classroom, community, andI am eating for dinner, how am I getting better? Its literally athletics. How good can we be in those three phases? The lasttaking step by step almost minute by minute to get better ev-thing I tell my players is that I love them before we leave everyery day. Independence Head Coach Travis Mikelnight. My goal is to show them that there is more than justTwo of those players that have embraced Coach Mikels message the town of Independence. They dont have to be bounded byattended our Gridiron Football Media Day event back in late July a three-mile stretch of road. This is an awesome town andin senior WR/DB Gary Zanders Jr. and junior WR/LB Gabriel a strong community. There is great industry here and greatBallet. After getting the head coach late after spring football in people here, but to the person that has always been here, theyJune, the message is starting to go across to the 30 total players are seeing the town start to die. It is my job to bring life backthat are on the roster.to those kids and show them that A, they can be the ones reviving this town or B, there is a world of opportunity thereI brought Gary and Gabriel to the Gridiron Football me-just waiting for them to grab it. That will be the ultimatedia day because at that point in time, they were the two that goal. Independence Head Coach Travis Mikel exemplified what you wanted to be in a Tiger from their at-Teaching the kids that there is a whole new world out there andtendance to their effort to their attention to detail to the way putting them on the right path is clearly the number one goal, butthey are having fun, and how they operate.dont let that distract anyone that Mikel is also here to win gamesThose are the first two that have bought in, but now, 7 or 8The large scale goal is simple. It is not bringing back Inde-and show why the Independence Tigers were such a consistentweeks later, there are guys like OL/DL Courtney McClain.pendence to what it once was. Its making it better. Its going winning program under Charles Baglio and also Keith Carona,His dad was on those teams that went to the Dome. He is asomewhere weve never been. In order to go somewhere that who also guided the Tigers to a run at the Superdome back inkid that has taken on the mold like Gary and Gabe. You canyou never been, you have to be somebody that youve nev-2006. go to Malik Magee. He is a running back and a safety. Phil- er been. You cant go somewhere and be the same person. Whether as a player or as a coach, Mikel has won at a high levellip Wright is a massive human being that plays nose guardYou will get the same result. In order to get better and cash pretty much wherever he has been. and is capable of dominating games. He is a 500 pound plusthe check on getting better, you have to be different. Weve I want to win and I am a competitive person. I have beensquatter and power cleans well. He uses his hands well andalready been to the Dome as Independence. Weve already lucky. Winning is pretty much all I have ever done. If you gohas above average feet for a big guy. He should dominate. Webeen to the playoffs as Independence. Weve already made the back to my high school days, I had three district champion- have a set of twins in Eliahs and Elijah Burroughs that areplayoffs as Independence. Weve already won district cham-ships in four years and I had six or seven conference champi- mentally tough and are everything that you want in a playerpionships as Independence. It is to be better. Independence onships at Delta State and two conference championships aton Friday nights. Michi Bean is a running back that when heHead Coach Travis MikelSoutheastern. Now, I was a small piece to the puzzle in all ofturns it on, he is special. He is a dynamic player, and the last those situations. I was blessed and lucky to be surrounded byguy that I will talk about would be Lacardias Boatwright.If one takes away anything from this writeup, Travis Mikel is here the people that I was around with. In my opinion, Lacardias Boatwright has Division I footballto not only bring the winning mindset on the field back to Inde-From an early age, it was instilled in me that in order toplayer written all over him. He has the length, the size, thependence, but his biggest mission it to bring an overall winning win, you first have to learn how to be a man because you canspeed, the strength, the athletic ability, and the natural in- mindset to the whole Independence community.take a group of men and line them across a group of boys,stincts. Those kids are all seniors and have been through the we are going to win. Now, the other side of it, if you take abad. They dont want to be bad. Theyre talented and can be group of men and line them across another group of youngreally good players in the state of Louisiana. Independence men, you got yourselves a battle. Now, everything you haveHead Coach Travis Mikelbeen taught you have to lean on. In that matchup, it is whoLooking at it from a small lense, it may not appear as too big of a is going to minimize the mistakes and handle adversity thedeal, but looking at the big picture, accomplishing the small goals best because theres going to be some good and theres going towill lead to accomplishing the bigger ones including the biggest be some bad. Thats the beauty of high school football in thegoal of them all, which is holding up a state championship trophy state of Louisiana because a lot of coaches have the same goalin the Caesars Superdome in December.as mine. It may sound different and may look different, but our goal is to develop young men and to win championships. Independence Head Coach Travis Mikel8'