Mills finds class drop to liking
The eighth in a series previewing Pulaski County high school football teams
Mills never left Pulaski County to play a game last fall, yet it was still a long season for the Comets, particularly defensively.
Mills finished 2-8 overall and 1-6 in the travel-friendly 5A-Central (seven of the eight schools were in Pulaski County). The Comets allowed 43.2 points per game.
Patrick Russell, entering his 12th season as coach at Mills, said the Comets will be “hardpressed” not to be better defensively this fall, adding that
2017 was
“about as bad a year as I’ve ever had defensively.”
“Every time we went on the field last year, we were definitely on a tilted field,” Russell said. “We just didn’t match up numbers-wise, talent-wise.”
Russell expects to have about 40 players again this fall, but a thin roster could be offset by a drop to Class 4A for the 2018-2020 cycle. Mills has been placed in 2-4A, which produced a three-way tie for the championship last fall (Southside Batesville, Stuttgart and Heber Springs).
“It will help us with the numbers,” Russell said.
Russell said he hopes eight returning starters four on each side of the ball and several promising newcomers can help Mills reach the playoffs for the first time since 2013.
Junior Braelon Adams (62, 200 pounds) is expected to start at quarterback after transferring from Little Rock Hall. Adams accounted for three touchdowns in Hall’s 28-12 season-opening victory over Little Rock Fair last year.
Russell noted the program’s revolving door at
quarterback since option specialist Omar Avance, a threeyear starter, led the Comets to a 9-3 record and the Class 5A quarterfinals as a senior in 2013. Mills has not had a returning starter at quarterback since then, Russell said, and used five at that position last fall in its transition from a run-heavy Double-Slot scheme to the Spread.
Russell, who will call plays this season, said the hope is that Mills can one day incorporate triple-option plays from the Spread.
“My philosophy on the Spread, when you spread to run, is you better be able to throw it a little bit, too,” said Russell, a former defensive coordinator at Little Rock McClellan and head coach at Bearden. “You can take away the Spread run if you can’t throw it.”
He calls sophomore tailback/safety Lavell Carnell (511, 170) “one of the most exciting players we’ve had come here in a long time.” Senior Daivon Geter (6-0, 300) and junior Jacob Beman (6-0, 265) will help along both lines, Russell said. Geter didn’t play last season.
Russell said Mills will continue to run a 4-3 defense and tapped Jalen Garmon, a standout two-way lineman on the school’s 2010 Class 5A playoff quarterfinalist team, as coordinator. Garmon, a 2011 Mills graduate, played at the University of Arkansas-Monticello and previously coached at Wynne.
“We feel like when we get them all here, and get them all under the roof, we’ll have a chance to be competitive, just athletically,” Russell said. “If they’ll buy into things and come together like some of our teams in the past, we’ll have a chance to win some games.”