SPORTS

USJ, Crockett evaluate themselves against each other

Brandon Shields
bjshields@jacksonsun.com

Crockett County and University School of Jackson’s football team had a scrimmage at USJ on Friday, and the teams didn’t get as much work in as the coaching staffs wanted.

But they both got enough to see what needs work and what’s looking good so far as Week 1 of the TSSAA football season is three weeks away.

“I was pleased offensively with what we saw tonight,” said USJ first-year head coach Rusty Bradley. “We played our [first string] in the first series then put in our second string receivers and running backs and three of five linemen on the second series.

“I saw what I wanted to see out of them, and we moved the ball with Garrett Reynolds, who was the third-string quarterback last year who’s never thrown a varsity pass. He did OK too.”

Each team was set to have four or five 10-play offensive series followed by a time for both teams to work on special teams then get a few plays in for the junior varsity players.

Because lightning moved into the area and kept coming, the coaches decided to call the scrimmage after about 45 minutes. Crockett County got two full series in, while USJ got a full series and eight plays of its second series.

Cavaliers head coach Kevin Ward said his team looked about like he’d expect on the last Friday in July.

“If I had to give us a grade, I’d say C-plus,” Ward said. “We didn’t execute like I hoped we would.

“There were a lot of mistakes up front offensively and blew a coverage defensively. But you never look as good on film as you think you will, and you never look as bad on film as you think you will.”

Bradley said other than some mishaps in pass coverage, the USJ defense looked OK too.

“We’ve got some young guys in the secondary that are getting used to a new system,” Bradley said. “They’re coming along.”

Ward admitted Crockett County probably isn’t working with as much of a sense of urgency as most other teams in the area. The Cavaliers are one of the handful of teams who have their open week in Week 1, so they have four weeks to get ready instead of three.

“We’ve been careful not to burn the kids out with so much time left before our first game,” Ward said. “We’re not rushing around trying to make sure everything is good like we would if our first game was in Week 1.

“But we got some good work in tonight, and I’m looking forward to practice Monday.”

Brandon Shields, 425-9751