Football practice at David Emanuel Academy officially began Monday morning with new Head Coach Jimmy Barnett welcoming 19 players for the first session. Three more players were expected to report to bring the roster to 22 players. Last year the Eagles ended with 20 players.
Under Barnett, DEA will have a traditional style training camp that will began at 7:30 am each day and end at 5:00 pm. The training period will run through Wednesday August 11, the day before school begins. Each day will have a morning period, an early afternoon classroom time and a later afternoon on-the-field practice session. This Friday and Saturday will be just the morning practice and on Thursday on this week the team will travel to Pinewood to scrimmage at 6:30.
Barnett, who has accepted the task of re-building the Eagles’ football fortunes, inherits a team that was a dismal 1-9 in 2009 and a program that has posted just one winning season in the past 12 years. Barnett says that the focus will be on the basics in the early going. “We will start with the basic stance and go from there” said Barnett, the former Briarwood and Wilkes Academy head coach. “We’ve got a plan to build this program and we are going to stick with it as we move through these practices and scrimmages over the coming days and weeks.”
In addition to the scrimmage at Pinewood this week, DEA will travel to Brentwood on Friday August 13 for a 6:30 square-off and then travel to Sparta to face Fullington in the John Hancock Pre-Season Classic at 4:00 on Wednesday August 18. The regular season will begin on August 26 when the Eagles face arch rival Bulloch Academy in Statesboro at 7:30.
16 players return from last year including seniors Jacob Wheeler, Logan Hall, Nick Reynolds, Cody Burnett, Hayward Johnson and Houston Harris, juniors, Isaac Walden, Chet Ellison, and Trevin Goodman and sophomores Seth Durden, Denton Coursey, Blake Patterson, Justin Nasworthy, Aaron Goodman, Dylan Hartman and Trey Carter. Barnett will employ an offense that utilizes the power running game with some misdirection and play action passing and five man front base defense.
Football Team Begins Practice
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