Things are a little bit different around the Homewood-Flossmoor football program.

Troy McAllister is in his first season at the helm of the Vikings’ longship so the aim this summer was to lay the foundation for a program that wasn’t in a bad place, he said, but needs to be ready for a new coach. 

“It’s a clean, fresh start for everybody. Everybody’s going to get an opportunity. Everybody’s going to get a chance,” he said. “We’re just trying to get the kids to understand that we have a lot of learning to do, not only with the offense or defense or special teams, but how we run things, how we practice, how we structure. Every coach has their own little nuances.” 

Player evaluation didn’t begin in earnest until mid July, when H-F had a dual practice with Crown Point (Indiana). Starters were expected to be in place by August.

One of the first orders of business is naming a first string quarterback. Juniors Jayden Lester and Rahsaan Coleman are battling for that role. 

Errors are being made in practice but that’s to be expected. McAllister wants his signal caller to learn through practice mistakes.

“They’re different players but they’re both great young men, high-character and heavily invested in the mental side of the game,” McAllister said. “We’re over the ‘a whole bunch of mistakes’ (phase), and now you can really see the learning occurring.” 

The trenches could be a strength for the Vikings. That’s where a pair of future Division I players will reside. Offensive lineman Kellen Gamble is committed to Northern Illinois. Defensive lineman David Hill is just beginning to earn major college scholarship offers but he’ll likely be a power conference player.

“(Gamble) practices hard, practices physical. He does everything you want,” McAllister said. “The great thing about David is that he’s just touching the surface of who he’s going to be. He’s just a sophomore.” 

McAllister was most recently at Sandburg. He guided the Eagles to a 19-20 record over four seasons, ending a six-year postseason drought and making the playoffs three times. 

H-F will play Sandburg on Sept. 26. That will be an interesting week for McAllister. 

“I have some great memories of Sandburg football. The young men in that program I obviously coached for a lot of years,” he said. “It’ll be an emotional night for me but once the game starts everybody gets locked in and focused on what we’ve got to do.” 

McAllister was at Phillips Academy for 10 years before that, taking a team that hadn’t made the postseason since 1985 to a pair of state championships and a runner-up finish. 

One thing he’s learned during his time coaching different types of kids in different types of places is that every teenager has their own sets of problems. Understanding that helps him build trust, which helps him coach. 

“Some kids you can be tougher on, whether it’s inside of them or parental upbringing. Some kids just need a little more love,” McAllister said. “It’s just about figuring out what makes each young man tick. At the end of the day, we’re going to ask a lot of them, maybe things that they didn’t think they could accomplish. We’ve got to find a way to motivate them.” 

Neither of his previous stops is exactly like H-F, where resources and facilities rival almost anywhere in the state. That offers advantages like having a locker room and training space near the field and practice facilities so players and coaches can get to practice that much quicker. 

Strength and conditioning coordinator Adam Vogel provides metrics about each athlete, in addition to maximizing their abilities. If coaches are looking for a player with explosive speed or a specific physical trait, Vogel can tell them who on the roster fits. 

“The district is super supportive of athletics and with that, there’s expectations because you’ve got a community that’s supporting programs financially and they want to see a good product,” McAllister said. 

The experience of the last two Vikings coaches, Terrell Alexander and Craig Buzea, means a lot of the basics were taken care of before McAllister even arrived, he said. 

Now it’s just about putting in the work.

“Following behind them was great because systems were put in place,” he said. “We’ve put in our structure and how we do things. For me, now it’s just getting the young men to know me, me getting to know them and everybody getting into the new structure and flow of things.”