Jones hoping SHS will have better day two
As the sun began to set over the visiting bleachers at Starkville High School on Monday night, Chris Jones addressed his team with a hint of disappointment in his voice following the first practice.
Jones has lofty expectations set for his team and excuses aren't welcome. He's not worried about this year's group of players and how the end result will come, but he knows he expects a little more than he got in a rusty couple of hours at Yellowjacket stadium.
“It looked like a day one," Jones said. "Hopefully day two will be better. We'll get better, but we've got to emphasize getting better. We don't want to be mediocre and we won't accept that. You can't take plays off.”
Jones did mention post practice that there were players out with injury and some that hadn't yet gotten a physical that caused a good amount of confusion for some players forced into roles they haven't been in to this point.
A player not included in that injury report was welcomed back for his first fall practice since a season ago when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament. Running back Rodrigues Clark is just a junior in classification, but players huddled around the young athlete and listened to his
post-practice comments about the effort that the team needed to produce every day.
Clark told teammates about the will to win and what it would take to get to that point.
Now that he's completely healthy in his words, he needs his teammates to follow his lead and that starts in practice preparation.
“It's all about energy," Clark said. "If we come out playing in the weight room, I know that we're going to have a bad day on the practice field. Last year I watched Willie Gay and how he was a leader. When the team wasn't listening to him, we fell short.”
The team is back on the practice field today for the final day in shorts and helmets. The team will hold a “Midnight Madness” event on Friday night to usher in full contact practices coinciding with a midnight scrimmage open to the public.
All Jones wants out of his team over the next few weeks is to focus on themselves and how they can get better. There is no worries about Noxubee County and the game plan for that game until they get themselves ready.
“These first couple of weeks will be all about us," Jones said. "We won't game plan for anyone else, it's all about us and making sure we do what we do best. We want to make sure that we're in game shape come August 18.”