Work being done on practice field
Even during the Arkansas Activities Association-mandated two-week dead period, El Dorado’s football program has been kicking up a lot of dirt this summer - literally. The Wildcats are adding turf and a cover to the football practice field at the high school.
They’re moving dirt, right now,” El Dorado coach Scott Reed said on Tuesday. “We’re getting turf on one of the practice fields and a cover. We’re not getting an indoor but we’re getting a practice field turf. If you look at what UAB built, instead of a wall, it’s going to be open underneath.”
Reed said the structure will be, approximately, 50 feet high and hopes it will be ready by November.
“You can throw passes. I don’t know that you can kick off or punt. I’m not sure, yet. It’s about the same height as any other indoor,” he said. “It’s going to help in off-season in January, February, March, when it’s cold outside and you can’t get out and tear up your grass field. We’ll have a place to go. Also, it’s going to help in the real hot summer when you have a cover over you.
“We’re fired up. I think everybody in our league has an indoor that they can get to. This way, hopefully we won’t lose the training days in the off-season.”
When it’s completed, El Dorado will have two places to work out in inclement weather, along with the Barton Indoor Athletic Facility, also known as the Scooter Dome.
“There’s so much usage for the Scooter Dome. Barton is there the last two periods of the day. And then, you have baseball, softball, track and soccer,” said Reed.
“Everybody schedules it when the weather is bad. This will give us another spot.”
Before the dead period began, the Wildcats were busy on the field with several camps, both individual and team.
“Individually, we’ve had two kids already offered. Jeremy Boone (offensive tackle) and Calab Scott (safety) have both been offered by Ouachita. I think Shun Levingston is getting some interest, also,” Reed said.
“Possibly some other kids will get looked at, too, depending on what kind of year we have and how good they play.”
Reed said seven Wildcats attended offensive line and defensive line camp at OBU. Most of the team participated in a team camp and a 7-on-7 at Ouachita. El Dorado won a 7-on-7 at Camden Fairview with the JV Wildcats advancing to the semifinals.
Reed said Dalton Perdue, Thomas Crawford, Gavin Heustis, Jacoby Hankton, Cameron Deal, Tristan Seabolt and Jeremy Boone went to UCA Camp. Scott, Perdue, Crawford, Deal, Levingston and Keontae Larry went to the Mega Camp in Memphis.
Scott, Larry and Alex Hicks went to two-day camp at Arkansas. Scott, Larry and Levingston went to the LSU camp the next week. Other Wildcats participated in a camp at Louisiana Tech.
“Our bunch has been busy,” Reed said. “Shun has done real well at camps. I’ve watched him and thought he did really good. He’s ran some 4.5’s when they timed him in forties. That’s going to help him.”
The dead period continues through this week. Next week, El Dorado will host its own 7-on-7 tournament on Friday, July 13.
“We had so many to replace but we have had a real good first half to the summer,” said Reed. “I hope our kids have worked hard over the two-week break because we’re going to hit it running with the 7-on-7 the Friday we get back. I think we’ll have some more camp stuff the kids will go to. The first half of the summer, I’m really pleased. I think we’ve made a lot of progress. I think we’re going to have some real competitive spots as far as position play. I think there’s going to be a lot of competition to get on the field this year.”