For those wondering what’s been going on at Wayne Jamison Field in the afternoon this week, it’s nothing unusual – or illegal – for that matter if you’ve seen Bridgeport High School football Coach John Cole out doing drills with students.

 

It’s all part of the state-allowed three-week summer practice session for all WVSSAC sports that takes place each summer. For the Tribe football team, the sessions started Monday with good numbers.

 

“We’ve got numbers in the mid-30s; probably as many as 37 kids here,” said Cole. “That’s a pretty good number for us. The encouraging thing about those numbers is that there are a good number of freshmen players involved.”

 

While freshmen almost never compete for the varsity, they are generally prepped and ready after their first year to know what to expect during their final three years at Bridgeport High School. The preparation, Cole said, starts this week.

 

The most important aspect, he said, is teaching and getting basic reps in for areas of the program where the Indians won’t have depth. Right now, two key areas will see attention.

 

“In the areas where we know we’re going to have some inexperience we want to get them comfortable to what they’ll see because when August rolls around these practices are for real,” said Cole. “One of those area we’re focusing on is the offensive line. We may have some bodies, but we don’t have experience.”

 

“Every part of the line is important so it will get a lot of focus, but we also have to look at the center. The center is always integral to what you do, but with us using the shotgun snap it’s critical,” said Cole.

 

For the past two years, Noah Drummond has handled the snapping duties. He handled them well enough to earn a preferred walk-on invitation to West Virginia University.

 

Another area where the Indians will be looking to find an impact player or two is in the kicking game. The Tribe has used the foot of Koby Kiefer for the past three years and he’s graduated and will be playing football for Cornell University in 2018.

 

“Next week we’ll be looking at kickers and punters,” said Cole. “We have a sophomore who we fill confident can do kicking duties for us, but he’s injured so we have to find others to utilize. Our kicking game is one of the areas where we always try to have an advantage and we’ve got to work on the kicking and punting and, back to the line, long-snapping as well.”

 

Part of what limits the Indians, and all teams, during the three-week session is there is no contact allowed. Cole said that’s why the Indians focus on two areas.

 

“We use these three weeks for teaching and conditioning because of those limitations,” said Cole. “We hope to have some 7-on-7 experience to primarily help our defensive backs, but we hope to end these three weeks with a better feel of what we’ll have to work with and hopefully with the players having a better feel of what to expect. This is slower than what coaches want, but it’s a good opportunity to improve yourself and that’s what we’re looking to do.”