Real good talk with Northwest Guilford coach Joe Woodruff today after the Vikings’ practice and we will have our one minute video posted up here in the morning, but we got a lot of info from Coach Woodruff and as for Viking practice, they went from 5:30-7:30 today and they will be back out on the field at 9am on Saturday morning….
Northwest has right at 120 players out for football this season and their first game is coming up on August 23 at Ben L. Smith High School, where they will face the Golden Eagles, led by new coach Antonio Kirkpatrick…
Northwest has several top returning players and in the offensive backfield they will feature RB’s Keenan Scott, fullback Christian Dix, RB Anthony Harding and RB Mark Murphy….Coach Woodruff said he was very happy with the off-season workouts and prexeason preparation from Keenan Scott…..The coach also said he expects big things from Mark Murphy on both sides of the ball and many of you may remember Murphy from his playing days at Kernodle Middle School, when he was over there with Coach Quincey Bell….Murphy has been doing it and doing it right on the football field now ,for quite a few years….Again, Scott will be a young man to watch, Dix has that hard-nosed and toughness metality and Harding has the senior experience….
Northwest Guilford will feature a new quarterback this season and the starting signal-caller will come from the three-man group of Josh Homel, Michael Hunt and Nick Powell…
Up front the size and experience of Clay Shelton(6’4/285) will be a big boost…Shelton is a senior and he has been a regular on the offensive line for his entire stay with the NWG varsity team/program….Help will come in the form of big Tight End/Tackle Hampton Billups and from Jeff Killian(guard)….Carey Miller is another name ro watch for up along the O’line…
Northwest Guilford will look to Jonathan Sugg to anchor the defensive line and with Sugg’s size at 6’3/255 you should also look for him to get some work up on the offensvie line as well…Also keep an eye open for Clay Shelton, as he should offer his big body up, to be a stopping point on defense…..Mark Murphy will see duty in the defensive secondary and there will be times when several NWG Vikings might be going both ways, as they strive to get the best athletes on the field at all times….NWG has built there squad up to a level where there now is much-needed depth and they will try and platoon as much as possible, but you still will see the top players in the game in key situations….
I asked Coach Woodruff who would be the teams to watch for this season in the Piedmont Triad 4-A Conference and he said that High Point Central returns a load of talent and that they would have to be a favorite, along with Coach Todd Willert’s East Forsyth Eagles….
A very good visit to Northwest Guilford this afternoon and Coach Woodruff ,along with his son Brody, both felt like the American Youth Football program coming out of Stokesdale, has been a huge positive influence on the overall Northwest Guilford football program…
The American Youth Football program is growing and with the kids from the Stokesdale, Oak Ridge and Colfax areas having a chance to play in a balanced, well-organized system, this is making Northwest Guilford a well-grounded high school football program, where the kids grow up running the same plays and the same offenses and defenses from day one, from the first time that they lace up the cleats and put on the pads…..
Again, a good talk today and what looks like will be another good season of football for the Northwest Guilford Vikings and it is obvious that Coach Woodruff and his coaching staff have done their part to change and elevate the football culture, in the Northwest Guilford Community…
Coach Woodruff also gives lot of credit to Coach Tommy Pursley and his longtime starff at Northeast Guilford High School, for helping him and his staff get adjusted to this foorball area, back in their early days of hitting the football trails in and around Guilford County….
Always a lot to be learned when you have chance to sit down and talk some football with NWG Viking coach Joe Woodruff…….
Time to dig into the new football season and time to dig in, in and around Guilford County…
Click Below for video from Northwest Guilford practice:
GO VIKINGS!!!!
For live score updates on NWG football, follow @nwestfootball on Twitter.