Hopefully you all read my story in today's paper about new Loudoun Valley coach Danny McGrath.

I was out at Valley yesterday evening and didn't have much of a chance to observe much more other than Danny and his coaching out on the field for the story. But what I can tell you is that I think he'll need some time to implement everything he has planned for the program. Just looking around at the positional splits on the field, I know he'll also be moving some kids around to positions where the team needs more depth and it's going to be an interesting process to watch.

I'll be out at some more training camps tomorrow and Friday and you'll get more of these "From the Notebook" series. In the meantime, I have a lot left in my notebook from the McGrath story as well, so I thought I'd share some of that:

Park View head coach Andy Hill on McGrath's "experience" and "knowledge":

I think he'll do real well. If somebody wants to be upset about his hiring based on his age that's just an ignorant response. I don't know how else to put it. If you look at somebody being an All-ACC academic player, being a leader, being a captain of a Top Ten team in the country. Coaching is so much more about leadership than it is about teaching technique. [Technical coaching is] assumed it's something you can do and he's a great technical coach. Football knowledge, if people are concerned about, if they sit down and talk to him for five minutes they'll see 'Okay, he's got more football knowledge than a lot of head coaches that have been doing it for 20, 25 years.' So that's not a knock on them, he's just that much of a technical guy.

Former VT teammate Brandon Gore on McGrath on and off the field:

He was a really good friend of ours. He was probably the best friend I had when I was there. We came in together and we left together. He's a good leader, good in the weight room, good on the field. Always a light-hearted guy. He took the job seriously but he didn't let it get to him. Off the field he was light-hearted, he was a great guy. ... When we played together, in our younger days he didn't speak up as much as other guys. But as we got older he became the vocal guy. Danny is a natural talker, he likes to talk. He can ease the tension very well. I think that makes him a great leader. People looked at him in many times anyways, so in tough times we looked at him to direct us.

Gore on a moment he can remember McGrath's leadership directing the team:

I remember one time during camp, last year of camp, we weren't doing very well. Me and him had a new coach and that was his first year so we were all trying to get used to coach Newsome, so we weren't all on the same page. So one day after practice Danny got up in front of everyone and told us all how it was and what needed to be done and how we were going to get it done. And if we weren't willing to get it done with him, he would find the guys willing to get it done with him. I think that kind of turned us around and the rest of the camp we had a pretty good camp and we had a pretty good season. He does a lot of little things like that.

Former VT teammate Jake Gibson on McGrath:

First of all on a personal note, Danny is a great friend. He has always been a guy you can count on. That is going to equate well as a coach. As a teammate he was one of those guys you could certainly count on to get things done and do whatever it took to win. I'm sure in the transition from being a player to a coach, that trait will help. ... I was older than Danny. We never looked at him as being one of the younger guys because he showed leadership all the time. I can't give you one specific moment, I just always saw him from day one as being a leader. He was the kind of guy that day one he stepped on campus, he was a hard worker and he gained the respect of his teammates and coaches right away.

Virginia Tech strength coach Mike Gentry on McGrath:

Danny came in as just a really tough guy that was a super hard worker. He was also intelligent and kind of used all those attributes to become a very good football player. He was the leader of our offensive line, he was able to coach a lot of guys as a player because he was smart. He definitely wasn't afraid to call out other players that weren't working up to his standards. I can see where he was preparing himself to coach even then.