JONESBOROUGH – The Chuckey-Doak football team put in some work on Thursday morning at David Crockett as it took on the Pioneers in a 7-on-7 scrimmage as it prepares for the upcoming regular season.
“I felt like it was pretty good day overall,” Chuckey-Doak coach Billy Kaylor said. “These days are good to get some things on film, but we don’t have shoulder pads, helmets or the big guys up front. We did some good things, and we have plenty to improve on, but I’m proud of the effort.”
The pass-only scrimmage with no contact is far from representative of the game the Black Knights will play once August rolls around, but there are things the coaches are looking for even without pads on. Going against the Class 5A Pioneers Chuckey-Doak got a chance to work on things like timing on offense and adjusting to different formations on defense.
“We’re trying to learn timing and spacing and understanding of the offense,” Kaylor said. “On defense we’re looking for we adjust to different formations, and making sure we’re in the right coverages. The more reps these guys gets, the more times they see different formations and route combinations the better we are going to be.”
The Black Knights return several starters at the skill spots and those were primarily the guys making plays on Thursday. Braxton Lowe and Skylar Davis return at receiver, and each made tough catches that ended up in the endzone. Out the backfield Brayden Greene and Marcus Britt are back for the Black Knights and they also held down the middle of the defense.
One new face that made an immediate impact is senior Kelson Eastep who came over from North Greene in the offseason. He gives the Black Knights a towering target on the outside that freshman quarterback Brody Myers took advantage of a few times against David Crockett. Chuckey-Doak was without returning starter Kiptyn Ball at quarterback on Thursday but the junior is expected to lead the way once again this season.
“It’s great that we have some veteran guys out here now. Repetition is the best teacher. We have a lot of guys who have played a lot of football, and that helps going into this season,” Kaylor said.
Pads will go on on July 27 and then Chuckey-Doak will begin the regular season on August 21 at North Greene. The big area where Kaylor is looking for his team to grow is at the line scrimmage. Once those shoulder pads go on the Black Knights will spend a lot of time focusing on their physicality.
“A big thing for us right now is developing along the line of scrimmage,” Kaylor said. “We feel like we have a lot ability on the back end, but that has to come with fitting the run on the defensive line and blocking the run on offense. As we start in pads we are going to be looking for physicality, developing up front, and controlling the line of scrimmage.”
