The Waldron Bulldogs had the opportunity to host a 7-on-7 football camp Tuesday, July 12th to smooth off some rough edges on the Senior High and Junior High teams. Their guests for the scrimmage were the Magazine Rattlers and their Scott County rivals, the Mansfield Tigers. Waldron made sure that everyone on the field that day knew that they didn’t care if it was merely a 7-on-7, they were there to compete.
By suiting up against a 2A program (Magazine) and 3A program (Mansfield), the Bulldogs were able to get some positive looks at all of their players on the Senior High and Junior High rosters. That’s something a lot of programs don’t have a chance to do in mid-summer camps. Head Coach, Doug Powell, said “We have a very good thing going right now. Everyone stepped up. Those who wanted to learn, learned quickly. The players looked good and we got some kinks worked out in this 7-on-7”. The Bulldogs were short a few players, which is to be expected during summer, but that didn’t stop those who were there from striving for success.
Coach Powell has already stated on numerous occasions that Waldrons linemen will be game changers in the upcoming 2022 season. Luckily, 7-on-7 camps allow Powell and his coaching staff to mold their skill position players into the game winners. Camps such as the one Tuesday allows the coaching staff to work directly with quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers on the offensive side and defensive backs and linebackers on the defensive side of the ball. This allows the coaches to see things at those skills positions that may have been missed in full team practices and camps. “We noticed some mistakes here and there in the camp which is to be expected” said Powell. “The good thing is that we were able to get plenty of reps with a lot of players to notice these mistakes and coach them up on them”.
Waldron even had the privilege to work a lot with their talented upcoming sophomore group. By doing so against other programs, the younger Bulldogs were able to get an idea of the transition in the speed of the game from their previous Junior High games to Senior High. “It may have looked like our younger players got dominated and that’s because they did at times. That’s what we want through. The best learning experience for players is getting out there and doing it. Some of our sophomores would get beat on a route, get coached up, and then make the proper correction the next play. That’s what we like to see. It was a great learning day for our inexperienced players”. The Bulldogs are building great depth by getting their younger players ample time in camps. The camp experiences and solid leadership will soon develop into not only depth but a talented depth that can benefit them in games.
The Bulldogs will host another camp this Thursday, July 14th. That camp will be a full team camp which means the “Big Dogs”, aka linemen, will be involved. The camp will be a repeat of opponents with Magazine and Mansfield attending after Two Rivers opted out. One thing is for sure, the Waldron football program is still headed in the right direction and these kinds of camps can only make them better.
