Wetumpka got its first taste of a Game Day on Tuesday afternoon.
The Wetumpka football team hosted Tallassee for an OTA held at the Wetumpka Sports Complex. The two teams battled it out in various drills such as 1-on-1 offensive and defensive line, inside run drills, 1-on-1s with receivers and defensive backs and full team 11-on-11 drills.
The two teams hit the field from 8:30-10:30 a.m., but Wetumpka’s team got in nearly a full day of work before the 8:30 a.m. start time.
The players came in early and had team meetings then a workout. Following the workout, they all went for a run and had their summer practice before the OTA.
“We got to see what a game day is like,” Wetumpka coach Bear Woods said. “We kind of lost a little juice towards the end but my coaching point to them was that this is what a game day is like. You will be tired after a long day and you still have to come out and execute at that moment.”
Wetumpka has had its various 7-on-7 tournaments this year that gave skill players their time to shine. But in an OTA, the offensive line and defensive line get to show off their skills as well.
On Tuesday, Wetumpka’s lines opened up holes during inside run drills and showed their size and quickness.
The Indians scored multiple touchdowns in the full team portion, and even capped off the day with back-to-back rushing touchdowns from the 5-yard line in the red zone drill.
On defense, Tallassee found some success in the air throwing short passes, but the Wetumpka defensive line clogged up all the running lanes and pulled off multiple sacks and hurries.
“I’m really liking our physicality up front,” Woods said. “There’s a lot of leadership within those two units on our team. When you can have your offensive line set the tone for your team, you have the opportunity to have a successful team. When your defensive line has the opportunity to give us the production that group can give us, we have a chance for those two groups to take center stage of our team and be our identity.”
When it comes to Wetumpka’s defensive line, the Indians will sport plenty of size and production onto football fields this fall. There aren’t many small players on the line.
That size is led by guys such as Elijah Peake, JD Denmark, Ethan Bailey, Javian Greene and others.
Peake leads the pack at 6-foot-2 and 275 pounds while Bailey, who has numerous Division I offers already, is 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds. Denmark and KD Myles are both 6-foot and 220, while Jushon Fleming can even get down on the line at defensive end at 6-foot-4 and 186 pounds.
“That’s just God-given size,” Woods said. “Across our entire defensive line, I expect all of those guys to be next level players and they will be. A lot of that is God-given and we thank the Good Lord for their size.”
Wetumpka is less than seven weeks away from kicking off the 2024 football season and full football practice begins on Aug. 5. In the meantime, the Indians will continue summer OTAs and workouts and start prepping for their opener against Beauregard on Aug. 23.
“We had great competition today,” Woods said. “We’re still in the process of putting in new plays and now we want to see how we can execute them the rest of the summer.”
