Badgers out on the gridiron preparing for 2021 season
Badger offensive lineman works on his foot and hand work.
The morning of Thursday, June 17, the Arkadelphia Badger football team hit AllCare Field in Badger Stadium at eight o’clock sharp for their fourth summer practice this month. Despite the early practice, Head Coach Trey Schucker brought the energy to his team.
Due to Arkansas Activities Association rules, high school football players are not allowed to wear pads during the summer unless it is a team camp. So Arkadelphia came out with only helmets and their team workout shirts.
The Badgers warmed up and stretched like a normal evening practice and sounded as if they were getting ready for a game. With the help of some music playing over the loudspeakers on the pressbox, the players looked calm and ready to go.
Coach Schucker worked with his receivers, running backs, and quarterbacks as they went through a series of routes and reads for his players. The lineman were, of course, doing the dirty work pushing the sled and working on hand and footwork. With Schucker already being an offensive minded coach, expect this Badger team to score a lot of points this fall.
Defensive Coordinator Dustin Grimmett also had a hand in practice when it came to the defensive session in practice. At first, he and Defensive Line Coach Bobby Evins lined everyone up and gave them assignments about who to take and what zone to cover when the pass came open. Grimmett also coached the middle linebackers on what to read when a run play unfolds.
Once the players knew their assignments and reads, the team again broke into individual groups to their own position. Most drills included form tackling, footwork, and knocking the ball loose. The practice continued on with a 7 on 7 scrimmage between both offensive and defensive squads. Just about every skill player got on the field with both first and second teams playing against each other. Coach Schucker ended the practice with three conditioning stations to keep his players in shape.
Last Thursday, Arkadelphia headed to Pulaski Academy in Little Rock for a team camp before a two week dead period from June 28 to July 9.
