CHATSWORTH, Ga. - There are few opportunities in the early summer training portion of high school football season for a coach to see his team in action against another team.
The numerous 7-on-7 camps are beneficial for timing in the passing game and learning coverage skills on defense. Wednesday was a totally different animal at North Murray High School, where 10 teams went through drills and squared off in 30-minute scrimmages in "shells" - helmets and shoulder pads.
The camp, which continues today, is the year's first real taste of football in northwest Georgia, and the coaches involved were using the time wisely.
"This 11-on-11 stuff is the way to go," said Southeast Whitfield coach Sean Gray, beaming. "We started the day off with some inside drill. Then we moved on to the 11-on-11, where you get to see a lot. It's great practice.
"Offensively, we've already seen the wing-T, the spread, a hybrid version of the spread and wing-T, and we're about to see the split-back veer, so what more could you ask for? Defensively, we're seeing the 4-3 and the 3-5 and there's more to come."
Southeast was joined by host North Murray, Dade County, LaFayette, Northwest Whitfield and Ridgeland, plus four teams that traveled from outside northwest Georgia for the event - Gainesville's Chestatee, Gilmer, Lumpkin County and Marietta's Sprayberry. Some of the teams, like athletic Sprayberry, looked to be in midseason form and were showing a rather expanded playbook, while others were working on specific areas and not worried about the score.
"We're seeing who can and can't play," said Dade County coach Bradley Warren, whose school is the smallest at the event in terms of classification (AA). "You can tell right away who showed up for workouts this summer and who didn't.
"They're trying hard, but they're driving me crazy. Still, we've seen some good things. We started off a little sluggish on our inside run, but as the day wore on that was where we improved the most."
* The day didn't exactly begin the way Northwest Whitfield coach Josh Robinson had hoped. One of his most important players, senior linebacker Cyrus Addison, injured an ankle when he stepped into a hole after making a tackle in the Bruins' first scrimmage.
"It's tough to lose Cyrus right now, because the Southeastern 7-on-7 tournament is this weekend (in Dalton) and we don't know if he'll be ready or not," Robinson said. "The good thing is we've got two guys competing for one linebacking spot and we got to work them both today at the same time."
Addison's injury isn't considered serious and shouldn't hurt his college recruiting. Robinson is optimistic Addison and leading returning tackler Austin Morrison will receive scholarship offers soon.
"Cyrus has traveled to a lot of places, and he's been told a few things," Robinson said. "We've got five places that want to see senior film and say they will offer. Austin Morrison, our middle linebacker, is being recruited hard as well, and we hope those colleges come through, because they deserve the chance."
* The camp is especially important for new Ridgeland coach Wesley Tankersley, who is getting his first real look at his team in action. What he saw Wednesday was encouraging.
"Our effort was really good, for the most part," he said. "We were a little bit dragging there, but it was good to see the kids respond. We had some adversity there against a good Sprayberry team (in the final scrimmage), but it was nice to see how they responded.
"I've seen some good things today and, of course, we've seen some things we need to work on, too. You can't get anything in Georgia closer to a scrimmage than this. The 7-on-7 stuff isn't very realistic when you don't have the linemen out there, so this is as good as it gets."
* Southeast's Gray was paying close attention to his offensive line, which returns only one starter from last year's surprising Class AAAA playoff team.
That one starter, however, is the No. 11-rated center in the nation, according to recruiting service 247Sports.com: Noah Ramsey, who is being counted on to help get his young - but large - fellow linemen up to speed.
"Noah Ramsey is our leader, but the rest of them are first-year starters, so that's a key area for us," Gray said. "Noah is a leader up there, and he has to keep the guys physical.
"We've got good size; they're all over 6-2. They've just got to get experience, which is why we're loving today. We're getting it all on film, so we'll be able to make corrections and get ready to go."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.