By John R. Schirmer
News-Leader staff
Coach Mike Volarvich saw some things he liked during team camp Friday morning at Scrapper Stadium.
“We did a lot of good things, especially for six practices. This was good for the seventh day,” Volarvich said. The Scrappers held only six practices during spring football because many players were members of the Scrapper baseball team which won state May 19.
“It was good the way we ran around. There were some good things for the first camp,” according to Volarvich.
Nashville hosted Hope, Magnolia, Camden Fairview, El Dorado and Hot Springs Lakeside at the camp.
“Our alignments and assignments were pretty good for how early it is. [Quarterback] Tyler Hanson did a good job after throwing a baseball the whole semester. He made good decisions. That’s nice to see. Dominick Kight did some good things.”
The Scrappers “had some young players step up and get some reps – Isaac Johnson at linebacker, Ryan Brown on offensive line, Bug Morrison – some of the young guys got in there, got right in the mix of what’s going on,” Volarvich said.
Both the offensive and defensive lines “have all-new guys that didn’t start last year.” The Nashville camp and others will provide “lots of reps” for them.
Volarvich said the Scrappers need to work on consistency. “We do some things really well, then we’re not 100 percent on the next play. We don’t take plays off. We play every down.”
As players “earn their spots on first and second team, they’ll get more reps. Repetition fixes everything,” Volarvich said. “We’ll see where guys will fit.”
The Scrappers attended team camp Tuesday at Southern Arkansas University, where they tried to get more reps for some of the players. Some played on both sides of the ball.
Thursday, the Scrappers will attend camp at Ouachita Baptist University. “This will be a limited squad, probably our two-deep roster. We’ll take about 45 kids to that one.”
The camp will start around 9 a.m.
Volarvich scheduled more team camps this summer than he did his first two seasons at Nashville in order for players to “get more reps. There’s more camp activity with so many young kids. We have so many without game snaps before.”
The remainder of the June schedule includes the following:
June 13 – 7 on 7 at Benton
June 15 – 7 on 7 and line challenge at Fairview
The Arkansas Activities Association’s dead period will be at the end of June and early July.
The Scrappers will compete in 7 on 7 July 12 at Malvern.
Players will report to the weight room three days a week in June and July before fall practice begins in August.
