Peabody football coach Shane Jacobs gives a pep talk to West Tennessee sports fans

Sports personalities throughout Tennessee were asked to give a pep talk as athletes are being eased back into training following the COVID-19 shutdowns.

Peabody football coach Shane Jacobs gave area sports fans pep talks in lieu of getting back to a sense of normalcy. Jacobs has led the Golden Tide to back-to-back Class 2A state championships

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Shane Jacobs, Peabody football coach

Hey West Tennessee, this is Coach Jacobs at Peabody High School. Like you all, it has been a tough two months with COVID-19 and everything is so drastically different. I am like everyone else, a West Tennessee sports fan, very disappointed that we didn't get the opportunity to see South Side boys finish what was an incredible streak — an undefeated season — that came to an end without the opportunity to play for a state title.

Two of the best basketball players that I have seen in West Tennessee in my time here — Chloe Moore-McNeil and Tess Darby. I was really looking forward to seeing them and Gibson County battle it out in the Final Four. Then of course, Westview girls making it back into the state tournament. So disappointed that it all came to an end.

Then, we move to the spring sports, very disappointed we didn't get to see at Peabody what we thought was going to be a good baseball season. Of course a lot of other teams in West Tennessee lost out on their spring sports in soccer, softball, baseball and tennis.

As we look toward the future and move into the summer, we just want to ask everybody to play your role in the social distancing. Hopefully, as we move into August, as much as we have already lost, we can limit that and get the opportunity for our young ladies to play volleyball and of course soccer starting in the fall with the ladies, also. And of course football, which is a lot of what we are all looking forward to as well.

We are all on the same team, if we do our part, hopefully, we can continue to make strides in West Tennessee and have the opportunity to get our athletes back on the field. And hopefully start school back in August under normal circumstances, if we all do our part and do the best we can to kick this virus and get rolling.

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Reach Michael Odom at michodom@jacksonsun.com or 731-425-9754. Follow him on Twitter @JSWriterMichael.