El Dorado will officially kick off the football season with practice starting on Monday. Due to teach inservice at the high school, the varsity team will practice in the afternoons this week. Coach Steven Jones said the team will arrive at 3:30 p.m. and be on the field at, approximately 5 p.m.
“We’ll lift and then have our position meetings and everything. And we’ll hit the field and go for probably an hour and forty five minutes each day,” said Jones, who said there are 72 Wildcats on El Dorado’s roster.
“It’s kind of funny as far as the official start of football goes. We’ve been practicing all summer long so there’s really nothing new. It’s just a different time. We’ve been going helmets all summer. It’s not like the old two-a-days anymore. You’re really just going into the next portion of the season. But the excitement all summer has been there. Morale has been great. We anticipate having a great season. Our kids have worked really hard this summer and gotten a ton better. We’re looking forward to kicking off fall camp.”
Jones said there isn’t much left to install on either side of the football.
“We have everything in as far as scheme goes,” he said. “We’ll throw in some more special teams as we enter fall camp. We’re pretty simple on special teams but we’ll start off Monday with kickoff coverage and our field goal and field goal block units will get some work. But, offense and defense, most things are in. It’s more about just repetitions and going back through everything.”
El Dorado will work in helmets on Monday and Tuesday. Teams can put on shoulder pads on Wednesday and will be able to go full contact a week from Monday. The Wildcats will hold their Purple-White Game on August 20.
Jones was asked about the team’s depth chart and he said it’s pretty much set as far a two-deep lineup.
“Yeah, I think we have a good idea of who is going to play for us,” he said. “There’s still a few question marks up front, specifically on the offensive line as far as who would start if we entered a game right now. But, with most positions I would say we have a two-deep. I feel pretty confident we would know who to throw out there if we would play.”
For the Wildcats, this week won’t be much different from last week. Jones said the team went relatively injury free in the off-season. It’s just a matter of polishing things before the regular season starts.
“Just repetitions, all of our schemes, we feel good about, right now. As far as install goes, we have confidence in the kids understanding what we’re doing,” he said. “They’re playing fast because of that. Now we’re just cleaning up with as many reps as we can get with all of our groups and making sure we’re getting everybody at practice meaningful reps so we can build some depth.”