Football officially underway at area schools

Two-a-day practices for area football teams started over the weekend, marking the official beginning of the 2015 season.

They’ve hardly been dormant, however, as teams spent much of June and July in offseason camps and conditioning.

But there’s something about the start of two-a-days that infuses vigor in players and coaches.

“It’s exciting,” Zanesville coach Chad Grandstaff said, shortly after his team finished its second practice early Monday afternoon. “We had an enthusiastic practice. When you’re in shorts you’re just looking for a lot of hustle and enthusiasm and high energy players. That’s the biggest thing for me.”

Teams have yet to don full pads and engage in full contact, focusing more on conditioning, skill development and group work.

Grandstaff said the early days of camp, particularly those in shorts and helmets, provide an opportunity to work in several underclassmen still learning the intricacies of the high school game.

Teaching proper fundamentals of tackling, such as steps and head placement, has been emphasized even without the contact.

“Once we get the pads on, you put all of that together,” Grandstaff said. “Those are valuable reps for those young guys.”

For a team like Zanesville, with 17 seniors returning from a 5-5 team in 2014, there is a noticeable difference around camp.

They had a pair of 2-hour, 10-minute practices on Monday, with lunch and an hour’s worth of special teams and lifting in between.

Two-way starters Deaunte Goins and Leondre Crosby, both seniors, can already see the transformation in attitude.

It starts with an eye on the future, not past mistakes that led to only the second non-winning season in Grandstaff’s tenure.

“The guys, we have stepped it up a notch,” Goins said. “The coaches have really stressed attention to detail and maturity. We can’t be going 5-5 again. We want to win in the playoffs.”

Grandstaff has taken notice.

“You can tell just with the tempo of practice and the focus,” Grandstaff said. “(Being older) definitely helps the focus of practice. You just hope the younger guys are paying attention.”

There’s a much different scenario across town.

Rosecrans, under interim coach Mark Johnston and several new assistants, are implementing new offensive and defensive schemes with a 22-player roster.

He has been on the job for less than a month but was encouraged by his team’s efforts during camp and its last passing scrimmage with Canal Winchester Harvest Prep, despite the changes that have been implemented.

“I told them the first day I was with them that we’ve got to rally as a group — as a family, really — because it’s not optimal for (players), for me or as a coaching staff. It’s unique,” Johnston said. “We’re going to have to work smarter and be efficient.”

Johnston is no stranger to football, having starred at Morgan and West Liberty State in the 1980s. He also coached at Division II Shepherd University.

He was also happy that assistant Nick Phillips will remain on staff to call the offense.

“We’re light years behind,” Johnston said. “A lot of practice has been solely on putting the offense and defense in. We did a lot of skill work during camp.”

At Crooksville, second-year coach Chad Mickey watched intently as his team wrapped up its second practice with a spirited team defense session.

Junior linebacker/running back Chaz Love, expected to be a key contributor, said the team is “light years ahead of where we were last year,” and said the team is able to focus on details, rather than learning two new schemes.

Mickey also sees the difference.

“It’s been a much easier transition from year one, because in year two we don’t have to teach from step one. They have picked up on things much faster,” Mickey said. “The tempo we want to practice at, they know the expectations.”

sblackburn@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com

740-450-6723

Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR