There’s no denying that football in this day and age is rather complex from the professional ranks down to the high school level.

While physical skill is often highlighted in the game, the mental part of the overall picture is just as important. There’s just as much to learn mentally as there is physically and a big advocate of that is ADM head football coach Mike Whisner.

When he’s not on the football field coach Whisner is teaching in the classroom and when it comes to football, he feels the education side of things is extremely important whether in the classroom or on the gridiron.

“You have to be smart (and) you have to understand the game both when it’s written up on the board and understanding how to execute on the game field so it takes time and it really takes knowledge of what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s just repetitive, just keep going over and over and once we get where we want with one certain thing, then we move on to the next and go from there. It’s no different from the classroom, the test is game night and if you have everything lined up and ready to go, things are going to be good. You may have everything lined up and things may not go so good just depending on the opponent you’re playing so you just have to prepare every week and have them ready,” mentioned coach Whisner.

Including today, the Tiger football team has two practices left before they head to HA Lynn Stadium on Friday for a scrimmage against Clear Creek Amana.