A CAJUN AND A THREE-DAY FLIGHT
July 28, 2018
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July 29, 2018
Christmas is still several months away, but don’t tell that to local prep football coaches.
For them, the gifts are already under the tree and it’s almost time to experience the joy that comes with bursting them open — otherwise known as the first practice day of the season.
The prep football offseason has been long, but productive with local coaches applauding their young men for the work that they’ve done over the spring and summer to get bigger, faster and stronger before the start of the new year.
But while offseason work is great, coaches say there’s nothing quite like practicing with pads and getting better as a team — a luxury which will begin in the coming days after locals got to get live work in helmets and shorts earlier this week.
“It feels like Christmas,” Central Lafourche football coach Keith Menard said. “It’s an exciting time, but the days leading up to it are a little bit anxious, you know? We’re all ready to get out there and get working before the start of the new season.”
What eases the pain a little is that coaches are able to open a few of the smaller gifts under the tree a little early.
Throughout the summer, football teams are together constantly — either through team workouts or with 7-on-7 drills, which even allows teams to compete against others in games.
CCA coach Randy Boquet said summer workouts are vital to every team around the state, but especially for small schools like CCA, which only have a limited amount of student population to pick from when fielding a team.
He said the Lions take pride in working hard, but smart with a focus on progression for every athlete on the team.
“We have gotten a lot of great work done in the weight room,” Boquet said. “That’s so important for us and the kids have had a great attitude. Some are coming to us while also taking part in baseball or basketball or other sports and we have to manage our time wisely, but the participation and the commitment has been excellent.”
Thibodaux coach Chris Dugas agreed.
Other coaches agree, adding that a lot of what goes into success in the fall is based on how well kids progress during the summer.
“We’re a younger group this year,” Thibodaux coach Chris Degas said. “We have a small senior class. This is as young as we’ve been since I’ve been here. Our guys have really benefitted from getting that work to get bigger and stronger to get their bodies ready for the grind that’s ahead.”
The topic of 7-on-7 draws a little bit more debate and discussion.
While summer workouts are a universal tool for coaches to use, 7-on-7 drills are not as universally liked.
South Lafourche football coach Blake Forsythe said he doesn’t like the drills for a simple reason.
“I hate to throw the football,” he said with a laugh.
The Tarpons run 60-70-percent of the time, so drills which are 100 percent predicated on the pass take the coach out of his comfort zone a little bit from time-to-time.
He then got more serious and said that he believes the Tarpons’ receivers, quarterbacks and defensive backs were able to get great live work at the E.D. White Summer 7-on-7 League — a spot where locals ascend to work together to get better.
“We were able to get a lot of good work in,” Forsythe said. “It was really good for our team and our staff.”
Menard is also not a huge fan of 7-on-7, though he, too, is a fan of the E.D. White league.
Menard said his problem is that too much focus has been put on “winning” the summer games and less emphasis is on simulating what teams will actually see on Friday nights.
He said the Trojans have gone to some places where teams are “selling out” to try and get an advantage on the playing field, which the coach believes is only cheating the kids in the long run.
“We’ve played teams that didn’t have a linebacker on the field,” Menard said. “And I’m thinking to myself — I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve never seen a defense look like that on Friday night, so why is it looking like that now? I think it was created to be a good thing, but I think it’s changed a lot and people are taking advantage of it and are abusing the system. We like the league over at E.D. White. We’re all friends and we’re all about the right things. I think it should be that way around the state, but it’s not, unfortunately.”
With summer all-but over, the schedule now moves quickly for prep football coaches around the state.
Teams get a couple days where they can do work in helmets and shorts before building up to full pads.
After that, teams have scrimmages, then jamborees, then the beginning of the season on the last Friday in August.
Menard said the tease of it all is that while, yes, there’s this great build-up leading it, it will all be gone before we know it and the cycle will repeat.
“It all happens so fast,” he said.
Terrebonne’s Keshawn james makes a move during a practice last season.
