Evaluating Athletes

By Mark Humphrey

ENTERPRISE-LEADER

FARMINGTON -- Tuesday's Red and White game at Allen Holland Field served as an annual kick-off for the Farmington high school, junior high and pee wee football programs.

Announcers introduced all pee wee football players, managers and cheerleaders; junior high football players, managers, cheerleaders, and dance team; plus the senior high football players, cheerleaders and dance team. The marching Cardinal band provided a soundtrack as fans got their first look at football teams representing the community highlighted by scrimmages featuring the junior high and senior high teams.

In the midst of all the hoopla, coaches not only have to organize and manage the troops, but have the important task of evaluating individual athletes. Many starting positions were still up for grabs coming into Tuesday and the scrimmages provided coaches with game-insight.

With the graduation of two-year starter Brice Waggle, the starting quarterback position must be determined. Senior Jake Oskey (5-10, 160 pounds) and junior Trey Waggle (6-0, 165 pounds) are battling to become the starter. Oskey is a returning starter on defense as an inside linebacker. Oskey served as holder on extra-point kicks last year.

Trey is the younger brother of Brice Waggle and served as the primary backup quarterback last year, while also playing deep-snapper and seeing some playing time as a defensive back.

Farmington head coach Mike Adams wouldn't give away any of his strategy last week, but did promise Farmington fans that the Cardinals will use all of their offensive weapons available.

"Right now, it comes down to those two guys, who's the man?" Adams said.

Five players were also competing for starting tailback in the Cardinal I-formation offense: Javon Jowers, Caleb Williams, Jared Oskey, Dimariae Donavon and Reid Turner.

"Last year, Justice Hobbs got 95 percent of our carries at tailback," Adams said. "We're not going to have any one guy carry it that much this year. We feel like it will be a benefit to them (runningbacks) and us. We feel like we will always have fresh legs out there."

Adams said a 103-play scrimmage was conducted Thursday with the defense holding an edge. The offense was limited to what Adams termed "four or five good plays" and the Cardinal head coach, now in his 38th season of coaching football, was looking for more consistency from the offense Tuesday.

"We only have one senior on the offensive line, and there are just three seniors right now playing significantly," Adams said in a Friday interview. "We're pretty young right now. We've just got to get those guys coached up to play at the level where they need to be."

Head junior high coach Tracy Sutton was also evaluating talent at quarterback. Ninth-grader Evan Shoffitt and eighth grader Tate Sutton, the coach's son, are vying for the starting job to lead the junior Cardinals.

Former Farmington head boys basketball coach Ronnie Davis can't seem to stay retired. Davis, who served as assistant coach for the 1973 Cardinal state championship football team, is helping coach the seventh-grade team as a volunteer.

Davis said there are two major differences in football between when he last coached football in 1986 and the current game, blocking and weight training.

"Now you can use your hands," Davis said. "It used to be fire out low and do a lot of crab blocking. And weights, of course. Weight-training used to be hay-hauling. I told that to a kid the other day and he said, 'What's hay-hauling?"