For a program that hasn’t experienced too many significant changes over the last five-plus decades, Geneseo High School’s football team will take the field for its season opener on Friday with a new head coach, a new offense and a new defense.
Matt Furlong makes his debut as varsity head coach after a long, successful run at Cary-Grove High School. Over the last six years, which he spent as the varsity team’s defensive coordinator, the Trojans won state championships in 2018, 2021 and 2023. Now, the Davenport-native has a program of his own.
Furlong was back and forth between Cary-Grove and Geneseo throughout the spring to meet coaches and players, and get a better understanding of the Green Machine program. Among his early priorities was to begin defining his culture and setting expectations.
“One of the first things we wanted to do was work on getting to the point where we are competing consistently at a high level and learning to finish everything we do, whether it is a set in the weightroom or a drill on the field,” said Furlong. “We need our guys to compete until the end.”
Another major emphasis during summer workouts and leading up to the first practice on August 12 was installing a new offense and defense.
“We worked on the fundamentals and drills that will be part of our core in terms of what we do moving forward,” Furlong said. “We’ve tried to get our staff and our players familiar with the basics of the offense and defense and other key things we’ll be using week in and week out.”
Geneseo’s opening game against Chicago Noble/Comer on Friday at Bob Reade Field will be its first official chance to show off its new look. As for the Green Machine defense, Furlong likes that it will be what he describes as “adaptable.”
“Based on the teams we’ll be facing, we can adapt our defensive schemes to counteract what our opponents are trying to do,” Furlong explained. “We will also base it upon the year and skillset of our own guys. We’re still in the early version of where we want to be. At Cary-Grove, our defense was something we started developing in 2010 and especially my last six seasons. A lot of what we did defensively there are things that we’ll get to down the road here.”
Geneseo’s offense, meanwhile, will feature a hybrid of traditional and new elements.
“We’ll run a blend of what we did at Cary-Grove with a flexbone and option, plus some of what has been done at Geneseo in the past with the wing T,” Furlong stated. “We feel that fits the personnel we have and is something different. You don’t see it as much anymore within our conference and even the state of Illinois. It gives us the ability to do something that teams will have to prepare for differently than what they do most weeks.”
Furlong added, “Our starting quarterback will be a junior, Jackson McAvoy. In our offense, like most offenses, the quarterback will be a big part of what we do when it comes to making reads and checks at the line. Jackson has really taken a hold of that and helped grow the offense these last couple of weeks.”
When Furlong was hired in January, he spoke about the importance of evolving and growing as a program. In the spring, he worked diligently to assess the Geneseo football and understand what has been done in the past in order to determine what will factor into what he’d like to do. Over the summer, he implemented leadership courses for his players.
“We worked with our seniors and juniors on what it takes to be a good leader, whether that is by example or by being vocal,” said Furlong. “We want them to not only lead themselves but encourage teammates and bring them along as well. That has been a big point of emphasis as we try to create our own culture.”
Now that the season has arrived, Furlong and his staff will focus more on the core messages they want to deliver.
“We’ll talk about execution, whether that is mentally, offensively or defensively. We want to know our assignments and eliminate penalties and turnovers,” Furlong explained. “We’re going to talk about pad level, as we’ll play a lot of teams who will be bigger than us. We’ll have to adjust how we play and offset the size difference. Then it goes back to finishing, which we stressed in the summer when it came to the weightroom and on the field. We will also talk about being relentless. We feel like if we can do those things and execute, the relentless aspect will come naturally and allow us as a program to compete in the Western Big 6 year in and year out. But we’ve got to be willing to do what it takes.”
Furlong understands it's about more than Xs and Os in Geneseo. He’s tasked with carrying on the Green Machine’s rich football tradition while putting his stamp on the historic program and aligning it with his vision for the future. In order to do that, he had to first look back.
“I’ve made an effort to learn from a lot of people in the community, going back to Coach [Bob] Reade’s teams of the ‘60s and ‘70s,” said Furlong. “I’ve also talked to guys who played more recently to understand more about the different teams and traditions. We’ll carry over quite a few things and maybe bring a few old things that haven’t been done in recent years back. And, I may bring in a few things that we did at Cary-Grove.”
When asked about goals for the coming season, Furlong kept it simple.
“In year one, I want to see improvement as we go,” he said. “There will be a lot of new schemes on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. We’ve got a young group and want to see continued progress. We don’t have much experience back at the varsity level, so there will be some growing pains. It’s going to be a process that we go through, and each week, we have to keep making strides.”
Action photos courtesy of Garrett Newman/GeneseoFootball.com
2024 Geneseo Varsity Football Schedule
08/30/2024 7:00 PM Noble/Comer (Home)
09/06/2024 7:00 PM Clinton (WI) (Away)
09/13/2024 7:00 PM Moline (Home)
09/20/2024 6:45 PM United Township (Away)
09/27/2024 7:00 PM Galesburg (Home)
10/04/2024 7:00 PM Sterling (Away)
10/11/2024 7:00 PM Dolton Thornridge (Home - Homecoming & Hall of Fame)
10/18/2024 7:00 PM Quincy (Home - Senior Night)
10/25/2024 7:00 PM Rock Island (Away)
The Class of 2026 will be selling football t-shirts for $15 each at the Green Machine’s season opener on Friday, August 30. Stop by the sales table near the concession stand from 6:30 to 8:00 to get yours!
