BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Spring practices are underway for high school football teams in Florida, with each coach focusing on something different as their players get an early taste of pads and helmets before the start of fall practices in August.
Union County is participating in a shorter spring than Bradford and Keystone Heights as the Tigers will travel to play The Villages in a game on Friday, May 13, at 7 p.m. Union is coming off a 10-3 season in which it fell just short of winning the Region 3-1A championship, losing by two points to Chiefland. An unsuccessful two-point conversion in the final minute prevented the Tigers from tying the score.
Keystone, which hosts Middleburg on Monday, May 23, at 7 p.m., is coming off the best season in school history. The Indians went 10-2 and won the first playoff game in program history.
Bradford will host Oakleaf on Friday, May 27, at 6:30 p.m. The Tornadoes, who went 6-6 and qualified for the playoffs for the seventh straight year, are having to adapt to a new head coach.
A transitional spring
Jamie Rodgers has taken over as Bradford’s head coach after Brian Tomlinson was relieved of his duties. Therefore, he and his staff are in the midst of implementing new schemes.
“First and foremost, we’ve got to get our systems in, offense and defense,” Rodgers said of the main goal this spring.
Learning new systems impacted a scrimmage the Tornadoes had on May 7, with Rodgers saying, “We had to stop and coach a lot more than what we will by the time August gets here.”
Rodgers said his evaluation of his team’s scrimmage performance, as he watched it in real time, will most likely change upon further review.
“When I watch the film, it probably won’t be as bad as I thought; it’s probably not going to be as good as I thought at times,” he said immediately following the scrimmage. “Just watching it with the naked eye, there were some things I thought we did really, really good, and then there were some things I think we need to work on.
“Today’s our fourth day in pads, so I expected it to be a little sloppy at times, but for the most part, the guys are getting after it and working hard.”
Rodgers said he and his staff already know which players are going to fill some positions, but the spring game will help in their overall evaluation.
“We’re blessed with some skilled players, so we kind of know who’s kind of near the top,” Rodgers said, “but there are a lot of positions that are open. A lot of that will be determined the rest of the spring, and then we’ll get a lot of film against Oakleaf on May 27.”
The younger players for Bradford and Oakleaf will play each other to start the May 27 game. Rodgers said varsity level players will probably take the field between 7:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Rodgers said one of the top goals of the spring game is for his team to come away healthy. Another is for his players to live up to his standard of playing hard all the time.
“If I look on the film, and I see somebody loafing or not going hard, I’m going to be upset,” he said. “By the time we get 10, 11 or 12 more practices under our belts, they’ll need to be up to our standard and how hard we want to play.”
Time to get tough
While Bradford is adjusting to a new coach, Union is in “midseason” form, according to Head Coach Andrew Thomas, alluding to the fact that his team consists of a lot of returning players.
“We’ve got an experienced team, so we’re a lot deeper in the playbook right now than we were a year ago,” Thomas said. “That’s always good when you’re not at the basic steps of just installing stuff.”
The goal is for the players to perfect what they’ve already learned during their time in the program.
Another goal focuses on the Tigers’ style of play.
“For me, the spring is about developing a toughness about us,” Thomas said. “We’re going to hit a lot in practice and try to get physical and get our kids ready for that mentality.”
Therefore, when he looks at what would constitute a win in the spring game aside from what’s on the scoreboard, Thomas said it’s to see his players demonstrate the physicality he’s wanting.
“If we play well, but we play soft, that’s going to disappoint me,” Thomas said.
He also expects to see his team play in a way that demonstrates its experience.
“With the team we’ve got, it’s being crisp, not being sloppy,” Thomas said. “Even though it’s spring, I feel like we’ve got enough experience that we ought to be able to be smooth in what we do for the most part.”
The Tigers have high expectations after last season. Thomas thinks he’s got a team that’s capable of meeting those expectations, but there’s a lot of work to do still.
“This team’s got a chance to be good,” Thomas said. “We’re not good yet. We haven’t done anything, but I think we can develop some depth, which will go a long way in getting us to where we want to be in December next year.”
Teaching technique
For Keystone Head Coach Chuck Dickinson, the spring involves a lot of teaching. One of the things he believes his team needs to do to have a chance at success is to be strong. Another is to be fundamentally sound in its play.
“We try to teach our kids the most we can about technique,” Dickinson said. “For us, we’ve got to be good at that.”
As in recent years, the Indians will most likely rely on players to play multiple positions. Therefore, it’s important to identify what different positions a player can fill and be good in. That sometimes involves taking a returning starter and trying him somewhere new.
“You have a great idea of where kids can play, but I like trying kids at different positions that might work out for us,” Dickinson said. “A prime example is Trey Jeffries working at fullback right now on the offensive side of the ball. Last year, he was mainly a D-lineman, O-lineman.”
The Indians want to win their spring game against Middleburg, of course, but Dickinson knows that the result in spring doesn’t determine what happens in the fall.
“Last year, we got beat 21-0, but that had no bearing on the season,” Dickinson said, adding, “Yeah, you want to win. It’s important to try to win. We’re going to play to win, but for me, it’s more about getting kids on the field and making sure there’s nobody we missed out here (in practices) who can contribute.”
A spring football game is just one more activity in a busy month for high schools.
“There are so many things going on at this time of year, so I’m more concerned with the individual technique and making sure the kids learn what we’re trying to instill in them,” Dickinson said.
Dickinson said a lot of eighth-graders are participating in practices. The spring game can show how many of those players can be contributors as freshmen. Dickinson used Tyler Duncan as an example. Duncan was a starter at offensive guard every game last year as a ninth-grader.
“As an eighth-grader, he got reps in the spring game,” Dickinson said.
