After a 5-5 season and making the Class 1A playoffs, McAdams football coach Jim Risen said spring football practices have been a lot more enthusiastic this year.
“We’ve got 28 kids out and I think it’s a good number,” Risen said. “The kids have worked hard and are enthusiastic. They love to hit, they like the contact. It’s been fun and competitive. And they have responded well to what we are trying to teach them.”
Risen said he has used the spring to emphasize fundamentals, particularly on the offensive line and in the secondary.
“We have to build some depth on the offensive line,” Risen said. “We have been trying to work on the areas where teams hurt us last year. We are thin on the line and need a few more bodies there. And our secondary hurt us last year. We are pretty young on the back end and have been working with outer corners on getting them to respond better to the ball in the air.”
Risen said the success of last year has been a tremendous boast to the program.
“It’s been a lot different,” Risen said. “They know what is expected and have some confidence. They know what is on the line, that if they work hard and do what we ask, they can become better players and help us become a better football team. That makes the practices go a lot better and in the end produces a great team.”
Risen said he biggest challenge of the spring as been finding games for the upcoming season, despite it being a non-scheduling year. MHSAA schools work off of two-year schedules based on redistricting every two years. But a number of consolidations has forced Risen to hunt some new teams as the division shrunk from nine teams to five.
“It’s been tough to find games, I’ve had to totally rebuild the schedule,” Risen said. “We went from nine teams in our district to five. We lost Montgomery County, Durant, Shelby Broadstreet and JFK. We will be replacing them with West Tallahatchie, Riverside, Madison St. Joseph and Northside. Being in the middle of a contract year has made it really tough. But I think I have got it all worked out except for Sept. 7.”
The Bulldogs will wrap up spring drills this Thursday as they travel to Mount Olive. The Bulldogs will play McLaurin at 5 p.m. and Mount Olive at 7 p.m.
