It’s business as usual for the Wildcats football team as they wrap up their fourth week of the six week run of the Edge.
After another Tribe test drill earlier today, July 1, Coach Casey Jeter, DL coach for the Wildcats football team, sees continuous improvement from not only his athletes that he coaches on the defensive line, but all around.
The DL coach said the squad just finished their isometric or “pause” phase, and that it was great to see some kids return after being away from the team.
Coach Jeter said it helps that so many kids are buying-in to what the Wildcats football staff has been preaching over the course of the past four weeks.
One of the many changes to the Edge this year, beyond a number of coach departures, is a shift in how the Edge is run.
“You gotta keep changing what you’re doing, and staying on the cutting edge,” Coach Jeter said, adding that this is something the team has really done and embraced over the four weeks Edge has occurred.
The DL coach said that everyday the team is testing something different with speed, every time the student-athletes are in the weight room the coaching staff tests what those same athletes have gotten stronger or what they’ve gotten better in.
Coach Jeter then said that everything the team does in the weight room transitions into what happens on the field.
“So we’re putting kids and getting kids ready for real-world situations outside of the weight room,” Coach Jeter said, and “more so for the game-time.”
The DL coach said that kids have bought in to the changes implemented and have already seen true, real results.
This is huge, according to Coach Jeter, because in years past by about week four the Edge began to drag, in that players would begin going through the motions as opposed to pushing to improve themselves.
“This week you really see [athletes] pushing,” Coach Jeter said, and reported that those same football players have been excited about the changes that they’ve seen.
As stated earlier, the Wildcats football team completed another “Tribe test” drill, which is done every two weeks.
The drill is composed of 12 consecutive runs, where athletes will run for five seconds, will run down the field and back, and are tested on the distance that football players are able to run back.
Players have five seconds to get down and back before having a 25-second break before jumping into the next run before they have done it 12 times.
Players will sprint 20 yards before reaching the goal line, turn around, and see how far they can run in the opposite direction all in a 5-second timespan.
Coach Jeter said one player, Williams, struggled to get back the one to two yards that the coaching staff were hoping for their larger players. This week, Williams was in the positives every single time. The DL coach called this a great result and reported that same player was thrilled with his output.
“Across the board, the guys that have consistently been here have been consistently getting better,” Coach Jeter said, and took it one step further by saying the progress witnessed is much more so than the coaching staff has seen in years past through the first four weeks of the Edge.
The Wildcats football team will have to keep improving if they wish to keep the Edge on their opponents when scrimmages roll around in August.
The Edge for football runs Monday through Friday at the Multi Purpose Building from 8 to 10 A.M. for students entering the tenth through twelfth grades, and 10 A.M. until noon for students entering the seventh through ninth grades.
The Edge concludes for Coach Owens’s squad on Thursday, July 15.
KSST is proud to be the official Wildcat and Lady Cat Station. We broadcast Sulphur Springs ISD games year round live on radio. When allowed, we also broadcast games via our YouTube channel.
