Wildcats wrap up first week of practice
El Dorado finished up the week of football practice with an evening session on Thursday followed by a morning practice on Friday. The Wildcats dressed in shoulder pads the final three days.
Next week, full contact will be allowed.
El Dorado coach Steven Jones said this week was focused on competition, especially in the areas of throwing and passing and pass defense.
“It was good. We've been able to accomplish a lot. We got a lot of reps. Our kids have really done a good job of moving drill to drill so that we can get as many repetitions as we can in the amount of time given. I've been glad to see how hard they've worked just to get extra reps in,” Jones said after Thursday's practice.
“We've been able to do a lot of pass skel this week just to see the back end of the defense and how the linebackers react to underneath stuff. The secondary is getting to see deep routes and react to quick screens. The receivers are finally getting to go against somebody other than the air. That's been a big emphasis this week.”
The coach said sophomore receiver Deandra Burns had a productive week.
“He looked really good,” said Jones. “He's going to have a chance to be a big player for us. He's got great top-end speed. He's shown he'll go and get the deep ball.”
The team put on helmets for the first time on Monday and donned shoulder pads on Wednesday.
“We're just trying to get used to them. You have three days so you can still only make contact with blocking dummies and sleds,” Jones said. “Hopefully we'll get to move forward with Monday being full contact.”
Jones said he doesn't anticipate any limitations when it comes to contact.
“At this point our bodies are ready for contact. I don't have any concerns safety-wise,” he said. “The kids have done a good job the last two months of getting our bodies back to where they need to be in the weight room. We worked a lot of injury-prevention-type lifts into our schedule. We really feel like strength-wise, our bodies are ready for a football season.”
This week was focused on the perimeter. Next week, the coaches will take a long look at the interior of the team.
“We want to see what we have up front. We've got to have those guys go against each other and see who can block and who on the defensive side of the ball can get off a block and make a play. More than anything else, we're looking forward to the inside portion of next week with the offensive and defensive linemen.”
Jones said he hopes to see some full-contact 11-on-11 next week but that's still a work in progress.
As far as the schedule, it will still be up-and-down. The Wildcats will practice Monday and Tuesday at 3 p.m. but will go at 6 a.m. on Wednesday due to in-service. Thursday's practice is scheduled for 3 p.m. and Friday's practice is slated for 8 a.m.
“It's just all the things that go with starting school back up,” said Jones. “We're having to adjust to some things, but our kids are doing a good job and showing up and adjusting their schedule, too.”