Young guns join Carson High football coaching staff

Carson High’s football coaching staff has two new faces and got a lot younger in the process.

With veteran linebacker coach Shane Quilling stepping away from coaching after last year’s 5-5 record, head coach Blair Roman added former Carson High players Justin Barlow and Jake Myers to his staff. Both newcomers will work under the watchful eye of defensive coordinator Steve Dilley.

Barlow, a two-way all-league and region player from the 2009 team, will coach defensive tackles, and Myers, a starting guard and back-up defensive end from the 2011 squad, will coach defensive ends.

Both have coached in the Carson City Pop Warner program. Barlow helped coach the eighth-grade Unlimited team last year, a program started by Roman to prepare local student-athletes for high school football by replicating the Carson High system. Myers also coached in Pop Warner.

“It’s awesome,” Roman said when asked about former players returning to lend a hand. “It is definitely a little bit of an eye opener. These guys have become successful young men moving into their different careers. I talked to them, and they understand what it takes to be successful in our program.”

And, younger coaches certainly can relate to younger players probably a little better because they aren’t as far as removed from playing the game.

Barlow was a walk-on at University of Nevada, and then he transferred to California JC powerhouse College of San Mateo and played there for two years before finishing his college career by playing two years for Division II Fayetteville State in North Carolina.

“I had made it clear to coach Roman that I wanted to help with the program,” Barlow said. “I was helping coach the wrestling team, and he said he needed help with the eighth-grade developmental team. He wanted them to learn all the Carson plays.

“He told me he was trying to specialize with the defensive line and defensive ends, and I told him I would do it. I do love it.”

And it shows. Barlow brings enthusiasm and energy each and every day. He displays the same qualities he had when he was a player.

Barlow was one of the most dominant players in recent Carson High history. He was an intregal part of Carson’s success, a key figure in the 2009 championship squad.

“He was a special player,” Roman said. “If he had been a couple of inches taller, he would have been a Division I scholarship player. Justin sacrificed a lot to play at a high level.”

And Barlow has learned there’s more than one way to get things done.

“I’ve been coached by some of the best defensive line coaches in the country,” Barlow said. “I can teach techniques that sometimes high school players don’t have or haven’t seen.”

Myers helped coach offensive line two years ago in Pop Warner, and he fell in love with it.

“I love football,” Myers said. “I didn’t have a career after football like some guys, and this was a way to continue to do what I loved,” he said. “I want to make teaching (and coaching) a career. I’ve got to get through college first. I’m working full-time at Home Depot right now, and doing college one class at a time.

“I bring intensity and work ethic plus a sense of tradition.”

Roman agreed.

“Jake had a high football IQ,” said the CHS head coach. “He had to rely on smarts and quickness because he didn’t have size and strength like Justin.”

Myers admitted he gets blank stares when he tells players on this year’s team he played guard for the Senators.