By Rob Patrick
Fully aware that Benton wasn’t going to give too much away in its scrimmage on Tuesday night just as Bryant hadn’t on Monday, the Bryant coaches nonetheless began game-planning for the Salt Bowl on Wednesday.
And, as defensive coordinator Steve Griffith put it, “The mention of the Panthers really added some life to practice.”
The preparations commenced after the staff and the players broke down the video from Monday’s scrimmage against Pine Bluff.
“We were very pleased with the effort and hustle,” Griffith said of the defense. “We started working today on correcting a few problems with technique, but overall the play of was pretty solid.”
Head coach Paul Calley said of the offense, “I thought we executed well at times. You know, we popped some big plays, had some crucial third down conversions.
“On the plays we didn’t do so well, we had one breakdown and it wasn’t a mental breakdown, it was physical,” he reported. “We’re just not taking the right step, getting the gaps cut off and we were getting thrown around some too. It wasn’t because we missed a block. We were where we were supposed to be, we just got pushed around because we’re standing up. We’ve got to learn to stay low.”[more]
Pine Bluff ran back a kickoff for a touchdown and had a second score set up by a long return in the scrimmage but Calley asserted that lessons had been learned by the coverage teams.
“We had some special teams breakdowns that, of course, can be corrected,” he said. “We just hadn’t seen the speed that Pine Bluff had and we were out of position especially on the kickoff return.
“That’s exactly why I wanted to do it live in the scrimmage and not wait until the first game before we went live,” he added, “because we’ve got to see the speed of the game and we have mistakes that we have to correct. We know that going in. You never want to give up a touchdown but I think our guys now know that, when you’re out of position two steps, that’s what can happen. But we can fix all that.
“We’ve had some injuries and we’re going to have to move some people around,” he stated. “There will be some that will have to play on both sides of the ball. That’s not what we want to do.”
Calley mentioned Logan Garland, Samille Watson, Brady Butler and Brandon Parish playing in the secondary and at wide receiver.
“Landon Pickett and Ben Seale both played well at guard but they’re also going to have to play some defense,” he added. “We’re having a hard time finding practice time to get these guys ready (to do both).”
“Tyson Abernathy, a guy we were counting on at tight end was injured,” he reported. “He didn’t play the other night so we had to use Josh Hampton and Blake Heil, who play d-end, in those slots.”
Calley took the opportunity to tease Bryant school superintendent Dr. Richard Abernathy about the injury, saying, “(Tyson) got hurt when Dr. Abernathy took him skiing. So Dr. Abernathy is on probation. If he does anything else to let his son get hurt, we may have to suspend him.”
All of that notwithstanding, the coach said he was pleased with execution of the second and third teams on Monday.
“We moved the ball, both of them,” he noted. “And we didn’t give up much defensively. That’s a tribute to our coaches to have three groups that can execute on both sides of the ball.”
The Hornets will actually have a junior varsity game before the varsity opens the season this year which will give those second and third team players another opportunity to impress their coaches. The JV plays at Pine Bluff on Monday, Aug. 31. Of course, the varsity opener against Benton in the Salt Bowl at War Memorial Stadium is Friday, Sept. 4.
