With the first full week of spring practice behind them, the Jefferson Dragons will wrap up practice in pads this week as they continue to work towards the fall and an August 28 season opener.
JHS head football coach T. McFerrin says the team continues to work to get things in place.
“We’re still installing,” he said. “We haven’t put our whole offense in, and certainly not our whole defense. I think we have been able to evaluate the players a little bit. We’re trying to get them in the right positions and learn about the players a little bit.
“We got the baseball players (Monday), and so we’re going to use the three days this week to try to evaluate them and get them in the right position.”
McFerrin said he still feels the team is behind, so they are going to practice for three days next week in shorts. After this week, teams will not be allowed to practice in pads.
“We’re going to try to continue to try to get things in that we haven’t installed and fine-tune it,” he said. “We’re not even close to be able to execute things now. But that’s to be expected with only six days out there.”
Despite being behind, McFerrin said he is not disappointed in his players’ showings so far.
“The players have a good attitude and they’re working hard, and that’s all you can ask. That’s the positive, the attitude of the players. We’ve had some bright spots and some very positive things, it just hasn’t fallen together yet.”
McFerrin said the reason it hasn’t come together is due to a lack of reps.
“We’ve been able to put plays in, but not run them enough and go over them enough,” he added. “We’ve just got to get more reps now.
“I’ve always been a person that wants to present the whole picture, then go back and fine-tune it and put in the parts. I’ve tried to give them the big picture, but that’s been hard to do also because we’ve been so fragmented.”
The team has been fragmented due to players taking part in rec baseball, as well as baseball playoffs and the recent state track meet.
“It’s spring and you know that’s going to be the case, that’s the just the situation,” McFerrin said. “You don’t have everybody together. That’s why I think in the summer we’ll be able to get the whole team together and be able to get down and get some reps.”
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.
