Spring football came to a close in Deatsville with the Holtville football team capping off the practice window with an intrasquad scrimmage last Friday.
Heading into his second year as head football coach, Cory Lee took advantage of getting some fully-padded practice in. He has seen tremendous growth from his squad as they continue to learn the scheme both offensively and defensively, but it was paramount to see where his team was at physically.
“There's no substitute for putting the pads on and seeing who's going to be physical,” Lee said. “Who can, especially up front o-line and d-line guys in the box. Defensive line wise, who can take on double teams and withstand that, or who can take on pullers.”
The scrimmage itself gave the Bulldogs ample opportunity to work on the little things that come with the game; practicing substitution, specific game scenarios to even getting a bit of special teams in. However, it also gave Lee and his coaching staff a chance to dawn the headsets to relay plays on the field.
“I mean, even communication with coaches, just getting back on the headset, so that communication gets the guys,” Lee said. “At practice it's usually a closer quarters type deal where now, where all the coaches are on the sidelines, the rest of the team's on the sideline. They're having to communicate signals and get calls in and communicate with them and with each other.”
Lee now has a gauge on where the team is at as Holtville heads into the summer. Even with the promise he saw throughout the spring, the proficiency in the scheme will be at the forefront for Holtville.
“If we can have great attendance this summer, and having everybody here, all the pieces we can go further into our playbooks,” Lee said. “Further into the development of our techniques.”
A difference between the spring and summer will be how the Bulldogs attack the weightroom. Lee anticipates to lift heavy with conditioning paired alongside, but they will get other opportunities to go against competition with 7-on-7 games and other organized team activities.
“We'll just continue to build off what we did in the spring with 7-on-7 competitions,” Lee said. “We got some OTAs scheduled to go, so that's gonna be good for us. But again, just developing off of that, what we got came out of spring doing now, how can we build upon that to be as prepared for whenever we get into August. That's kind of the progression for us.”
