Photos by Kevin Nagle
As fall practice got underway on Monday, Bryant Hornets head coach Paul Calley watching for the buy-in from his players.
“I thought that our senior class, as a whole, has come back really committed,” he stated. “They are focused. The first three-and-a-half hours of practice, they’re focused. The last hour and a half, they start to lose it a little bit.
“But I think they all have the same common goal,” the coach related. “They want to win another conference championship and they want something more. I told them, ‘Don’t talk about that around me until you can put in the extra time and the extra effort continually.’ That’s what’s going to get you there.”
The Hornets have won or shared in three of the last four league titles. They’ve moved to a revised Central Conference this season with fellow 7A members, Conway, Little Rock Catholic and Van Buren, along with strong 6A programs Alma, Greenwood, Russellville and Siloam Springs.
“It was the shortest summer that I ever remember,” mentioned Calley who is entering his 12th season as head coach at Bryant. “It was the first time I had multiple people take the conditioning test. They only had to make 12 days out of 15 and we had 14 that had to run the conditioning test. It’s questionable about the commitment to the program on the part of some people.
“On the bright side, the ones that really matter right now had a great summer,” he stated. “They were here when they were supposed to be here.
“I thought we ran really well the last time we ran in July,” the coach added. “As a team, we got after it pretty good. That’s the one thing about this group, overall, we run better than any group we’ve ever had. We lack a little bit in the strength department. There’s no substitute for speed. I’ve had both and I’ve seen both work against me. I think the speed is what I’d rather have if I had to choose.”
The team is practicing each morning this week. They’ve been in shorts and helmets. They’ll add shoulder pads on Wednesday then go to full pads next week. Monday and Friday of next week will remain on the morning schedule but, with teacher in-service Tuesday through Thursday, practice will move to the evenings from 5 to 8.
“We’ve been going three hours with two short breaks in there,” Calley said. “We put shoulder pads on tomorrow and we’ll probably cut the practice schedule back just a little bit, take five minutes here, five minutes there and pick up the tempo a little bit.
“I’m glad the weather is not cooler,” he added. “I know that sounds crazy but sometimes you really don’t have a gauge of what kind of shape your team is in. With heat like this, going into the afternoon, it’s going to be hot and I think conditioning is going to show.”
Asked about the focus of the early practices, the coach said, “Offensively, we are re-installing what we did in the spring. We’re doing a lot of teaching, a lot of walking, a lot of talking, a lot of finer points as we’re re-installing. Some of it we have comprehended well. Some of it we haven’t.
“It’s the grind of practice, the mental capability to stay focused,” he reiterated. “When we make mistakes, we’re off in la-la land or somewhere, thinking about something else. If we can keep them on task, they’re a pretty solid group.”
The short summer included a pair of 7-on-7 competitions and a team camp.
“We played really poorly at the (Pulaski) Robinson 7-on-7,” Calley recalled. “We turned around and played better competition, I thought, at Malvern in July and went undefeated. We had some guys that really improved over a month and didn’t even practice. So I think a lot of it’s mental. We made plays when we had to against some really talented teams.
“We also went to a team camp at Russellville where we competed really hard and did some good things,” he continued. “We made a lot of mistakes but we were just coming out of the dead period. Overall, we were all pleased.”
More and more coaches are turning to team camps for their summer work as Calley explained, “Seven-on-seven is not real football. You get to throw and catch and that’s good but at a team camp, it’s football practice. You can’t wear (football) pants but we ended up tackling to the ground at Russellville and it ends up full speed. And you get to practice against four or five different teams, which give you four of five different looks, which will prepare you down the road.”
The upcoming schedule of events includes a Booster Club fundraiser, a spirit night at Logan’s Roadhouse from 4 p.m. to close on Tuesday, Aug. 12.
On Friday, Aug. 22, the annual Fan Fair will be held featuring scrimmages involving the eighth grade, nine grade, junior varsity and varsity teams. It will also be media day with team and individual photos being taken starting at 4:30 with the Bryant White and Bryant Blue eighth grade photos. As the eighth grade teams scrimmage starting at 5:15, the ninth grade photos will be taken. The freshmen will scrimmage starting at 6 p.m., while the junior varsity photos are taken. At 6:30, the JV scrimmages while the varsity pictures are taken. The varsity scrimmage will begin at 7.
The Hornets preseason benefit scrimmage will be at Pulaski Academy on Tuesday, Aug. 26, at 6 p.m. The regular season commences on Friday, Sept. 5, with the annual Salt Bowl against Benton at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
