The defending region champion Jefferson Dragons got their first taste of 2009 football this week, as the team began spring practice Monday.
It was also their first taste of working under their new coach, T. McFerrin, who was announced as the replacement for outgoing coach Bill Navas a few weeks back.
“I know how the first practice always is,” McFerrin said Monday. “Even when you’ve been at a school for a long time, it’s always a interesting day because you’ve got new guys out there, and you’re trying to get organized.”
McFerrin said this week would be especially challenging with his being the new guy, and with he and the assistant coaches getting familiar with each other.
“I’m still not familiar with some of the players since they’ve been involved with other activities,” McFerrin said, adding that Monday would be an organizational day. “(We’ll) just try to get them on the field and get organized and get a little bit done, I hope.”
Practice was originally slated to begin last Monday, but McFerrin said he decided to wait until this week due to inclement weather and the holding of the state track meet last week at Memorial Stadium.
McFerrin said the main thing for spring practice is to evaluate the players and to get them in the right positions.
“The offense is not going to change a whole lot from what they’ve been doing,” he said. “They’re going to still run the spread and the shotgun. We are going to be under center some and have some pro-offense with two backs. We’re going to have more of that than I think they’ve done before.
“So getting the terminology and the new system learned is the biggest goal for the spring, along with evaluating the players.”
McFerrin came out of a four-year retirement to take the helm of the JHS football program. He said that despite all the years he’s been around the sport, he still gets excited about getting back on the field.
“I still wake up a four o’clock in the morning, just like I used to do when I was coaching. So I guess it’s going to be about the same.”
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.
