The East Jackson Eagles will move one step closer to the 2010 football season this week.
They will travel to Hall County Friday to face the Johnson Knights in a scrimmage.
It will be a chance for the Eagles to get a feel for what they will face when the season begins on Aug. 27 at home against White County.
Head coach Frank Caputo said he likes what he’s seen out of his players in the first week of practice.
“The things that I saw were that the kids were moving around well and they handled the heat well,” he said. “The coaches did a great job of keeping the heat policy in effect and working by it. Everything went really well.”
Caputo said that coming in, he and his team knew the areas that they needed to really focus in on and look at.
“That’s what we’ve been doing primarily,” he said. “We’ve been working on basic, fundamental stuff, and that’s really what we do every day. We’re kind of boring in a way, but that’s what works for us.”
Caputo said that about 85 kids came out last week, up from 72 who came in the 2009 pre-season.
“We had about 60 all summer, and I thought we’d pick up about 25, and we’ve just about done that,” he added.
One constant for all the area teams has been the brutal heat wave that has gripped the southeast. With heat indexes reaching into triple digits, coaches have had to adjust their practice regimen to ensure the safety and health of their players.
“We waited an hour later than normal to go out to let the humidity drop a little bit,” Caputo said. “We also do a lot of stuff in just our pants, and leave our helmet and pads on the sidelines. So anything we can do in our pants, we do that, and if we need to have some contact, then the kids will walk to the sidelines, put their helmets and shoulder pads on, go through the drill, and then if we don’t need them any longer, we take them off.”
As practice has progressed, Caputo and his coaches have worked to fill the slots left open by graduating seniors, including four vacancies on offense and six on the defensive side.
Caputo said his players are beginning to step up to fill those gaps.
“They are starting to compete with each other, and we’re hopefully starting to build some depth within what we’re doing,” Caputo said. “I think the kids are stepping up.”
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Commerce News or The Jackson Herald.
