Coming off a second straight State Runner-Up campaign the Greenwood Bulldogs took to the game field to start the first of eight Spring practices in preparation for the Spring Game on May 25th.
The sun rises above the hazy silhouettes of hills. The lights of Smith-Robinson burn bright as they reach toward the sky that holds clouds that look painted against the ever lightening blue. “Inside! One on one! Let’s Go!” Exclaims Coach Chris Young as they rotate to the next drill. Spring practice has begun in Greenwood, and this edition of Bulldogs is poised to write their futures and add upon the chapters of success that many have done before them
“I was really happy that we show that 100% of our guys showed up at 5:40 on Monday morning.” Head Coach Chris Young commented.
Offensively, the storyline and questions are answered very quickly. Highly touted Freshman QB Kane Archer is the apparent Heir to the spot vacated by graduating Hunter Houston. Houston would become the second QB to throw for 3,000 yards in consecutive season at Greenwood. While Archer will be the just the 2nd Sophomore QB to start since Brooks Coatney in 1996 for the Bulldogs. Freshman Cooper Goodwin took quite a few reps sharing time with classmate Archer.
At Receiver the Bulldogs saw the emergence of Sophomore Grant Karnes, alongside Juniors L.J. Robins and Peyton Presson last fall. Sophomore Isaiah Arrington, who had several catches and touchdowns last season, steps up in a new look receiver corps. While the Bulldogs are losing talented three-sport Receiver Aiden Kennon, they are still a deep set with Junior Reed, Sophomore Hudson Meeker and Jaxon Cole who all saw time on Friday nights.
Running Back spot saw Junior Brayedan Davis getting a majority of the reps alongside classmate Isaiah Niles, who moves from a Lineman position. The Bulldogs have had a good stable of Running Backs over the past few seasons with Hendrix signee Jake Glover being the most recent.
Offensive Line returns three and are looking to replace the spots held by Seniors Cooper Young and Hayden Webb. Junior Ryan Shortes anchors the line from the Center position that he has held since his Sophomore season. To his left, Freshman Guard Cody Taylor, who has earned several Power 5 offers after a breakout season last fall. At the end of the line on the right side is Ashton Stein at Tackle. Christian Fleming and Brett Woolsey have stepped into the vacated roles and look to make the Greenwood Offensive line that much stronger. There are a talented group of Freshmen Offensive Lineman also chomping at the bit to earn some playing time in the future with Landon Billy, Brady Permenter and Akira Fujibayashi.
Defensively the Dogs are looking for a middle Linebacker to replace the Missouri Western State signee Evan Williams as well as the safety position of Storm Scherry.
Defense returns a very experienced secondary with Juniors Brady Mackey, Braden Skaggs, Landon Nelms and Josh Allen. Sophomore Kaylor Jasna saw plenty of reps in the spot his brother Jayden Jasna. anchored two years ago. All-Conference Defensive End Sophomore Cash Archer returns as well as Juniors Eli Whitaker, Kaleb Garner, and Riley White who all made a large impact on the Coach Jason Gill lead defense. Ryan Frank has moved from Offensive Line to Defensive Line at the Tackle position along side Sophomore Mark Garrettson in a spot held by Seniors Tanner McKusker and Logan Taylor, who signed to Wrestle with Williams Baptist University in the spring.
Special Teams Bodey Steinfeldt returns as kicker, while being a part of the Soccer team that earned a berth in the State Playoffs. Deep snapper Jack Edwards recently earned an offer to Lyon College in Batesville.
“We were better, we are trying to do some new things to get more physical as a football team.” Head Coach Chris Young said following practice “Obviously it was first day, so there were a ton of mistakes. But it’s going to give us the opportunity to get stuff on film and spend some time looking at it and get better as a football team.”
“We have got to get more physical running the football and that’s not just the Offensive Line. That’s running backs. That’s play calling. That’s Quarterbacks. We’ve got to be able to run the football.” Coach Young said.
On the more physicality of the defense in the first practice Coach Young mentioned “We’ve changed our tempo a little bit, letting them be more physical on the inside. We’ve added some tackling drills to let the kids compete a little bit at the end.”
The Bulldogs have seven more practices before the Spring game on May 25th at 7:00 pm.
