The days of voluntary football practices are over at Gilmer High School.
The GHS Bobcats officially got underway Monday following six weeks of preseason preparations.
Aside from days when they attended seven on seven passing, the Bobcats reported at 6:50 a.m. Monday through Thursday during the summer. Each day started with weight training followed by breakfast and meetings. Days concluded with practice in shorts and helmets, the only equipment allowed before August.
June and the first two weeks of July were used as an extension of spring practice with regard to fundamental work and installation of Gilmer’s base offense, defense and special teams.
“We worked on special teams this summer, which I’ve never done,” said head coach Paul Standard. “I can already tell a difference, and wish I’d done it many years ago, but my special teams coordinator Eddie Marietta has done a great job of organizing and coaching the rest of the staff and coaching the kids on our special teams.”
GHSA mandated acclimation begins this week for all high school football programs in the state. The five-day period must be completed by all players before they are permitted to wear full pads on Aug. 1. For the Bobcats, it will essentially be a continuation of what their summer has been comprised of thus far, though Standard anticipated an increase in intensity ahead of Monday’s practice.
“It’ll be ramped up in the sense that official football practice has started,” he said. “This is no longer voluntary, it’s mandatory. They can’t go full pads until they’ve completed the five days of the acclimation period.
“Even though we’re still in helmets and shorts, it’ll be ramped up more because now after weight training, we’ll have a little more in-depth offensive position, defensive position and special teams position meetings.”
The first day in full pads is expected to be centered around fundamental work. GHS will have a quick turnaround with its preseason scrimmage coming four days later on Aug. 5 versus Commerce. Gilmer will start to prepare for what the Tigers deploy offensively and defensively.
“They’re an option, wing-T type offense. They’ve got two great running backs, and they’re like the running back from Cherokee Bluff last year,” Standard said. “But defensively, they looked like they’re gonna be in a 4-3, which is one of the base looks that we train our offense to attack at the beginning even in spring practice. The main fronts we look at are the 3-4, a 3-3 stack, 4-3 and a 4-2-5.
“So in what we do offensively where the quarterback has to make decisions based on numbers, we’ve got to give him all the potential looks that we could get in a season before the year starts. And so that’s part of our preseason deal no matter who we’re playing. So fortunately, Commerce is a 4-3 team. So what we’ve done with our offensive guys, we’ve already been working. It’s not a full-fledged game week even though we’re gonna treat it like a game week in terms of how we practice so that guys will have a dry run.”
Standard noted that participation is still in the mid-60s. The Bobcats have come ready to work each day and have been attentive and upbeat. However, Standard noted that while they have put themselves in this position, nothing is promised on Friday nights.
“Their attitude has been great. I mean, our attendance has been tremendous,” he said. “You would like to think that guarantees you victory or success, and I told the kids multiple times they’ve done a great job. But the only thing that guarantees us is an opportunity to be successful.
“Obviously, if we don’t show up to work out, to practices and whatnot, then we’re not going to have any opportunity for success. So, we’ve got the opportunity to have a good year because of what they’ve done.”
Kickoff versus Commerce at Huff-Mosley Memorial Stadium is set for Aug. 5 at 7:30 p.m.