Area prep football coaches busy even during summer months

CHAMPIONS AGAIN: Local youngsters win state
July 22, 2014
Nicholls’ No. 2 steps down
July 22, 2014
CHAMPIONS AGAIN: Local youngsters win state
July 22, 2014
Nicholls’ No. 2 steps down
July 22, 2014

School is still out for summer. Local children have another couple weeks of freedom from homework, studying and examinations before the rigors begin again in early August.

But the grind is already well under way for local prep football coaches who are fine tuning and polishing up their plans for the 2014 season, which begins the first Friday in September.

Sure, it’s easy to be positive when official practices haven’t yet begun and the pressures of the season haven’t fully sunk in. But local coaches all tout the same word when asked about the new year: excitement.


“We’re excited about how the summer is going with us,” Thibodaux coach Chris Dugas said. “We did some of the 7-on-7 stuff and we’ve had some success. We won a tournament, and the summer workouts have been going good. … We’re excited about where we are.”

“Everything has been going well,” Terrebonne coach Gary Hill added. “It’s all been going good. We’ve been doing some 7-on-7, and I think the kids have responded well and have done a great job with everything that we’ve asked them to do over the summer.”

All of the coaches interviewed this week mentioned 7-on-7 drills. It’s a practice that has become commonplace among virtually all football programs in the state of Louisiana, if for no other reason than because it allows coaches more time to legally work with their quarterbacks, receivers and halfbacks without breaking the LHSAA’s practice limitations.


The term 7-on-7 is as literal as it sounds – seven offensive players line up versus seven defensive players to play a non-contact game that resembles a passing skeleton drill.

On the offensive side of the ball, there are no linemen – just a center to snap the ball to the quarterback.

Defensively, the pass rush is extremely limited, and mostly defensive backs and linebackers are on the field defending the opposition.


The beauty of the drills, according to several coaches, is that it benefits teams no matter the makeup of their roster.

For teams with older, experienced quarterbacks and receivers, it allows a chance to simply polish up timing and work on mechanics.

For teams breaking in first-year starting quarterbacks, the summer season lets coaches see their signal callers under the gun – something that could prove fruitful when fall rolls around.


One of those teams locally is Ellender – a program staked with replacing quarterback Dustin Creppel – easily one of the best passers in the past 20 years within the area.

Patriots’ coach Terry Washington said that despite the loss, he is confident in his new players after seeing the work that has been done over the summer in 7-on-7 action.

“We’ve been going at it every day at 5 p.m., four days a week,” Washington said. “We go at it from 5 until about 7:45. We’re going hard in the weight room and we’re getting a lot of cardio and running with the 7-on-7. We’ve got young skill guys … so it all helps with that. The more you can see them do, the better off you’ll be in the fall when you put the pads on.”


South Lafourche coach Dennis Skains said he loves 7-on-7 drills for a different reason, one focused more on what the drills do for the Tarpons’ stingy defense.

As a defensive guru, he said he loves evaluating his defensive backs in that high pressure situation to see what they are made of before the fall season.

“It’s not always a realistic look, but it’s a great opportunity for both sides of the ball to work on the passing game,” Skains said. “Me being a defensive guy, I really like it because it puts you at a disadvantage and it really makes your kids work. We did three (tournaments) this summer. We usually try and get two or three in. It’s valuable. We’re getting in some good work.”


Away from the drills, coaches tout that June and July are times of the year heavily predicated on conditioning and the weight room as teams work to get bigger, faster and stronger before school begins.

At Central Lafourche, second-year coach Keith Menard said the Trojans have succeeded in their conditioning endeavors and will be hungry to try and reach the playoffs after being the only Class 5A Bayou District school to earn a victory over a River Parish foe.

Menard said that while wins and losses aren’t tracked in summer months, what a team does during the break is important in the fall.


“It’s very crucial,” he said. “You always want to see your kids buy into the workouts and do their best to get better off the field. I think those things build chemistry, and you can always sort-of tell a little bit about how the fall will go based on what you see over the summer.”

So with a few weeks left before school starts, the work is already under way for the 2014 season. Who will emerge as the success stories? That remains to be seen. But no one will be caught off guard and unprepared when the first Friday in September rolls around.

“It’ll be here before we know it,” Dugas said.


“The summer is flying by,” Washington added. “But we’re excited. We’re anxious to get things going.”

Ellender footballFILE PHOTO