By Rob Patrick
When the middle schools in the Bryant School District were split with each fielding its own separate athletic teams, it fell on the freshman coaches in each sport to bring former rivals together to form one team. The challenge is complicated by the fact that the rivalry between teams can often turn into a rivalry between players on the same team vying for playing time and starting assignments.[more]
Some years it’s easier than others.
In football, that’s a big part of fall practice, getting everybody on the same page, all for one and one for all — to get them to jell into one unit.
And that’s a lot of what Bryant freshman head football coach Kenny Horn wants to check out about his team when it scrimmages against Pine Bluff’s freshman team on Monday at 5 p.m., in Bryant Stadium.
The task will be hampered a bit by the fact that a handful Hornets players that figure to contribute significantly to the team this year, including starting quarterback Wesley Akers, are playing in the Babe Ruth World Series, though all will be back for game week leading up the Hornets’ season opener at Lake Hamilton on Thursday, Sept. 2.
The scrimmage will begin with each team working its second group through 15 or 20 plays. After a brief break, the first teams will scrimmage for 30 minutes with a running clock.
“I want to see us run to the football on defense,” Horn said. “On offense, all I want to see is effort. I just want to see us get out there and go. I’m not going to be concerned as much about ‘who-to’, I just want to see ‘how-to’.
“We just want to see who does what, see if we can execute some stuff and basically see how we do with our technique,” he added.
