High school football teams hit practice field

By MICHAEL CARVELL

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tucker High School, the reigning Class AAAA state champions, had 92 players sprint onto the field bright and early Saturday morning for the first day of Georgia’s football practices.

It has been more than nine months since the Tigers donned the helmet and pads, and it showed. Their opening practice was delayed for several minutes after the team’s coaches dealt with the annual problems of initial workouts.

“Just the same things you have every year, mainly with the younger kids,” Tucker coach Franklin Stephens said with a laugh.

“We had one young man walk in my office with his jersey, then he lost it just before we were about to go out. So we had everybody look all over the locker room for about 10 minutes.”

Tucker also had five players report without physicals, which is an issue that Stephens has been stressing for months. All five were held out of the morning practice, but two called their parents and asked them to rush the medical forms in time to participate in the afternoon drills.

Stephens gave a short pep talk to the team, which has lost 16 of 22 starters. “I told them ‘We’re not the same team as last year, and there are some traditions you are expected to uphold at Tucker High School. There are some big shoes to fill, and we’re about to find out who can fill them.’ ”

Most of the day was spent on football fundamentals, with an emphasis on tackling.

“I thought we looked good,” senior tailback Devin Scott said. “People are going to underestimate us because we lost so many players, but that’s OK ... we like surprising everybody every year.”

Here’s how opening day went for other metro teams:

● North Gwinnett was originally scheduled to be away at camp at Presbyterian College on Saturday, but funding problems forced the Bulldogs to stay at home.

Coach Bob Sphire attempted to set the tone for the preseason when he sent out the 90 players in helmets and shoulder pads for intense tackling sessions. “I’d give our team a C-minus for the day,” Sphire said. “We didn’t practice well. Sometimes when you go out that first day, the kids are wired up and then they aren’t used to contact.”

On a lighter moment, the players got a good laugh when the team’s five quarterbacks, including prized prospect C.J. Uzomah, had black non-contact jerseys with offensive linemen numbers. “C.J. had No. 62, and it just didn’t look right when he was under center taking snaps,” Sphire said.

● Riverwood had to give its players extra time during breaks because temperatures reached 102 degrees by 10:30 a.m.

“Safety is always our No. 1 priority, so we let the kids sit in the shade a little bit longer,” Riverwood coach Robert Ingram said. “We kind of played sluggish after that. We’ve got to finish stronger. But other than that, I’m happy with the effort of our kids.”

The Raiders were one of the state’s first teams to kick off workouts, having their opening practice a few minutes after midnight. With around a dozen parents watching, the 66 players practiced for two hours under the stadium lights before calling it a night. Ingram wanted to create excitement and a game-like atmosphere for the first practice.

The team spent the night in the school gym, with lights turned off at 2:45 a.m. They were awakened five hours later for breakfast and more practice.

● Blessed Trinity had one of the more humorous moments of the day. The Titans have 112 players out for the team, including 42 freshmen, some who have never played the sport. When asking for equipment, one of the freshmen asked how many knee pads did he need. “We got a good laugh out of that,” coach Ricky Turner said. “Obviously, you only need two knee pads.”

Saturday was mostly an administrative day for the Catholic private school in Roswell. Turner and his staff took care of paperwork, had a short practice, and then handed out equipment and game jerseys for team photos.

“It’s great to get all of that stuff out of the way on the first day,” Turner said. “Now when we come back for two-a-days on Monday, we’ll be able to totally focus on football.”