Spring football practice concludes Friday
Published 4:45 pm Wednesday, May 18, 2011
By Stephen Dawkins | Assistant Managing Editor
The 2010 season was one of remarkable production from two local quarterbacks: Jemison’s Scott Clements and Thorsby’s Andrew Farris.
Both will graduate this month, creating opportunities but also casting doubt on the upcoming season.
Jemison’s football team, at least, has a signal caller with experience on this year’s roster. Rising senior Trey Bryant started two games last season when Clements went down with an injury.
Bryant will team with one of Jemison’s best ever groups of offensive ball handlers (running back Javae Swindle and receiver Eddie Hubbard were both candidates for The Clanton Advertiser’s Player of the Year honor last year) to form a potent offense–if an offensive line can be completely rebuilt.
“We’ve got to find five guys that can play together there and make 22 (Swindle) look good,” assistant coach Jon Clements said.
The Panthers are practicing without a head coach having been named to replace Brad Abbott.
Thorsby’s quest to replace Farris was complicated by the school’s baseball team, which included many football players, advancing all the way to the semifinal round of the state playoffs, meaning those players were unavailable for football practice.
“We’ve been trying to get what we could done without everybody out there,” THS coach Billy Jackson said. “We’ve got a lot of new faces because we lost a bunch offensively and defensively. We know what we want to do, we’re just trying to find guys who can fit into that.”
Jemison and Thorsby will each hold a scrimmage at 1 p.m. Friday.