Checking Out The Crops:At Smith High School for the Tuesday night football practice

Taking a look at the new look Smith Golden Eagles tonight, and checking out their crops/corps over at Ben L. Smith High School….

The hard rains came on Tuesday afternoon, but Smith was out their getting their work in on Tuesday night….

A new look for the Smith Golden Eagles, and a new coach for the football team…Smith has had plenty of new football coaches in the past several years, but this new crew may be different, with head football coach Scott Bell, leading the way….He has a key assistant, Coach Streater, leading the offense, and there are also many other new assistant coaches, and in total there must be 7-8 coaches working with the 2021 Smith Varsity football team…

Smith has enough Varsity players for 11 on offense and 11 on defense, and they have several reserves that are looking to earn a starting spot…Probably close to 30 overall players on the Varsity roster for Smith…Smith has a small number of JV players, but they do not lack for effort, or interest, and the Smith JV coaches are working those young men hard….

The Smith Varsity coaches are doing a lot of teaching, and the Smith Varsity linemen, from offense and defense were doing two-on-two blocking drills, and all of the players were in full pads, and the hitting was going, but no one was being taken to the ground….While the Smith linemen were popping each other, the Smith quarterbacks, receivers, and backs from offense, and then the linebackers and DB’s from defense were doing 7 on 7 drills….Working on Seven on Seven, trying to get the receivers up field, and trying to get the DB’s into proper pass coverage…One of the coaches who looks sort of like an old Army veteran, he was really challenging the Smith D-linemen today….

Smith was getting their work in and they also were taking their needed water breaks, and one of the Smith assistant coaches let his players know that there is “No Time for Talking During Breaks”…..Time to get your water and don’t sit down for long, the coaches don’t want you to get used to sitting down…

As all of the group work was finishing up, it was time for 11 on 11 work, for both the Varsity and JV teams…This was time to get the plays in for the offense, and make sure you get them right, and it was time for the defense, to learn how to react to all of the sets and plays that they would be seeing….One of the coaches reminded the defensive players, “that we don’t need anybody standing around, we need all 11 defensive players getting to the ball and the ball carrier”

The coaches kept on emphasizing, hit the ball carriers hard, but DO NOT take them to the ground today….There was one portion of practice today at Smith High School, when the coaches saw the need for the Varsity players to commence doing up-downs…That was around 7:43 pm, and about the same time the 7 on 7 work was concluding…This was also right before one of the big water breaks…

You can’t kill these guys right now, but you have to get their attention, and make sure that they are focused, and ready to play come Friday night August 20….While the Smith Varsity and JV teams were working out on the practice field today, the Smith kicker was up on the main field getting his kicking work in….Those goal posts down, on the Smith practice field, look like that might have been there back when Claude Manzi, Sal Gero, Lou Roshelli and that bunch was coaching Smith High School…

Smith must dedicate themselves to believing in their new coach Scott Bell, and what he is trying to teach, and they also have to buy into what every one of his assistant coaches is trying to impart…It will take Smith 4-5 years under the same head coach to really turn this thing around….And let’s all give Coach Scott Bell the benefit of doubt, and hope he is the one that gets to/will stick around and turn this thing around…. Smith has plenty of real BIG linemen, and they need to make sure that they keep them, and that these kids from Ben L. Smith are part of the program today, and in the future…

Smith at Burlington Cummings for a 6pm scrimmage on Friday night, and that will be a good time to see how far this new Smith team has come, and see how far they still need to go….Last time these two teams met, in the Spring of 2021, the score was something like, 88-74, Cummings over Smith…

Smith needs a lift, and it is time for them to get at it/to it……

We left out tonight, as were Under the Lights, at Smith High School…….