Scoop27
08-06-2015, 11:16 PM
By JOEL LUNA joel.luna@thefacts.com | 0 comments
WEST COLUMBIA
After scoring the second-most points in school history last season, the Columbia Roughnecks are bringing back some experience as they return to the football practice field.
That 2014 squad scored 497 points, second only to the program’s best of 515 points in 2010. Columbia returns quite a few skill positions, but is missing an important one, for now.
“Find a quarterback,” Columbia’s fourth-year coach Randy Lynch said. “We are working out four of them right now, and offensively that is what we have to find. We have a couple of linemen, backs and wide receivers returning, but right now it is trying to find a quarterback.”
On the bright side, consecutive-season 1,800-yard rusher Dakarius Bell returns to the back field.
Despite the unsettled quarterback vacancy, Lynch said he was pleased with the way players reported to camp.
“Kids came in pretty good shape, had pretty good turnout and I was very pleased at what I saw this first day,” Lynch said. “I think our summer program showed we had a good turnout. I thought we were ahead of the game yesterday as far as the first day was concerned.”
Columbia is riding a five-year stretch of making the playoffs. Though fewer younger Roughnecks showed up on the first day, there are plenty of upperclassmen ready to play some football.
“Our sophomore, junior, senior class — we got pretty good numbers, our freshmen were down a little bit this year with numbers,” Lynch said. “We only had about 32 show up yesterday, which is down from the last couple of years. But our JV and varsity, we had over 100 kids, so we feel pretty good about those numbers, but need to get those freshmen numbers back up if we can.”
Just as a football roster turns over every season, so can a coaching staff. But luckily for the Roughnecks, the coaching staff remained almost intact.
“We didn’t have any turnover from last year, and I still have three freshmen coaches, Mike Deleon, Brad Harrington and Henry Valadez,” Lynch said. “Like anything else it is continuity, guys know what we are doing and the system we have in place. We have that foundation set and we just continue to build on it every year.
“We are all on the same page,” he said. “They know the expectations for the players, and it is a good feeling each year. We did lose one, but pretty much we’ve been the same staff for the past three years.”
Youth might have to fill some roles on defense as well.
“Defensively, we have to find some secondary kids,” Lynch said. “We lost our entire secondary, and we have a lot of young kids going back there, and there is good competition going on.”
Lynch said the coaches try to keep an atmosphere of competition during practices.
Besides teaching the fundamentals, we are also trying to build that competition, too. We want the guys competing even though we are in shorts. We want them competing every day. But we have some young guys in the secondary that we need to find to help us out on Fridays.”
Columbia won its first nine ball games last season before falling to El Campo (48-20) for the district title in the final regular season contest.
“Our sophomore class, we saw a few that are pretty athletic and a couple of those are in the secondary that we are looking at, and also at running back and receiver,” Lynch said. “But right now it is early stages and they all look good in shorts. This is one of our bigger senior classes from the last few years, and that is going to help. I was very pleased yesterday.”
Columbia will continue to wear shorts and T-shirts until Thursday. Then the pads come on.
Until school begins, the Roughnecks will continue to work 5 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursdays
WEST COLUMBIA
After scoring the second-most points in school history last season, the Columbia Roughnecks are bringing back some experience as they return to the football practice field.
That 2014 squad scored 497 points, second only to the program’s best of 515 points in 2010. Columbia returns quite a few skill positions, but is missing an important one, for now.
“Find a quarterback,” Columbia’s fourth-year coach Randy Lynch said. “We are working out four of them right now, and offensively that is what we have to find. We have a couple of linemen, backs and wide receivers returning, but right now it is trying to find a quarterback.”
On the bright side, consecutive-season 1,800-yard rusher Dakarius Bell returns to the back field.
Despite the unsettled quarterback vacancy, Lynch said he was pleased with the way players reported to camp.
“Kids came in pretty good shape, had pretty good turnout and I was very pleased at what I saw this first day,” Lynch said. “I think our summer program showed we had a good turnout. I thought we were ahead of the game yesterday as far as the first day was concerned.”
Columbia is riding a five-year stretch of making the playoffs. Though fewer younger Roughnecks showed up on the first day, there are plenty of upperclassmen ready to play some football.
“Our sophomore, junior, senior class — we got pretty good numbers, our freshmen were down a little bit this year with numbers,” Lynch said. “We only had about 32 show up yesterday, which is down from the last couple of years. But our JV and varsity, we had over 100 kids, so we feel pretty good about those numbers, but need to get those freshmen numbers back up if we can.”
Just as a football roster turns over every season, so can a coaching staff. But luckily for the Roughnecks, the coaching staff remained almost intact.
“We didn’t have any turnover from last year, and I still have three freshmen coaches, Mike Deleon, Brad Harrington and Henry Valadez,” Lynch said. “Like anything else it is continuity, guys know what we are doing and the system we have in place. We have that foundation set and we just continue to build on it every year.
“We are all on the same page,” he said. “They know the expectations for the players, and it is a good feeling each year. We did lose one, but pretty much we’ve been the same staff for the past three years.”
Youth might have to fill some roles on defense as well.
“Defensively, we have to find some secondary kids,” Lynch said. “We lost our entire secondary, and we have a lot of young kids going back there, and there is good competition going on.”
Lynch said the coaches try to keep an atmosphere of competition during practices.
Besides teaching the fundamentals, we are also trying to build that competition, too. We want the guys competing even though we are in shorts. We want them competing every day. But we have some young guys in the secondary that we need to find to help us out on Fridays.”
Columbia won its first nine ball games last season before falling to El Campo (48-20) for the district title in the final regular season contest.
“Our sophomore class, we saw a few that are pretty athletic and a couple of those are in the secondary that we are looking at, and also at running back and receiver,” Lynch said. “But right now it is early stages and they all look good in shorts. This is one of our bigger senior classes from the last few years, and that is going to help. I was very pleased yesterday.”
Columbia will continue to wear shorts and T-shirts until Thursday. Then the pads come on.
Until school begins, the Roughnecks will continue to work 5 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursdays