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Wednesday morning at Bob Anderson Stadium, the Neosho Wildcats football team played host for a few hours of 7-on-7 football action.
McDonald County, East Newton and Vinita, Okla., were all in town to get valuable reps in for younger players while also whipping some of their veterans back into playing shape.
After all four teams had played one another, there was a scramble of sorts in which every team played against one another. Points were scored when an offense either succeeded or failed to gain eight yards on a play. If the offense gained those yards, they got a point and stayed on the field while another defense came on to try their luck. If the offense came up short, the defense stayed on the field and gained a point.
At the end of the scramble, McDonald County was on top with eight points.
Cody Hobbs threw the ball well and the Mustang defense seemed to play better as the game went along. Jansten Lynn, who is projected to step in at running back for the 2011 campaign, saw time all over the field as the McDonald County coaches looked for ways to get him the ball.
East Newton showed flashes of promise on the day. Jaron McCully, an all-conference wide receiver a year ago, spent most of the morning taking snaps at quarterback while some younger players ran routes against varsity defenses from the bigger schools. Defensively, East Newton came up with two interceptions off of deflections against Neosho.
For Neosho, it was an interesting day as returning all-conference player Tyler Rathmann was gone as was Ryan Manuel who will see a lot of time at running back in the fall. Justin McKee took most of the snaps at quarterback and showed that he has come a long way with his recognition skills.
“I was very pleased with the progression of all of our quarterbacks today,” Neosho coach Jared Schoonover said. “First there was Justin McKee as well as Austin Haley and Austin Moser, all three of them had good days today. When you’ve got a quarterback like McKee coming out of his freshman year into his sophomore year, it’s a different speed going from freshman to varsity ball. You go from being one of, if not the, best player on the field to being just another guy in the mix and that’s what he’s going through right now. But he’s going to get better and he’s going to be a good player for us.”
Wednesday morning at Bob Anderson Stadium, the Neosho Wildcats football team played host for a few hours of 7-on-7 football action.
McDonald County, East Newton and Vinita, Okla., were all in town to get valuable reps in for younger players while also whipping some of their veterans back into playing shape.
After all four teams had played one another, there was a scramble of sorts in which every team played against one another. Points were scored when an offense either succeeded or failed to gain eight yards on a play. If the offense gained those yards, they got a point and stayed on the field while another defense came on to try their luck. If the offense came up short, the defense stayed on the field and gained a point.
At the end of the scramble, McDonald County was on top with eight points.
Cody Hobbs threw the ball well and the Mustang defense seemed to play better as the game went along. Jansten Lynn, who is projected to step in at running back for the 2011 campaign, saw time all over the field as the McDonald County coaches looked for ways to get him the ball.
East Newton showed flashes of promise on the day. Jaron McCully, an all-conference wide receiver a year ago, spent most of the morning taking snaps at quarterback while some younger players ran routes against varsity defenses from the bigger schools. Defensively, East Newton came up with two interceptions off of deflections against Neosho.
For Neosho, it was an interesting day as returning all-conference player Tyler Rathmann was gone as was Ryan Manuel who will see a lot of time at running back in the fall. Justin McKee took most of the snaps at quarterback and showed that he has come a long way with his recognition skills.
“I was very pleased with the progression of all of our quarterbacks today,” Neosho coach Jared Schoonover said. “First there was Justin McKee as well as Austin Haley and Austin Moser, all three of them had good days today. When you’ve got a quarterback like McKee coming out of his freshman year into his sophomore year, it’s a different speed going from freshman to varsity ball. You go from being one of, if not the, best player on the field to being just another guy in the mix and that’s what he’s going through right now. But he’s going to get better and he’s going to be a good player for us.”
If there was one area where the Wildcats showed a need for improvement, it was in the number of dropped passes on the day. However, Schoonover is confident that could be attributed to nothing more than a bad day and that it is a situation that will rectify itself.
“We had way too many drops today,” Schoonover said. “We will get over that though. That’s a mental thing and it’s a repetition thing. We had some kids come out that haven’t played football, like Logan Davidson, and they will have a drop or two. But I’ll tell you what, we ran a lot better routes today and (Davidson) was getting open.”
Davidson is a player who stands at 6-foot-6 and is a player with a lot to learn. Schoonover and the coaching staff have high hopes for his ceiling and how good he can ultimately be.
“He is learning,” Schoonover said. “And he is going to get to a point where he makes plays. We’re are going to work with him and develop him and he is going to be a fine young football player.”
Defensively, Ethan Epperson provided the highlight with a stellar interception. The team was impressed and laughed with Epperson saying that they didn’t think he could catch. Dalton McDaniel and Davin Bentz saw a lot of action at the cornerback position. This was very valuable as the two of them will be vying for playing time in the secondary this fall.
“Anytime you have a great defensive line like we do, that’s going to change the other team’s passing game,” Schoonover said. “Teams that play against us won’t consistently get four seconds to throw the football. I am pleased with our defense today. We had some guys missing today in Rathmann and Ryan Manuel and that’s a great opportunity for us because you have to develop depth.”
The 7-on-7 league will continue for the next two Wednesdays. After that, Neosho will begin their last summer camp before entering August two-a-days.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Schoonover said. “It’s still July and we are looking at this as a process. I expect us to do nothing but get better.”
