Dust off the clipboards. Break out the blocking dummies. Get ready for the heat.
The 2018 football season is almost here.
For many college football fans, the countdown already has started. As is the custom with many schools, particularly in the Southeastern Conference, the countdown to 2018 started immediately after the end of the 2017 campaign.
In this part of the country, optimism is high for the beginning of the Joe Moorhead era at Mississippi State as well as Ole Miss, where Matt Luke had the interim title removed and officially took over as the Rebels coach.
But football season starts first with high school ball, and the excitement is equally high for many of the area’s prep football teams.
In just 41 days, all seven teams will play their first games.
Pillow Academy returns a wealth of talent from last year’s team that came up one win short of playing for the school’s first state championship since 2010. The Mustangs, under the direction of fifth-year head coach Tripp McCarty, start practice July 23.
Carroll Academy will also start at the same time as Pillow.
McCarty said his kids are prepared for the upcoming hot practices thanks to a lot of hard work during summer workouts.
“We’re real proud of the work these guys have been putting in to be a championship team,” McCarty said.
The Mustangs will take part in a scrimmage Aug. 3 against an undetermined opponent.
Greenwood High School kicks off practice with plenty of high hopes for 2018. The Bulldogs, led by ninth-year head coach Clinton Gatewood, return a good bit of talent from last year’s 10-3 squad.
At the top of that list is running back Walter Ivory Jr., who became the first GHS runner to break the 2,000-yard mark in recent history.
As a junior, the diminutive scat back (5-8, 175 pounds) ran for 2,128 yards and 13 touchdowns on 235 carries. He averaged 164 yards per contest in helping the Bulldogs to a 10-3 mark and a trip to the third round of the North 4A playoffs.
He was named the Commonwealth 2017 Player of the Year.
Gatewood is pleased with the progress his team has made this summer. The Bulldogs recently won the Fletcher Cox 7-on-7 passing tournament.
“I have really liked what I have seen from our guys this summer. We are ready to hit the practice field in a few weeks,” Gatewood said.
The Greenwood Commonwealth will help prepare football fans with its annual prep and college football preseason edition. This special section will feature team previews and feature stories from all area high schools as well as all readers will need to know about the upcoming season.
The Commonwealth’s Football 2018 will come on Aug. 11.
