Plymouth High School offensive coordinator Marquis Mosely has some pretty serious credentials -- both on the gridiron and off.

  A former three-year letter-winning receiver at the University of Illinois and one at Illinois State, where he earned a nod as a first-team All-Gateway Conference player after hauling in 61 passes as a senior in 1997, Mosely has served as an assistant coach at Northern Illinois University, Army and the University of Miami.

  Last year, Mosely was an offensive coaching intern with the Indianapolis Colts.

  A track star in high school, the speedy Mosely can do more than fly around an oval as he is also a commercial pilot.

  Mosely spent a few moments following Monday's practice answering a few questions from PlymouthCantonSports.com's Ed Wright.

  ED WRIGHT: What led you from the Indianapolis Colts to Plymouth High School?

  MARQUIS MOSELY: My wife (Stacy) is an associate athletic director at Oakland University, so we're up here and having a good time. We enjoy the area...other than the weather during the wintertime (smile). This is my first

opportunity to coach high school ball and it's been a lot of fun. I enjoy working with the young kids and seeing them progress. Hopefully, we can keep this rolling.

  EW: What was the biggest adjustment as far as coaching in the NFL to the high school level?

  MM: The major difference obviously is the speed of the game. You're dealing with the top athletes in the world at that level, so everything is so much faster. The parity is pretty close at that level, too. You're dealing with true professionals, too. There are things they don't have to worry about, i.e., classes and other off-the-field issues. They know if they mess around, they're going to get fined or cut.

  Coaching in high school is a lot like being a father figure to 50 or 60 kids. You have to have a lot of patience, but it's a lot of fun. Coach Sawchuk runs a very disciplined program, so it makes it fairly easy for us as a staff. The kids do what they're asked to do.

  EW: Do you see any Peyton Manning-like characteristics in your quarterback, Shaun Austin?

  MM: I've tried to instill what I've learned with my other coaching jobs with Shaun. He's really come a long way this season. He doesn't have the strongest arm, he may not be the tallest kid out there or the strongest one, but he's got it between the ears. When you have a kid like that at the quarterback position, it makes things a lot easier for me because he knows who to throw the ball to, he makes the right reads, he knows our checks up front.

  We come a lot further offensively than I thought we would this season, and a lot of that is due to Shaun. We told him before the season  that he'd have an opportunity to earn the quarterback position and he's taken it on full bore.

  EW: How much fun is it to calling plays?

  MM: It's a challenge at times because you only have 25 seconds on that clock to get the thing going. I'm getting advice and suggestions from the other coaches in my headset. The thing I write down on my call sheet on Friday nights is, 'Trust your thoughts.' There's a reason why I have things placed where they're at on my call sheet. I can't start free-styling and calling plays off the cuff. My job is putting the game plan together from Monday through Thursday. Friday is the night to go out and have fun.