Coach’s take: LaDamion Guyton to Texas Tech

With 5-star EDGE LaDamion Guyton committing to Texas Tech, we caught up with Benedictine Military School assistant coach Galen Houston for the lowdown on the newest Red Raider pass rusher. Along with being the linebackers coach, Houston also is the Head Track & Field Coach at Benedictine Military School and with Red Raider quarterback commit Stephen Cannon one of the primary leaders for both programs, there’s quite the pipeline brewing between Savannah, GA and Lubbock, TX.

Houston dives into what coaching Guyton has been like this offseason since his transfer to Benedictine, what he sees in the blue chip prospect, why Texas Tech was the right fit for both Guyton and Cannon, and more.

Take us through the past eight months of being around LaDamion, what have you seen from him both on and off the field that allows him to be the number one player in the country?

“You know, things started off real slow because Dame was coming off of shoulder surgery in December. So everything has just been kind of real slow, with just making sure we just got him rehab, bunch of rehab and recovery and treatment, just making sure everything was well after the surgery. Still basically trying to just recover that shoulder and make sure we didn’t have any relapses in his progress post-surgery. He still was active and still attending our morning workouts in the offseason and things, he was just limited and we tried to keep him limited in the things we were doing. In transitioning to the spring, he still practiced and did everything everybody else did except scrimmaging. We just made sure he was no contact because once again, we just didn’t want to have any relapses with the spring and rehab and then making sure we were transitioning into the summer. So we wanted to make sure he was as healthy and as fit as he can be in preparation for the season.

In terms of how he’s been getting acclimated to the school, he’s taken very well to our team culture and just the way we do things at Benedictine. It’s a Catholic military all boys school so there’s a lot of discipline, a lot of structure. We speak so highly about our brotherhood and he’s really taken to that. Actually a lot of his teammates have been impressed by how well of a teammate he’s been. I think some of them kind of didn’t know what to expect when put in a new environment, and whether he would be kind of arrogant and talk a lot about his offers and everything. But he really doesn’t mention a lot about recruiting or schools or being the number one player in the country and all those things. Those are not things that he really brings up. We’ll talk about it when other people mention it, of course, and it’s a great honor. It’s a pleasure to have him on the team, but it’s not something that he personally walks around talking about to us, or it’s not like he kind of rubs it in everybody’s faces about how talented he is.

He has a real business approach to the way he does things, which is easy for us. He wants to get better, he wants to learn, he wants to develop. He wants to be the best football player he can be, and that’s what we’re just trying to do as a staff, to just make sure we’re doing the best we can to mold him as a football player and as a person off the field, assisting him however we can to just be the best version of himself. So that’s what we’re trying to do in his development.”

Coming off surgery and having a long journey back, how is Guyton doing now heading towards the season? What are you expecting to see from him this season?

“Since we started summer he’s been full go, full pads. He’s had no limitations. We’ve actually had some scrimmages and done some 1 vs 1’s or good vs good. Thud contact, pretty much everything we do is thud as a team. We want to get guys used to practicing with good contact, right? With target and everything else. We want our guys to be solid tacklers, tackle the right way, understand the strike zone and how we want to attack our opponents. And so he’s been full go. He’s had no limitations.

Of course, he’s wildly impressed everyone on the team, whether it be pass rush, setting the edge, or just how fluid it is that he moves at his size. We had someone very similar in Herbert “Third” Scroggins that played the same position as he did last year. Third was probably more technical and had more fundamentals as of right now than Dame. Dame is just a little bit more raw, but Dame still has exceptional athleticism, strength, explosion, power. I mean, we can definitely see what everybody is seeing in him as a prospect, being one of the top prospects in the country, and we don’t see anything different from our encounters with him in practice.”

I know you mentioned Guyton doesn’t talk a lot about recruiting but has he mentioned anything about what he likes about Texas Tech? Or even Stephen Cannon, the quarterback commit, anything from either of them on what stood out so much about Tech for them?

“To be completely transparent, I’ve heard more about Texas Tech from Stephen and the Cannon’s and his family. I have a close relationship and a great relationship with them, and they speak highly about Lubbock and Texas Tech, and they’re still in love with the place. They were wowed and overwhelmed by it.

I know that Stephen and his family have introduced Texas Tech to LaDamion and to another 2027 prospect on our team, Stanley Smart Jr. So Stephen definitely has his recruiting hat on, not just nationally, with Texas Tech recruits and prospective student athletes, but also right here on his team, and you can’t blame him as a quarterback for wanting to have talented players around him. And why not get talented players that are on your current team right now, who you know their families, we’re all from Savannah, we know each other. And so I think it’s pretty cool to kind of have this connection between Savannah, Georgia and Lubbock, Texas. Who would have ever thought that would actually be a thing?

So I think that that’s pretty cool for Stephen and his family, who are great with just the way they interact with our student athletes and the way they are supportive of Stephen, Jack and Tait (Stephen’s brothers) in their sports and our program and their teammates. And so I think that’s a very special relationship that their family has with our school, and they’re all in with Benedictine, and we love that for them and for the school.

And so as far as Dame, I know him and his mom enjoyed the visit. They had nothing but good things to say about it as well. Neither one of them really gave me many details about the visit, but from my understanding everything went well, and they enjoyed themselves while they were there. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Texas Tech from both families or both parties involved. So that’s all I have to go with as a coach, I support my players and their families and whatever decisions that they make, and just want to make sure that they’re making the best decisions for themselves and their families. And that’s our role as coaches.”

“Some guys that are coming up in the future that some younger cars that are rising. We have a sophomore corner in Jonathan Black, who will be starting for us and getting a lot of experience. We believe he’s definitely going to be a Power 4 type of football player. Eron Mallard, a 27, a rising junior in the class with Stanley Smart. He’ll be playing the slot and also playing some corner for us. Is another talented prospect that comes to mind. One underrated guy that I think is a name to get out there, who happens to be a senior, plays receiver for us, who is a prospect who’s still getting some Group of 5 offers is Josh Washington. He’ll be playing receiver and playing safety for us. Those are some guys that definitely stick out to my mind. Cole Henderson is another that’ll be a sophomore that will get a lot of time this year in the slot for us, and will be playing some safety.

A lot of these guys also ran track with Stephen (Cannon) and Bubba (Frazier) and were on those state championship 4×100 and 4×200 teams. So it’s just another addition to our football program, the track and field program that we use in the offseason to just help our guys stay in shape, showcase their speed, and aid with their recruitment, as far as going off to play college football. So we’re trying to get those super fast times like in Texas, but we still put up some top numbers in the state of Georgia this year.”

“When you look at his tape, and sometimes he’s back there scrambling and running around, not too many people are catching him. But for his size and athleticism, Stephen is a great athlete. I think that’s one of the things that is so underrated about him and his skill set. Yes, he can throw the football, but this kid is an underrated athlete. He’s done everything for us in track, as far as run hurdles, he’s done sprints, he’s ran the 400 for us, been on every single relay team. He was an 800 runner growing up and in middle school, and transitioned to a sprinter. He’s done the long jump. I mean, he’s just that type of kid, and he can also dunk the basketball, one hand, two hands, et cetera. So Stephen is an exceptional athlete. What I think gets lost in his recruitment is how great of an athlete he is and an even better kid and person who just loves ball, loves being around his teammates, and to have a quarterback that’s kind of low maintenance is pretty cool. So he just wants to play ball and be around the guys. And I think that’s special when you can find somebody like that. I really think Texas Tech got a steal in Stephen Cannon for sure.”