IBLEEDPURPLE
1,000+ Posts
David Coleman The Port Arthur News
PORT ARTHUR — Some things to talk about while I buy a Johnny Football autograph with unmarked bills…
1) Midnight Madness?
Monday is almost a holiday in the state of Texas. The start of high school football practice is at least as celebrated as Labor Day. Teams open practice early in the day to beat the heat, but some schools around the state are going a step further.
Teams like Sanger and Prosper in North Texas are taking a page from college basketball and holding the year’s first practice at midnight on the first official day to condition.
That’s right. Midnight Madnes is coming to high school football.
Just don’t’ expect it to be at Port Neches-Groves any time soon.
“Our kids are motivated to practice at 6 a.m. just like right now,” PN-G head coach Brandon Faircloth said. “We don’t need to create any momentum. Plus, I’d be worried about how our Tuesday would look with their sleep thrown off.”
Faircloth made some valid points about his team’s schedule. He doesn’t want to throw off sleep patterns and worried about how the next practice might look. He also said that practicing from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. each day gets his athletes ready to wake up for school.
He did say, however, that while it doesn’t work for PN-G, every team is different.
Indeed. Let’s hope more Southeast Texas schools are similar enough to avoid gimmicky practices.
2) Power drive
One of the hardest parts of these conditioning practices may be getting solid work for the offensive linemen. Their whole lives in the trenches is defined by contact, so how do you simulate that without pads? Coaches can teach technique and work on refining that, but technique without power isn’t always useful.
Enter PN-G’s newest training device: the Power Drive. The 5-foot tall purple cylinder is made for rolling around on the turf. Players have to take a low base and punch it to roll the thing in tandems. It helps players drive off the ball and work together, providing a great way to work without pads.
“Some of our friends at Austin Westlake got a couple and called us,” Faircloth said. “They said, ‘Hey, this thing is amazing.’ They’re priceless with the work you can get done. You just get a couple guys over there and get them pushing on it. You can’t beat that. They are going to improve.”
The Indians got their new Power Drive in the spring and it’s already paying dividends. Faircloth said the coaching staff has been so happy with it that they want to get another one as soon as they can.
David Coleman is a sportswriter for the Port Arthur News. He can be emailed at dcoleman@panews.com or found on Twitter at @MDavidColeman.
PORT ARTHUR — Some things to talk about while I buy a Johnny Football autograph with unmarked bills…
1) Midnight Madness?
Monday is almost a holiday in the state of Texas. The start of high school football practice is at least as celebrated as Labor Day. Teams open practice early in the day to beat the heat, but some schools around the state are going a step further.
Teams like Sanger and Prosper in North Texas are taking a page from college basketball and holding the year’s first practice at midnight on the first official day to condition.
That’s right. Midnight Madnes is coming to high school football.
Just don’t’ expect it to be at Port Neches-Groves any time soon.
“Our kids are motivated to practice at 6 a.m. just like right now,” PN-G head coach Brandon Faircloth said. “We don’t need to create any momentum. Plus, I’d be worried about how our Tuesday would look with their sleep thrown off.”
Faircloth made some valid points about his team’s schedule. He doesn’t want to throw off sleep patterns and worried about how the next practice might look. He also said that practicing from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. each day gets his athletes ready to wake up for school.
He did say, however, that while it doesn’t work for PN-G, every team is different.
Indeed. Let’s hope more Southeast Texas schools are similar enough to avoid gimmicky practices.
2) Power drive
One of the hardest parts of these conditioning practices may be getting solid work for the offensive linemen. Their whole lives in the trenches is defined by contact, so how do you simulate that without pads? Coaches can teach technique and work on refining that, but technique without power isn’t always useful.
Enter PN-G’s newest training device: the Power Drive. The 5-foot tall purple cylinder is made for rolling around on the turf. Players have to take a low base and punch it to roll the thing in tandems. It helps players drive off the ball and work together, providing a great way to work without pads.
“Some of our friends at Austin Westlake got a couple and called us,” Faircloth said. “They said, ‘Hey, this thing is amazing.’ They’re priceless with the work you can get done. You just get a couple guys over there and get them pushing on it. You can’t beat that. They are going to improve.”
The Indians got their new Power Drive in the spring and it’s already paying dividends. Faircloth said the coaching staff has been so happy with it that they want to get another one as soon as they can.
David Coleman is a sportswriter for the Port Arthur News. He can be emailed at dcoleman@panews.com or found on Twitter at @MDavidColeman.
