By Coach Driggers
The first week of August could only mean one thing for the Colleton County Cougars-the begging of football seasons. Coach Kristopher Howell welcomed over 45 varsity players and 45-50 junior varsity players for the beginning of fall practice.
Begging his second full season as head football coach, Howell is hoping to improve on last year’s disappointing season-a season that saw the Cougars drop all five games played. “We have been preparing for this year from the last snap of the last game. I told the players and coaches after the last game that this was not acceptable and that we had to do a better job-a better job coaching, do a better job preparing the kids for games and holding everyone accountable for the results,”.stated Howell.,
When asked how the kids responded-Howell pointed out that the players have responded well and doing all the things the coaches have asked them to do. “We have had a nearly 100 percent participation during our summer workouts. I have said all along that we have great kids here at Colleton who work hard, who want to be successful and win and are a great group of kids to be around, Now is the time for them to start to enjoy the fruits of their labor,” exclaimed Howel
The Cougars will remain in the same 4-A region as last year. The Cougars are set to scrimmage Monday afternoon in a 4-team scrimmage at Bowman, Edisto, Colleton and a team not yet named. Next Friday, August the 11th the Cougars will travel to Moncks Corner to participate in the Berkeley Jamboree. They will be the last team to play on Friday night. The following week, August 18th,the Cougars will travel to Hampton to take on the Wade Hampton Red Devils, It has been several years since these two teams have played; although, at one time it was a big rivalry.
Offensively, look for the Cougars to be in a spread offense most of the time. The offense will be put in the hands of Jr Qb Makeem Grant, who saw limited action as a Sophomore last year. Howell states “that Grant is a dual threat quarterback who can run and throw the ball equally well. He is a smart kid and is doing a great job of reading defenses and making good decisions,
The receiving corps is one area on the Cougar team where their is experience, Howell readily admits he has four good receivers who can go and catch the ball. Big bodies who can go up and make catches. “Dorian Gantt, Azion White, Nick Williams and Cam Bryant gives us a good nucleus to throw the ball to,” stated Howell,
The offensive line is not experience or as big as some of the lineman we have had in the past so they will have to use their strength and quickness to their advantage. There is only one lineman with any experience back; however, Howell is confident that the first five will develop into a unit, Right now he is planning on starting 2 senior tackles, 2 junior guards and the center being a senior. We moved Niigell Ferguson, who started at nose guard on defense last year and moved him to center. He has done an outstanding job making that transition,” says Howell.
Defensively, we will be an odd man front. Again, we will not be extremely big up front so therefore we will be moving people around through slants, stunts. Twists and blitzes with our front seven, “We have to give the offense different looks and cause some confusion on the offensive line,
The secondary returns two starters and should be a strong point on the team. “Melvin Powell is a kid we have put back there and he has done an excellent jog in recognizing offensive sets and making plays,” replied Howell
The season starts early this year as the Cougars open against Wade Hampton on
August 18th. This appears to be a short turn around for the first game but as Howell pointed out, We have basically been practicing since June 1st installing our defensive and offensive packages, That’s why it was important for the kids to participate in the summer workouts so we would be ready to go Aug.1st.
Howell also mention that “We have been shorthanded as far as coaches go, I can’t say enough good things about my coaching staff, They have accepted new challenges, picked up extra duties and coached extra positions without complaining, Coaches Reed, Rowe, Wheeler, Bowers and Duncan has done all that has been asked of them and more, I couldn.t do all the things that need to be done without their help.”
The players are exited, the coaches are excited and hopefully the fans will get excited and follow this team all season to support their hard work
GO COUGARS
