Morgan County’s football team took to the practice fields beside Bill Corry Stadium last week to host its first OTA of the summer.
Schools like Madison County, Loganville and Cherokee Bluff were in attendance, and skill players participated in 7-on-7 scrimmages while linemen went against other teams’ linemen in board drills and tug-of-war.
Head coach Clint Jenkins was impressed with the Bulldogs’ energy out on the field.
“I think the attitude and the effort is there,” said Jenkins. “We had a little dip in the camp earlier, and we started to try and hang our heads, but I thought we came back and answered on offense. They’ve got each others’ backs.”
Since their scrimmage game against Walnut Grove last month, the Bulldogs have completed summer workouts and working on some of their offensive and defensive schemes.
Jenkins acknowledged that players have been responding to the coaching well.
“The biggest thing has been the kids are more comfortable with the schemes and concepts,” Jenkins said. “We’re still not to where it’s second nature to us yet, but we can do some self-correcting.”
The Bulldogs finished third in Region 4-AAA last year and had to battle through multiple players getting injured.
Now that it’s the off-season, guys have come back healthy and eager to perform better than last year, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
Offensive coordinator Loren Purvis has been impressed with some of the guys that have come out this year.
“It’s been a blessing having a lot of these guys come out that we talked to in the school building throughout the year,” Purvis said. “Now, to have all of them running around out here is great. All of them have put a lot of time into learning the offense, and it’s been a world of difference from last year.”
Among some of the newer weapons, Morgan County will have on the offensive side of the ball is rising-senior TJ Thompson.
Thompson, who is also a member of the Bulldogs’ basketball team, made multiple athletic grabs over opposing defenders and helped open up the passing game during 7-on-7 scrimmages.
Morgan County also saw success on the other end of the field where the Bulldogs’ linemen core never lost a tug-of-war match.
Overall, Jenkins believes, up to this point, his team has performed well and can continue to make big improvements from last year to compete for a region title again.
“The more comfortable we get, the faster we will be able to play,” Jenkins said. “We still have a couple of hiccups as we did out here today, but that’s why we do these things.”