He knows it'll be a significant day, so Jason Ankrah thinks about it a lot.
He thinks about how he'll present himself and exactly what he'll say the first time he addresses the Schuyler High School football team as its new head coach.
In fact, the former Nebraska defensive end was awake much of Thursday night putting his thoughts together.
The essence of the message: “From here on out, we’re going to attack everything day by day with relentless effort no matter the circumstances," Ankrah said Friday. "We're all together in this. We’re in attack mode. I’m not just talking about football. I’m talking about school. I'm talking about life. No more lackadaisical stuff. No more fly-by-the-seat mentality. No more treating football like it's just something we’re doing for the heck of it. There’s a purpose to this, and we’ll all benefit more from it than we think we will.â€
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I'm pretty sure that address could fire up a team.
I imagine the presentation could make at least a few players think about their existence a bit differently.
When Schuyler announced the 27-year-old Ankrah as its new head coach last week, it captured my imagination because I remember him as a cerebral and thoughtful sort at Nebraska. He was a good player who went out with a bang as a senior in 2013, recording two sacks and helping the Husker defense bottle up then-Georgia running back Todd Gurley in a 24-19 Gator Bowl triumph.
"My last game happened to be my best game," he said last week.
A native of Gaithersburg, Maryland, Ankrah enjoyed a short stint in the NFL with the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans. He volunteered as a coach in 2016 at Omaha Concordia, where former Nebraska safety P.J. Smith was head coach.
"I was just like, 'Wow,'" Ankrah said. "I fell in love with coaching."
The commute from Lincoln to Omaha wasn't the best situation. But he had gotten the itch. He served this past season as an assistant at Lincoln Pius X.
"I was like, 'Yeah, this is definitely it, and I would love to do this forever,'" Ankrah said. "I believe it's my calling."
So, Ankrah eagerly gears for his first season in charge. He's in the midst of formulating a staff. He's studied video of recent Schuyler games. Yes, he knows the enormous nature of the challenge ahead. To wit: the Warriors have won only two games in the past five seasons. Five years ago, the program was down to 28 players in grades nine through 12. Last season, however, nearly 70 players were on the roster.
But the team's losses were by an average of 43.3 points.
“The film screams out a lot of stuff that shows why we're where we're at," Ankrah said. "It comes down to technique, fundamentals and teaching these kids how football really works. It’s not just a hobby. It’s not just a thing you just do. It’s honestly a life lesson. It takes work.â€
Studying film can be hard work. Ankrah enjoys that aspect of the job. In high school, when he was one of the top prospects on the East Coast, he'd mostly watch himself in film sessions. That changed at Nebraska. He learned how to gain advantages on opponents. He'd take notes, just as he does when he watches Schuyler's film. More than anything, he said, he watches his players' eyes.Â
“The kids’ eyes were just everywhere," he said. "They were just looking at too many targets at one time. I don’t mean any disrespect to the previous coaching staff, but the players were just looking at too much and couldn’t use their talents to the best of their abilities.â€
Even so, Ankrah saw toughness in the team. He saw some talent. His job is to draw out all of that talent while simultaneously teaching life lessons.Â
"When you do your research on Jason, you find he's a great man of character and also a good teacher. A good teacher of football," Schuyler athletic director Jim Kasik said. "Those are the things we really need right now. Our kids generally don't come into our football program with a lot of skills. They're not throwing the ball around every day in the backyard, or have dads that played.
"So finding a good teacher was pretty important to us. So was finding someone who's passionate about the game. I think he brings all those things to the table."
Former Nebraska assistant Rick Kaczenski, Ankrah's position coach at NU, didn't seem surprised at all last week when told of Ankrah's new job. After all, Ankrah was a captain at NU. He helped guide and mold younger linemen such as Randy Gregory, Vincent Valentine, Maliek Collins, Avery Moss and Jack Gangwish.Â
"Just the man Jason is, the maturity he has, the home he came from, he was able to look at the younger guys and recognize how special that group was," Kaczenski said. "He told them what it takes. He's smart, man. He was really mature back then. He knew the formula."
Said Ankrah: "I know this for sure: Nebraska is where I became a man."
He now prepares to lead young men. You know that speech that kept him awake much of Thursday night, the one he'll use the first time he addresses the Schuyler football team? Well, that speech likely won't happen for another couple of weeks or so.
Safe to say he'll be ready for it.
“It’ll be a lot about what coach (Scott) Frost says at Nebraska," Ankrah said. "It’ll be establishing an understanding of how this program is going to move forward, of how we’re going to operate. It’s not necessarily about X’s and O’s. It’s not about size and speed. It’s just an understanding that if you bring all that you have, no matter what the circumstances are that you’re going through, you’re going to be fine. You’re going to have a role to play.
"It’s establishing that mentality, and I believe the sky’s the limit after we all get on the same page.â€
He makes it easy to believe, as great leaders tend to do.