A little more than two weeks ago, three local high school football teams were preparing for spring practice with much to look forward to in the 2020 season.
Clarksdale High School will have a new football field next to the school, 17 of 22 starters are expected to return and, on Oct. 30, the Wildcats are hosting Trinity Christian-Cedar Hill from Texas where former NFL star Deion Sanders is the offensive coordinator and his son, Shedeur, is the quarterback.
Lee Academy is coming off of a trip to the Class 4A state semifinals with several starters returning and athletes coming up from the junior high district championship team.
Coahoma Early College High School most of its offensive line coming back after making the Class 3A playoffs for the first time during coach Jeremiah Brassell’s tenure in 2019.
The focus has changed with school not in session in Coahoma County due to the coronavirus. Coaches are looking for alternative ways to get their athletes prepared for the season in spite of their teams not being able to meet with “social distancing” in effect.
The public schools are out until at least April 17. Lee Academy is out of school at least for the remainder of the week and is taking it day-by-day when determining a return date.
Coahoma County High School was the only team not ready to go for spring practice before the coronavirus caused all the delays. Shun Readus, Coahoma County Junior/Senior High School assistant principal and athletic director, confirmed Mario Lane resigned as the coach of the Red Panthers after two seasons. He is leading the search to find Lane’s successor and said the program is at a stall right now.
Clarksdale High School
Wildcats coach Henry Johnson said he is not putting too much pressure on his athletes and his main concern is athletes remaining healthy, but they should be ready to play when the season starts.
“Good thing for us is we’ve got a lot of returning starters coming back from last year,” Johnson said. “We only lost five guys. We have 16, 17 returning starters. We basically know what they can do. Those kids got a lot of substantial playing time anyway.”
The returning starters are senior running back Sammie Ray, senior middle linebacker De’meric Strong, senior quarterback Tamera Allen, senior guard Almetris Smith, senior cornerback Jamarius Dorsey, senior safety Matthew Mixon, senior defensive end and tackle Vincent Sims, senior defensive end Quincy Wortham, senior middle linebacker and defensive tackle Elbert Hines, senior free safety and outside linebacker Milton James, junior defensive tackle James Walker, junior center and middle linebacker Dominick Hill, senior receiver Damion Johnson and senior receiver, defensive end and outside linebacker Josh Hollins.
Coach Johnson said the only key seniors from 2019 Clarksdale lost were running back Queston Skipper, cornerback Chris Williams, offensive lineman Josh Johnson, guard and defensive tackle Kaleb Brown and defensive end and tackle Zeilon Chestnut. He added the only positions he still needs to fill are cornerback and outside linebacker.
Johnny Maddox, who is the powerlifting coach, defensive coordinator, linebacker and strength and conditioning coach, directed players to videos to stay in shape.
“It’s just some YouTube videos, something that we picked out of some of the lifts we do,” Maddox said. “Just some of the body weights and conditioning we do. They can do it while we’re out of school.”
The videos consist of plyometrics and drills for running and jumping. They have, four different variations of pushups, different squats and core exercises.
Coach Johnson said football is secondary to the kids remaining healthy, but he is looking forward to the season and felt playing Trinity Christian-Cedar Hill would be a fun experience.
“It’s something to look forward to,” Coach Johnson said. “It’s not going to be a game that’s going to have any playoff implications or district implications.
“I look forward to seeing Deion Sanders. What a great opportunity for our coaches and community to get Deion Sanders to Clarksdale.”
Coach Johnson said Shedeur Sanders is a “really, really good player.”
Lee Academy
Colts coach Rick Johnston said he has not provided his team with any plays or workout plans as of yet as his focus is making sure everyone is healthy.
“We’re trying to make the most out of a not so good situation,” he said. “Hopefully, things will be back to normal soon.”
Johnston said athletes were working out on the track, but that was cut out this week.
The good news for Johnston is he is familiar with his personnel.
Lee Academy had 21 athletes on the roster in 2019 and that number is expected to increase to 34 in 2020.
“We pretty much know what our kids can do,” Johnston said. “We’re missing valuable weight room and conditioning time.
“I know the numbers will be a lot better, so there will be a lot of competition for playing time.”
Senior Luke Crumpton is slated to be the starting quarterback, senior Russell Cook is the backup, and sophomore Bryan Ray, who started for the 2019 junior high team, could see some action.
Johnston said skill players expected to make a strong impact are senior running back, receiver and linebacker Graydon Gullick; senior running back, receiver and defensive back Nickos Nolan; and senior wide receiver and defensive back Gaines Barksdale.
Coahoma Early College
Brassell said he is using his team’s Facebook page to communicate with his athletes.
“Right now, I’m still planning everything out,” he said. “Hopefully, we can get back in school so we can start conditioning and working out. Also, I’m going to use our Facebook page to give them workouts to do while we’re waiting.”
However, Brassell said being together is the only way the Tigers will be able to build camaraderie and become a family.
“This hurt us because now I don’t have the opportunity see where those bodies are athletically and mentally,” Brassell said.
Brassell said all of the offensive linemen except for one from the 2019 season will be returning. They are senior Jeremiah Brassell Jr., who is also a linebacker, junior Jaymarja Ewing, junior Joe Giles, who is also a defensive lineman, and Elijah Brown.
Brassell said he will have to replace almost all of the skill positions, but one key player in that area will be returning to the Tigers in 2019.
Senior All-State defensive back Kendrick Honeycutt will also the No. 1 receiver on the team.
In the meantime, Brassell said players from individual towns such as Jonestown and Friars Point will be able to get together and workout.
“They don’t want more than 10 people, but if we get groups of five or below together, we’ll be pretty good,” Brassell said.” It’s not like we have a team of 80 players.
“Overall, I think this whole pandemic is a great learning experience, not just for the country, but the whole area.”
Brassell said the coronavirus epidemic has made people think twice about the importance of washing hands.
“One thing that I’m going to start doing is making sure they take showers at the fieldhouse and also provide plenty of sanitizer,” Brassell said. “We have a couple of washers. One thing it’s going to make us do is wash uniforms and practice stuff more frequently than we did in the past.”
