Banner Image
Blog
Section Branding
Header Content
Early Victories Have Osborne Cardinals Singing A Sweet Song Of Success
Hero Image
Primary Content
The Osborne Cardinals have started the 2022 season 2-0. There are those of you who might say "That's nice, but it's early in the season and there is a lot of football that remains to be played." Those folks probably have not been followers of Osborne football over the years. According to the Georgia High School Football Historians, the last time the Cardinals won their first two games was 2001. That team didn't win another game the rest of the season.
I stopped by Osborne and saw a team that had turned the page on their most recent win and was going through the paces of a challenging practice -- and this is a bye week. There is a new feel and a new look to everything. Athletic facilities have been upgraded, and a state-of-the-art school building reflects a change on the outside that reverberates inside the hallways.
"It starts with our kids," says Osborne Head Coach Luqman Salam. "Our kids have gone from ‘I sure hope that we don’t get blown out,’ to an expectation of being able to go and compete against whomever they play. It started last year, when we went Kell. It was their homecoming, and it was packed. They even threw smoke up in the air! It was a prime time for an Osborne team to just submit. We fought out tails off in that game and it was 6-0 going to the fourth quarter. Just to see our kids transformed from feeling like we shouldn’t be in this game, to an attitude of we are going to scrap and claw the entire game and let the chips fall where they may. I think that has helped to infuse the culture at the school. It’s not the same old Osborne. It doesn’t look the same or feel the same. So after the team starts 2-0 there is definitely some positive energy flowing throughout the school."
Last season was Salam's first at Osborne and the team won only one game, just like the season before. That was preceded by three consecutive winless seasons. But the former Hillgrove defensive coordinator saw something last fall that proved to be springboard for current success.
"The year before this was a team that was giving up 52 points per game," recalls Salam. "Last year we gave up less than 22 points per game. That was a tremendous improvement. We did some growing from that and have all those kids back this year. We brought back two all-region players on defense in Davonte Thomas and Grant Williams. along with Khalif Walters and a junior Aiden Williams. These guys are starters that had good seasons as juniors and sophomores. They understand a lot more about what it takes to be a stingy defense."
A stingy defense was Salam's calling card at Hillgrove, and it could have landed him a coaching job at another successful program. When I asked why Osborne, I could hear a smile in his voice during his response.
"I’m from this area," exclaimed Salam." I went to Campbell (in Smyrna), which is right down the street. I grew up in an apartment complex that is about two minutes away from Osborne. So knowing this community, I know that there is a great level of value in this community. Also the vision of our former principal and our current principal sharing that same vision, along with our athletic director. They talk about wanting to build humble leaders. There was a group of young men who decided that they were coming to Osborne. They were from this community, they were going to stay and they have stuck it out. When I heard those things I felt like, yes, that’s something that I could be down with. That is what drove me to Osborne."
What Salam found, in the spring of 2021, was a program that had struggled due to low participation. The coaching staff canvassed the halls of the school in search of more players.
"I got here in March and we had practice in early May," recalls Salam. "We had 27 kids then and we now currently have 95 kids on the roster. When were got here, we were selling every kid on both ways and special teams. Now we have the numbers to have a starting offense and starting defense, along with reserves on offense and reserves on defense and that’s a tremendous advantage. Now kids can practice one position and be coached at that one position all day long. Double the reps and double the opportunity to get better."
The next question would be time. Would these players, many of them new to the program, give more of themselves to a new head coach and coaching staff in order to create change? The response has been resounding.
"We were getting kids to understand the level of commitment that is needed to compete at the highest level in Georgia," says Salam. "Playing 6A and 7A football teams, you have to work. Teams at that level around Georgia are working all year round. You have to show up. This isn’t the Boys and Girls Club where you show up on Monday and a little bit on Wednesday. It just doesn’t work that way and I think kids bought into that. Last summer it had been 25 kids here, maybe 30 of the 50 that we had. This summer we were up to 70 kids showing up consistently three days a week."
The increase in participation and a commitment to achievement has propelled Osborne to a winning start and it's not just the fact that the Cardinals are winning, it's how they are winning. A 46-7 win over Woodstock in the season opener was followed by a 42-13 win last week at Chattahoochee. Khalif Walters rushed for 192 yards and three touchdowns in the win over the Cougars.
The team with the stingy defense can suddenly score and while attending practice, it didn't take me long to spot the reason why. I first met Phillip Ironside when he was head coach at Campbell before he became the first head coach at Hillgrove. He would coach there for 14 seasons before going to Worth County for two seasons. Now, with his former top assistant taking on the challenge at Osborne, the roles are reversed. Ironside, the offensive coordinator, finds himself back in Cobb County and back near Windy Hill Road. These red birds appear ready to soar.
"We know how successful a coach he has been as a head coach as also as a play caller," says Salam. "Coach Ironside majors in the ability to get to most out of a group of kids offensively as well as the whole team. The whole time we were at Hillgrove, people thought we had loads and loads of talent. We did have some really good players like Synjyn Days, Kenyon Drake. Other than Synjyn we didn’t have these great superstar Division I quarterbacks. Coach is a magician off sorts, with his ability to figure out what kids do well and put people in position to be successful."
You could strike up a chorus of the old Peaches and Herb hit "Reunited and It Feels So Good." It was neat to watch Salam and Ironside work together during practice, and to mold a team and reshape a culture while raising the level of expectation. But after further review I discovered that this was a different Phillip Ironside. This one actually wears shoes.
"I tell him all the time that he is really disappointing people by not coaching in his flip-flops," laughs Salam. "He doesn't wear them as much as he used to. The first week he was here I asked what are you doing? Why do you have on shoes? I think at his last school they wanted him to wear shoes. It seems that he has become used to wearing shoes, but every once in a while he breaks them out. When i see the flip-flops that makes me feel real good. That’s real coach Ironside, with the flip-flops."
The Osborne Cardinals will go for their third win a week from Friday when they host Lakeside. This week Football Fridays in Georgia broadcast will feature Brookwood at Collins Hill. Kickoff at 7:30 p.m. on the Great GPB!
Secondary Content
Author
Bottom Content
