Coach's Corner: Frank Fillip
Colorado landed a big time offensive tackle commitment last Friday from Houston (Texas) Clear Lake 2018 prospect Frank Fillip. CUSportsNation.com spoke with Larry McCrae, who is the head coach of Clear Lake High School.
McCrae played football for Baylor and graduated from there in 2000. He had stints coaching at Baylor and Sam Houston State as a graduate assistant. He took the head coaching job at Clear Lake last spring after a long stint as an offensive coordinator at Manvel High School.
What are your thoughts on just how good Frank Fillip is?
McCrae: "When I first got here last year, I saw a big, tall kid that was really lean. He was probably 230 or 235. Coming over from where I was at Manvel, we had a pretty good run of offensive line kids. Offensive line is always coached and what I've dealt with the most. So when I saw Frank, I was like, 'Wow, look at this guy.' He already had some tools and just needed to work at all of them.
"As an O-line guy, I know that you can't coach them to be long, and he's a long kid. I knew we could transform him a little bit and put some weight on him. His progression this year - he learned some of my O-line stuff. He blossomed a little bit and started playing really, really well. As far as his overall nastiness, that's going to be something that everyone sees this year. They're going to see that in him now, because that's what has been our focus this offseason.
"In January, I want to say he was 245, and when we weighed him in April, after a good, long, and hard offseason, he was 278. I think when he visited Colorado, I think they said he was 6-6 281 or 282 (pounds). He's a long kid and he works his butt off.
"My favorite thing that he does now is how well he gets down on his hips. He power cleaned 285 or 290, which for a kid with long leverage like that is impressive. When I first got my hands on him, I think he was benching 225 or 230 maybe, and the last time we maxed him, he did 315 or 320, I think. His squat is kind of the same deal. He was just a raw, blank template strength-wise, and he's unlocked that potential. With that newfound strength comes newfound confidence, and I think people will see that next year.
Were you surprised that he committed to Colorado? It seemed like it happened really fast.
McCrae: "A little bit. He analyzes stuff and he's a smart kid. He has an Ivy League demeanor to him, I guess you could say. I told a lot of coaches that he's also not a social media warrior or anything. Periodically, I would check in with him and say, 'Hey, did anyone follow you today?' And he'd say, 'I haven't looked yet.' So I had him take his phone out and look at it right then and 20 new coaches would have followed him.
"Central Arkansas offered him first and then he kind of had his heart set on the Ivy League, and that was kind of new to him. He and his dad went to Harvard and visited, and I don't know if it didn't jive with him or whatever, but he came back from that a little bit disappointed. So I told him that Rice was down the road, have you ever thought about Rice? He said that Rice could be a dream school. He got the offer from Rice, visited there, and loved it. Every school that came through and April said, 'Dangit, we should've offered that kid in January. They saw how his body changed in that short amount of time.
"Baylor came in and offered him right away. He got a lot of traffic through here during the spring. Colorado kind of came in relatively late; their coach came in and offered him. I told Frank that it never hurts to look at your options, and if you can go visit a place that you're intrigued with, then go visit it. That was Colorado for him. He went to Rice, he went to Baylor, and with the Baylor one, I tried to stay more on the edges with it because I played at Baylor. I didn't want him to feel like I was pressuring him one way or the other. I told his mom that maybe he goes out to Colorado and falls in love with it, and she said, 'It's so funny that you say, that because he did.'
"I went on a visit to Colorado when I was being recruited, and he has been to three of the five places I visited - Rice, Baylor, and Colorado. He texted me and said that Colorado is the place for him. I think his exact words were 'I need to be at Colorado.' To answer your question shortly, it was a little bit of a shocker, but that's how it is in recruiting. Kids see a place and they fall in love with it. He's a smart kid too; I know he looked up a lot about Colorado and analyzed it. For him, he felt really comfortable with the coaching staff. That was big for him."
Your team didn't have a dream season last year by any stretch, but how important was Frank for the offense and how do you expect him to perform this season?
McCrae: "Like I was saying earlier, I think our work in the offseason will pay off. This is the first full offseason I've had with the team. The moment that the season ended last November, we were getting after it that next Monday. That's going to pay dividends for the whole team, especially Frank. I think Frank is going to get nasty with people this year and come out of his shell. We'll depend on him and we expect him to take care of a defensive end on one side. We are moving him over to left tackle this year, so that will be a transition for him, but he's been working it all spring."
Do you have an idea of how well he'll fit in at Colorado on the field?
McCrae: "I think he'll fit in there. Last year, I know they had a great season. I've hung around coach (MacIntyre) when they've done camps in Houston. From what I know about them and what coach is trying to build there, I think Frank fits right into that. He was here bright and early this morning at 7:30 for our summer workout program. He had a sleeveless Colorado football shirt on. He was ready to get after it.
"He's one of those types of guys. He's working hard everyday after school - lifting weights and he's become a little bit more vocal. I think that fits in with the type of mentality that coach MacIntyre is trying to build at Colorado. He's a real selfless kid and he's not into flashiness. He's just about getting to work."
So he's the opposite of a diva recruit?
McCrae: "Oh absolutely. He's a no nonsense type of guy. With your O-lineman, that's what you want - just grow a big beard, get strong, and get after that. He's about that."
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