Falcons head coach Mike Smith stood atop his team’s logo etched in the center of Archer High School’s football field.
Just as he began to address whether or not his team had accomplished what it had set out to Friday night — it did — an all-too-familiar Black Eyed Peas melody screeched over the loud speakers, doing all it could to drown him out entirely.
Lively music, the persistent roar of 12,316 Falcons fans and a fireworks display that boomed so loudly one police officer said it elicited flashbacks, made the spectacle that was the team’s seventh annual Friday Night Lights an event those in the stands could appreciate.
The open practice featured several sessions, from 9-on-7s to blitz drills to a full scrimmage. Smith stood at the eye of it all, watching and evalutating each of his players as the 53-man roster deadline looms.
“Some positions we are deeper than others, but this is the time the guys are going to have to develop and we have to develop,” Smith said. “There’s going to be guys that are going to get banged up and knicked up and really that’s what’s happened thus far in training camp — not lost anybody for the season.”
But as much as Friday Night Lights was an opportunity for the Falcons youngest players to vie for a roster spot, it was also a chance for players to interact with the community supporting them and return back to their own roots.
“This event is one of my favorite events,” Smith said. “I’m very familiar with high school football in the state of Georgia and Atlanta. I spent about 14 years recruiting Atlanta … and there’s nothing like a Friday night in this fall, late-summer in the state of Georgia.”
A brief autograph signing along the railings of the track followed the scrimmage. Small children straddled their parents’ shoulders, reaching out for a chance to have something, anything, signed by Julio Jones. Although the Falcons have held several open practices this offseason, Friday’s event gave rookie Jake Matthews an idea of what to expect come Sept. 7.
“Just the respect and gratitude these people have shown me since I’ve gotten here has just been amazing,” Matthews said. “I feel really humbled to be in this situation with such a great organization.”
But for rookie safety Dezmen Southward, the reception he and his team received came as little surprise.
“I’ve been seeing that everywhere I’ve been — the grocery store, the mall,” Southward said. “It’s big around here. I think the first thing you notice is that they want to beat the Saints.”
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