Trojans kick off football practice
A day after their first official practice, Parkers Chapel went back to work Tuesday morning to review Monday’s practice.
However, first-year coach Elliot Jacobs wasn’t happy with some aspects of the Trojans’ effort on Tuesday.
“We didn’t install anything new,” Jacobs said. “We wanted to see what we put in yesterday in a live setting, and it went about how a Day 2 is supposed to go in that scenario. There were a lot of mental mistakes, but what I was really displeased at was our lack of effort at the beginning. We talked about that the only two things you can control are effort and attitude, and the first part of practice, we didn’t have it. We picked it up later on, and it ended up being a decent practice for us.”
A focal point for Jacobs, who is starting his first year as the Trojans’ coach, has been that he wants fast practices.
“It’s pretty much how we ran it in college,” Jacobs said. “Everything is in five-minute segments, flying around from drill to drill, not walking on the field. The only difference between us and college is we don’t have the water boys or water girls or whoever to get water while the drills are going on, so we have to give them five-minute water breaks and spread them throughout practice. Other than that, we try to run it like a college practice.”
The response from the players has been positive.
“They enjoy it,” Jacobs said. “We get our work done in about two hours, and we get them out. I tell them, ‘Don’t waste my time, and we won’t waste your time.’ When we’re out there, it’s 100 percent, and when we’re done, we’re done.”
As far as Wednesday’s practice is concerned, the Trojans will be doing more installation.
“It will be another heavy install,” Jacobs said. “It won’t be a real physical practice for us, it will be more mental. We’ll put on shoulder pads so the kids can start getting used to it. Thursday will be kind of like Tuesday where we’ll be implementing what we learned. We’re not tackling to the ground, but we want to see some good collisions, guys meeting in the hole and wrapping up.”
When asked if he liked where his team stands, Jacobs said he just wants the Trojans to improve day by day.
“Not at all, but I wouldn’t want to be,” Jacobs said. “If we’re playing our best ball now, either we’re really, really good, or we peaked out. I think we have a chance to be pretty decent. Our goal is to get better every day. Is the team that we are tomorrow, can they beat the team that we were today? That’s what we ask ourselves when we get done with every practice. Did we do enough to beat who we were yesterday? As long as the kids are doing that, I think we’ll be all right.”