With Parkers Chapel’s baseball team making a run to the 2A state quarterfinals, the Trojans had limited time to get workouts in for spring practice, but coach Elliot Jacobs was pleased with what he saw.
“It went well,” Jacobs said. “We got a few practices in after baseball ended. Our kids are excited. We’re going to be really young. We’re ready to get the season going.”
Jacobs said the next few weeks will be spent in the weight room, but once the dead period ends, preparations for the season will begin in earnest.
“The next two weeks, we’ve got weights and conditioning-type stuff,” Jacobs said. “I give them the week before the dead weeks off, then we’ll come back July 11 and be full-bore getting better and heavy conditioning, light practice. We’ll put them through some different drills and get ready to go for the real practice stuff.”
Jacobs added that any 7-on-7 work the Trojans do won’t be until next month.
“We’re looking at doing some stuff with Smackover and some other surrounding schools,” Jacobs said. “We’re not big on all of that stuff here, but if we can get a few days in, we’d like to, and that would probably be in the middle of July when we get those days in.”
One aspect Jacobs has been happy with is the leadership from his seniors.
“All of our kids are doing well,” Jacobs said. “It’s always interesting when you get a new team how they’re going to respond. Our group of seniors have started off leading them well, and that’s all you can ask for is those older guys showing the younger guys how things are supposed to be done. Having seen that with the few practices we were able to get in this spring, us as coaches are very pleased and optimistic about what we can do.”
The Trojans will have a new quarterback with Trace Shoup graduating, and Jacobs said senior Lancer Clark has emerged as the potential starter.
“He’s our best athlete,” Jacobs said. “Not a traditional quarterback that we’ve had in the past, but a kid that can make plays. We’ve got to do a good job of teaching him how to handle that position. He’s by far the best option right now that we have.”
With Strong going to eight-man football this fall, the Trojans had a vacancy on their schedule, but Jacobs said it has been filled with Foreman returning to the non-conference slate.
The schools last met in 2019 with the Gators downing the Trojans 30-14 at Victor Nipper Stadium, but Jacobs is hoping to secure a venue that works for both schools.
“They needed a home game and we needed a home game, so right now, I’m talking with coach (Mike) McCarty at SAU seeing if we can rent their field and both teams meet at SAU to play,” Jacobs said.
“Any time your kids get a chance to play on a college field and see what that atmosphere is like, we’d love to let our kids experience that. We’re hoping we can work something out.”