Spring football: Dawgs stay sharp during long practice month

Most years Matt Brunson and his Crestview coaching staff would be installing a game plan for their spring game this week.

It wouldn’t be anything fancy. Just the nuts and bolts of what Dawgs would want to accomplish under the lights against a live opponent.

This year isn’t most years. The school calendar was reconfigured in a way that allows local teams to enjoy a full month of spring practice. The Bulldogs will travel south on Highway 85 for a spring game against Niceville, but it won’t be for another two-and-a-half weeks.

The biggest challenge for Brunson is keeping his team sharp throughout the long month.

He seems to have found the right formula.

“What we going to do — since we have 20 days — is have a learning day and a hitting day,” he said. “Monday will be a learning day and Tuesday will be a hitting day. Wednesday will be a learning day and Thursday will be a hitting day.

“And then we are going to take Friday off.”

That’s not to say the Dawgs will have every Friday off. They will have a Red and White spring scrimmage May 23. They will close out the spring against Niceville on May 30.

A large part of Crestview’s focus has been on finding linemen. The Bulldogs also have been looking for a backup quarterback behind starter Jason Parker.

Parker still is recovering from a minor injury suffered during baseball season, allowing the other quarterbacks to get more snaps in live situations.

“We get to develop some more depth behind him, and the other kids are getting a lot of reps,” Brunson said. “Jason is going to be solid in everything we do as far as our running game.

“And as for the passing, he has all summer to work on it, so we are going to be fine.”

Brunson thinks the first three days his team spent in pads last week were the best he has seen as a coach. He was pleased there wasn’t much, if any, of a letdown on Monday.

“We had a real good first week,” he said. “Thursday was an awesome day, and as far as today, they soaked everything in.

“Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will do everything live with more contact and stuff, and see how they grasp it.”

In the meantime Brunson is hoping to shake things up next week for the intrasquad game.

“We are going to have an intrasquad scrimmage on the 23rd,” he said. “The week of the 23rd we are going to separate teams. During our team work we are going to practice red against white so we will be able to build the rivalry between the coaches and the players.

“In the past we haven’t had enough time (to hold a Red and White scrimmage). We had a week to get a few things together done and week to get ready of a game. This is nice because you aren’t pressed to get everything in.”

The Bulldogs might be lacking a true superstar-type player, but Brunson thinks the team has that intangible that in time could make it a special.

“We have several returning starters, but we don’t have any huge name prospects,“ he said. “If these guys keep practicing the way they’ve been practicing we will develop some (prospects).

“What we do have is great competition, and this group, I think, is becoming a team. What we have is great team chemistry.”